It literally is not an improvement over the iPhone 13 (non-pro) i upgraded from, as far as I can tell. The camera is no better, the battery last pretty much the same time, etc. I will say on iOS 26, the 13 did get a bit laggy and buggy, but aside from that this 17 Pro has zero noticeable improvement as far as the end-user side of things.
The camera is 5 starts, but the speed of the phone and delay on the web browser leaves a lot to be desired. I have to use Safari in private mode to open certain browsers.