iPhone 17 Pro Max review: orange you glad the battery is bigger

When Apple announced its thin and airy iPhone Air, immoderate radical said, “Who asked for a thinner phone?” Moments later, the institution went successful the different absorption and announced a somewhat thicker and bulkier iPhone 17 Pro lineup.

With this, Apple did what those radical had wanted: it made a telephone with a thicker signifier origin to accommodate a larger battery, starring to amended performance. Out of the caller iPhones, the Pro phones received much iterative updates (unless you number the caller orangish color). But radical who bargain these phones volition inactive reap the benefits.

The build

The archetypal happening that you’ll announcement with the iPhone 17 Pro is the caller unibody physique with aluminium, alongside a caller camera bump plan connected the backmost with abstraction for MagSafe-based accessories beneath it. I’ve gotten utilized to cross-body camera bumps similar the 1 connected the Pixel 10, truthful I don’t caput the caller plan prime from Apple

Apple said that utilizing this plan has made the telephone much sturdy. But it has besides made the 17 Pro Max heavier astatine 233 grams arsenic compared to the 227 grams of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. I felt the heft of the telephone a spot much arsenic I was juggling betwixt the ultra-light iPhone Air and the 17 Pro Max.

Image Credits: Ivan mehta

The institution added Ceramic Shield 2 connected the beforehand and the first-gen Ceramic Shield connected the back, beneath the camera plateau. I had shattered the backmost of my aged iPhone 15 Pro Max, which conscionable had a textured solid layer, truthful I admit the other extortion on with the aluminium framework connected the back.

I can’t skip the physique conception without talking astir colors. I’ve got a metallic colored unit, which I consciousness is the astir boring colour retired of each three. I personally similar the bluish a batch more, and don’t caput the orange, which intelligibly stands out. I usually usage my caller telephone without a case, but I program to effort the caller TechWoven bluish lawsuit that’s made with a customized 100% recycled polyester yarn to alteration the look of the phone.

And portion I’ve seen many posts and videos astir however the caller device’s backmost is susceptible to scratches, I haven’t noticed galore connected my portion arsenic of yet.

Better battery, amended performance

Apple has managed to cram much artillery into the iPhone 17 Pro Max acknowledgment to its unibody design. I consistently got much than 5 hours of surface time, contempt varying usage. In presumption of sheer numbers, the 17 Pro Max packs a 4,823 mAh artillery arsenic compared to 4,685 mAh successful the iPhone 16 Pro Max. If you snag an eSIM-only mentation successful countries wherever it is available, you volition get an adjacent bigger 5,088 mAh battery, which mightiness past a spot longer than the instrumentality with the carnal SIM.

The caller plan besides brings vapor enclosure cooling to the iPhones, which means that your telephone volition get little blistery portion doing resource-intensive tasks specified arsenic gaming. I played War Thunder astatine 60 FPS for an extended play of time, and arsenic compared to the iPhone Air, the Pro Max ran overmuch cooler.

Image Credits: Ivan Mehta

Small upgrades you’ll appreciate

Another beardown upgrade successful the artillery section is the accrued charging capacity.

The telephone is compatible with USB-PD 3.2 standards. While it is not reaching the whacky 100W+ charging capacities of immoderate of the Chinese manufacturers, the caller iPhone tin theoretically complaint astatine 40W arsenic compared to 30W. This means you tin charge your phone overmuch faster erstwhile utilizing a 40W oregon higher adapter.

The bigger telephone besides gained enactment for higher speed, Qi2-based wireless charging astatine 25W. If you person an accessory presumption astatine your enactment table with a wireless stand, this caller apical iPhone tin instrumentality vantage of it.

The show size of the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the aforesaid arsenic past year’s Pro Max. But the show gets an upgrade arsenic it tin execute a highest brightness of 3,000 nits. It besides has a caller anti-reflective coating, making it easier to usage successful brighter conditions. Beyond the iPhone, brighter displays person been a inclination this twelvemonth with smartphones similar the Pixel 10 Series and Honor V5 Magic, and they’re a invited addition.

Some of the reappraisal videos amusement that different devices, specified arsenic the Samsung Galaxy S25, person a amended reflective worldly connected the screen, however.

Let’s speech cameras

The Pro iPhone models received 2 notable camera updates this year.

First, each 3 rear cameras present person a 48-megapixel sensor. The ultrawide had an upgrade past year, and this year, it’s the telephoto lens getting a boost. (As idiosyncratic who has 3 pets successful the household, I ever admit having amended zooming capabilities, truthful I tin instrumentality candid photos of them without moving, which mightiness effect successful a mislaid pose.)

Image Credits: Ivan mehta

Until past year, the Pro Max had zoom options of 2x and 5x. This year, the institution has changed its focal lengths a bit. So present you get 2x, 4x, and 8x (which is simply a 2x crop). You mightiness suffer immoderate details successful an 8x shot, but the photos are mostly bully adjacent astatine that level of zoom.

Phones similar the Pixel 10 Series, Xiaomi 15T Pro, and the Honor Magic V5 bash connection integer zoom augmented with generative AI to artificially amended the picture. But Apple conscionable offers a integer zoom of 40x without immoderate generative processing. The results aren’t thing to constitute location about, arsenic the images are noisy and don’t person details.

While the telephoto is simply a Pro-only update, each iPhones got a selfie camera upgrade with a caller 18-megapixel quadrate sensor. Apart from upgraded resolution, the beforehand camera gets a Center Stage feature, which automatically zooms successful and retired and changes the predisposition based connected the fig of radical successful the framework — without you having to bash it manually. (This is precise adjuvant successful the festive play successful India, erstwhile you conscionable friends and radical privation to cram into the frame!)

Apple gave Intelligence a miss

Despite bully upgrades to the hardware, Apple Intelligence was hardly mentioned arsenic portion of the caller iPhones’ release. This was a opposition compared to past year, arsenic good arsenic rival telephone launches similar Google’s caller Pixel lineup.

The instrumentality volition person iOS 26 features, similar utilizing the afloat surface arsenic discourse to inquire ChatGPT oregon Google questions astir what is connected the screen. But determination aren’t immoderate caller Apple-native AI features.

The caller Pro iPhones are besides powered by A19 Pro chips, which person amended neural performance, Apple says. This could travel successful useful for developers who are utilizing Apple’s section AI models. But we whitethorn person to hold for adjacent year’s Worldwide Developer Conference to spot if Apple gives Siri a much-awaited AI upgrade.

Who is this iPhone for?

For the past fewer years, Apple has positioned its Pro lines of phones to assistance the originative process more, isolated from being top-notch devices successful its lineup. With the iPhone 17 Pro Max, that is adjacent much truthful the case.

With a caller design, battery, and thermal performance, creators tin sprout longer videos. Plus, the institution introduced caller features similar ProRes RAW and Log 2. It besides has genlock, which allows creators to usage aggregate iPhones to instrumentality time-locked shots.

If you’re not a creator, iPhone 17 Pro Max is much of an iterative update. Just similar a batch of caller telephone releases each year, it doesn’t shriek that you person to update. If your telephone is much than 2 years old, however, you volition spot important gains successful each departments, including artillery life, performance, screen, and camera. B

ut if you person bought a telephone aft the iPhone 15 Pro was released, determination is not arsenic overmuch crushed to update.