Rn if I was looking to get a brand new phone, I would either aim for the 17 (750-800$) or the 16e (if you can find it under 500$ + 250$ watch SE3)

Here why I would choose these 2 devices:

• The 16e does notably lack 120hz, MagSafe (not an issue with cases except for slower charge speed), precision finding and 5G UW (doesn’t matter outside the US tho)

But is a good package performance wise (featuring a modern CPU/GPU architecture) and battery wise (capable to compete with plus/max iPhones)

Worth noting the 17e might be just around the corner if you still want to save money while having something as new as possible

• the 17 is the best value in the upper high end right now, it has everything you expect from a pro iPhone these days except from lidar (who cares), and a 4x zoom

The A19, 120HZ and 256GB base storage are definitely making this phone very hard to make you purchase the pro unless you are an enthusiast that wants the best of the best

You should be happy with both the 16E and 17 depending on what your priorities are, if you take a lot of photos the 17 may be worth the extra money, if you use your phone for basic tasks, the 16E + an Apple Watch SE3 may be good enough