Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max Review

The iPhone 17 Pro Max provides significant upgrades over its predecessor and a new Pixel-like design I really like. The post Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max Review appeared first on Thurrott.com.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max provides significant upgrades over its predecessor and a new Pixel-like design I really like. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is instantly recognizable out in the world thanks to a new design with a prominent camera “plateau” that’s similar to the iconic Pixel camera bar but even bigger. I like it a lot: There’s a visual similarity to previous iPhone Pros, with the three rear camera lenses in the familiar triangular pattern.

But it’s also unique from previous iPhones and the competition. The iPhone 17 Pro Max doesn’t just look different, it’s now made of aluminum instead of titanium, as with previous Pro models, allowing Apple to improve thermals via a new unibody design. I’m mixed on the new colors, though, and I’ve experienced the same chipping issues with the anodized color coating (paint) of the Deep Blue I chose.

This is also a problem with Cosmic Orange, which I assume is the most popular color. And a reminder that plain jane Silver is most likely the safest option in this regard, with the understanding that you can easily add color using a case. Ah well. That new unibody design allowed Apple to create a large passthrough area on the back of the phone for the MagSafe magnetic wireless charging capabilities.

And while this is subtle on my Deep Blue model, there’s a nice two-tone effect there, since the passthrough area is a slightly different color than the rest of the phone. This has bothered some, apparently, and it’s possible that Apple will try to better color match the pieces in the next model year. But I really like it and wish it wasn’t hidden by most cases, including the two I’ve used.

The new camera plateau brings a functional improvement, too, though it’s one Pixel owners have enjoyed for years: There’s no more wobble when you use the iPhone 17 Pro Max on a table, even without a case. Nice. Beyond those major changes, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is clearly an iPhone and is otherwise very similar, design-wise, to its predecessor. But there is a new Ceramic Shield 2 protective layer on the rear of the device that Apple says provides three times better scratch resistance, a feature this phone could use on its sides and edges.

After pursuing a minimalist design approach for many years, Apple has begun adding extraneous buttons to the iPhone that I have to assume Steve Jobs would have nixed. The first major addition was the Action button, which replaced the old ring/silent toggle switch with a more versatile option. And that can be quite useful, though the software-based UI Apple created for it is laughably bad. You can configure it to toggle Silent Mode (emulating the old switch), Focus, Camera, Visual Intelligence, Flashlight, Voice Memo, Recognize Music, Translate, Magnifier, Controls, Shortcut, or Accessibility.

Worse, Apple introduced the Camera Control button in late 2024 with the iPhone 16 Pro series, and it continues forward with the iPhone 17 series phones unchanged. Which is a problem because the Camera Control button is too easy to hit or swipe mistakenly, too difficult to use when you mean to, and is a negative experience overall. I ended up disabling it completely after testing it again, just as I did with my previous iPhone, a 16 Pro Max.

Beyond those recent additions, the iPhone 17 Pro Max also soldiers forward with the Side button on the right, which is a sort of power button that also triggers Apple Wallet when double-pressed, and the Volume Up/Down buttons on the left, now below the Action button. The Camera Control button is isolated on the bottom right side. Because I was so late to the game with this purchase, I read a few reviews when the iPhone 17 Pro Max first appeared in the market back in September.

Many complained that the Pro Max was big and heavy, but one of my earliest impressions was how thin and light it was. What I’ve come to understand is that this impression was tied directly to the Bare Cases Bare Naked case I had been using. I love that case, but after suffering from a bad fall in Mexico City, I was worried about damaging the phone, so I bought a standard Apple silicone case to better protect it.

And now it’s just as bulky as the Pixel 10 Pro XL I use each day to do Duolingo. Again, ah well. This makes sense, I guess: At 8.22 ounces (233 grams), the iPhone 17 Pro Max isn’t dramatically different, weight-wise, than the Pixel (8.18 ounces/232 grams). Or compared to its predecessor, which weighs 8.01 ounces (227 grams). The iPhone 17 Pro Max has a large 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR display, which is Apple’s term for OLED LTPO, meaning it delivers superior visuals and ProMotion capabilities, which is Apple’s term for a variable refresh rate (VRR) of 1 Hz to 120 Hz with very low power consumption.

It’s a terrific display, but I can’t detect much of a difference, quality-wise, between it and that provided by my Pixel 10 Pro XL. It doesn’t get quite quite as bright: Though it’s capable of 1000 nits of typical brightness, 1600 nits of peak brightness with HDR content, and 3000 nits of peak brightness overall, the Pixel hits 2200 nits for HDR and 3300 nits of peak brightness. The Pro Max display provides a resolution of 1320 x 2868 in its 6.9 inches, so it packs 460 pixels per inch (PPI).

That, too, is great, but the Pixel provides a slightly higher resolution, 1344 x 2992, and a slightly higher 486 PPI. Again, I can’t see a difference in day-to-day use, but Apple’s display supports True Tone, which is terrific, plus HDR and P3 wide color. The iPhone 17 Pro Max display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and it seems to have held up well to my clumsiness, unlike the sides and edges.

I’ve dropped it repeatedly, and the Bare Naked I case I first used with it doesn’t offer much in the way of protection. Apple also applies an anti-reflective coating and a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating, both of which appear to work quite well. I don’t find myself reaching for a cleaning cloth almost at all, unlike with many of the devices I use. The display continues to be somewhat compromised by the Dynamic Island, a sort of floating notch that contains the front-facing selfie camera and the Face ID sensors.

Saving matters, Dynamic Island is quite useful, as it houses live notifications and expands or contracts as needed. And it’s the type of thing you just get used to. I don’t watch a lot of video on phones, of course, but even then it rarely gets in the way. It’s reportedly a hair smaller than the version in previous generation iPhones, but I can’t say I ever noticed any difference. The iPhone 17 Pro Max performs better than any Android-based smartphone, thanks to its superior Apple A19 Pro chip with a 6-core CPU (2 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores), 6-core GPU with neural accelerators, and 16-core Neural Engine (Apple’s NPU brand).

Apple doesn’t advertise this for reasons unknown, but it also ships with 12 GB of integrated RAM. That’s less than the 16 GB that Google uses in the Pixel 10 Pro series phones, but it’s on par with the RAM Samsung provides in most of its flagship Galaxy S25 series phones, and iOS is reportedly far more efficient than Android. Given the heat-related issues I’ve had in recent years with iPhone and Android handsets mounted on our car dashboard, I was curious to see whether Apple’s vapor chamber solution, exclusive to the 17 Pro series iPhones and enabled in part by the new unibody design, would make much of a difference.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the iPhone until November, and then we came to Mexico in early January, so I only had one set of long drives, to and from the Boston area, to test this. And that was in December, not exactly the hottest month of the year. There were no heat issues, of course, but in checking the phone with my hand repeatedly, I was struck by how cool it remained. I’m curious to see how it fares this coming summer, though.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max supports al the expected 5G, 4G/LTE, GSM and CDMA, and other cellular voice and data capabilities thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon X80 cellular modem. But it also includes Apple’s new N1 wireless networking chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread networking support. So it’s about as future-proof as it can be from a connectivity perspective. But it only provides dual (active) eSIM capabilities in the U.S., while some other markets get a single nano-SIM card slot plus eSIM.

You can also store more than two eSIMs in the device if needed. Since we got to Mexico, I’ve used it with two eSIMs, one for voice and texts (Mint Mobile) and one a Mexico-based AT&T eSIM for data. The only issue I’ve had, and I can’t quite explain this, is that I will sometimes step outside my apartment outside of Wi-Fi range and have no data signal. So I reboot the phone and it’s fine. I would understand it is using two eSIMs impacted battery life, but if that’s happening, I never noticed.

As noted below, battery life is excellent. The iPhone also includes Apple’s second-generation Ultra Wideband (UWB) chip and NFC, the latter of which is used by Apple Wallet. Aside from the random weirdism noted above, I’ve experienced no connectivity issues at all in Pennsylvania and Mexico City, but also in Massachusetts and Acapulco, Mexico as we’ve traveled around. And I now use Apple Pay regularly for in-person payments in restaurants, bars, and elsewhere.

No issues there, either. The iPhone 17 Pro Max has stereo speakers, with one on the bottom left, next to the USB-C port, and one in the earpiece on the top front of the device. There are likewise two microphones, one on the bottom left, next to the USB-C port, and one in the earpiece. Sound quality is very good, but I rarely use the built-in speakers for entertainment, preferring Bluetooth speakers, earbuds, or headphones.

I do, however, use the iPhone every day for First Ring Daily, mounted on a selfie-stick/tripod, and with AirPods Pro 3 earbuds. And the video quality over Google Meet is generally excellent and better than what I see with computer-based webcams. With the iPhone 17 Pro Max, Apple finally offers a rear camera system with three high-resolution sensors, matching the milestone that Google first reached in 2023 with the Pixel 8 Pro series.

Each offers 48 MP of resolution, though the main camera lens is significantly bigger than the other two and provides better overall quality, as is common with modern smartphones. The main (wide) lens is a 24 mm equivalent with an f/1.78 aperture, dual pixel phase detection auto-focus (PDAF), and optical image stabilization (OIS). It supports 48, 24, and 12 MP shooting modes, but if you choose the 24 MP mode, as I do, it will take 2X optical zoom shots at 12 MP.

The ultra-wide lens is a 13 mm equivalent with an f/2.2 aperture and OIS. This is unchanged year-over-year from the unit in the iPhone 16 Pro series, though Apple now markets it as a “Fusion” lens, as with the other rear lenses, because you’re no longer limited to binned 12 MP shots. If you choose 24 MP, as I do, you now get 24 MP shots by default. The new telephoto lens is a 100 mm equivalent with a periscope design, an f/2.8 aperture, 4X optical zoom, OIS, and auto-focus capabilities.

Like the main and ultrawide lenses, the telephoto lens is now a Fusion lens with 24 MP or 48 MP capabilities at 4X to 7.9X zoom. But it drops to 12 MP if you choose 8X (“optical quality”) zoom or higher. You can zoom at up to 40X, but anything above 4X will reduce the resolution, while anything above 8X is digital zoom. Given all that, it’s pretty clear that the next major camera milestone for Apple, in addition to the normal quality improvements, will be reducing the instances in which Fusion lenses have to fall back all the way to 12 MP.

I would love to see 24 MP as the new minimum, so to speak. And then there’s the front-facing selfie camera, which this year is the most notable photography-related improvement after the new telephoto lens. This is an 18 MP Center Stage selfie camera with a single ultrawide lens that’s a 20 mm equivalent with an f/1.9 aperture and PDAF capabilities. But the reason this lens is notable is that it has a square (not rectangular) sensor that can take portrait and landscape shots whether you’re holding the iPhone vertically or horizontally.

I don’t take a lot of selfie shots, but I figured this new front-facing camera might change that. And I of course had to try out the new capabilities, which include an automatic framing capability in which the frame expands as more people enter the shot. That I’m not a huge fan of, but you can also switch manually between portrait and landscape, which is useful. That said, I still don’t take a lot of selfie pictures.

Overall, the camera quality is excellent and, with a bit of research and twiddling around in Apple’s bizarre Photographic Styles interface, I finally found some presets that mostly–but not completely–duplicate the Pixel’s ability to take nearly perfect shots in any conditions. The Pixel Camera app is dramatically better than Apple’s, and in addition to providing dedicated Pro and General modes, you can enable on-screen quick access controls for white balance, brightness, and shadows that I sometimes miss on iPhone.

For example, one of the local bars we go to regularly has red neon lights that color cast photos in an unpleasant way, and I can fix that on the fly with Pixel but not with the iPhone. I love Face ID, Apple’s facial recognition technology, and it works as good as ever on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, with quick recognition times unless you’re in total darkness. But even then, Apple has you covered if you have an Apple Watch, as it can be configured to unlock your iPhone when its nearby.

That, too, works well, and the Apple Watch vibrates a bit to let you know it’s responsible. Beyond that, the iPhone offers Emergency SOS, Messages, and Find My via satellite, and a Crash Detection feature I’m happy not to have used. (When I tripped recently, I did set off the Apple Watch fall detection feature for perhaps the second time ever.) U.S.-based iPhone 17 Pro Max models sport a large 5088 mAh battery that predictably delivers superior battery life, just like its predecessor, and it is much better in real world use than any other smartphone I’ve used.

Apple touts nonsense stats like up to 33 hours of video playback, but no one uses a phone like that. What I can tell you is that I can get through a day with the iPhone 17 Pro Max without the drama that comes from trying to do so with most other smartphones. I can also tell you, having recently changed how I charge this phone, that you can get a sold day and a half or more on a single charge. I usually charge my phones and other devices overnight, but I stopped doing that and now charge the iPhone while I’m working in the morning.

As I write this at noon, the battery still has a 25 percent charge after being used normally the day before and being left off the charger last night. That’s pretty impressive, and I’m not using any tricks to extend battery life. The iPhone 17 Pro Max also delivers when you do need a charge. It supports Qi 2.2/MagSafe wireless charging at up to 25 watts and wired charging at up to 40 watts, and both enable very fast charging, at least for a U.S.-based smartphone: You can charge to 50 percent in just 20 minutes with a 40-watt wired charger or in just 30 minutes with a Qi 2.2/MagSafe wireless charging with a 30-watt charger.

I’ve begun using a USB multimeter to determine how devices charge, and what I see on the iPhone mirrors what I see on other modern devices. Charging is much faster when the battery is very low and, in this case, it can burst at 30 to 37 watts are so until heat inevitably slows things down a bit. This is how you can get to about 50 percent in about 20 minutes, as noted above, though the battery has to be down to 25 percent or so to achieve that.

The MagSafe magnets in the back of the Pro Max are quite powerful and if you use the device with an Apple case, you get additional passthrough magnets and a unique feature by which the home screen icon tinting can match the color of your case (in addition to an option for matching it to the color of the iPhone itself). But it does not support reverse wireless charging. This is a nice feature on paper, but I’ve only tried using it with other smartphones a few times, and it’s incredibly slow.

You’re better off carrying a portable wireless charger if you think you’ll be out in the world, taking photos or whatever, for long periods of time. Unlike lesser iPhones, the iPhone 17 Pro Max (and Pro) provides a USB-C connector with support for USB 3.2 Gen 2, so you can transfer files to and from the device at up to 10 Gbps, far faster than the USB 2.0/480 Mbps speeds delivered by non-Pro iPhones.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max also supports 1P68 water and dust resistance, so it’s good to a maximum depth of 6 meters of water for up to 30 minutes. No, I didn’t test that, though I considered taking it into the Pacific Ocean when we were in Acapulco in January. Some quick research indicated that salt water would be problematic, so I decided not to risk it, though my Apple Watch 10 handled it well. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is part of the first generation of iPhones to ship with the new Liquid Glass user interface that debuted in iOS 26.

This is controversial for some, but I’m mostly OK with Liquid Glass across Apple’s various platforms and feel that it’s the most refined on the iPhone. Helping matters, Apple has also tweaked Liquid Glass and added other useful new features in subsequent iOS 26.x updates. The icon tinting I mentioned above debuted in iOS 26.1, for example. And though I’m on the betas across all my Apple devices, I have yet to see even a hint of the long-promised Siri improvements.

But iOS is, overall, top-notch. There are always the Apple weirdisms here and there, which stand in stark contrast to the, let’s be honest here, boring UIs but useful UIs that Google ships in Android and its special Android version for Pixels. But it’s mostly good news. The iOS 26 lock screen capabilities are particularly impressive. You can configure the lock screen to automatically size the clock based on the scene, with parts of it hidden behind parts of the photo when possible and a remarkable AI-based 3D effect that I often show off to my wife as it rotates between pictures on whatever schedule.

What sorcery is this? And though everyone likes to crap on Apple Intelligence, the other AI-based features throughout the system, save Siri, are mostly well designed too. The most useful feature, to me, is Visual Intelligence, which you can use by pointing the camera at anything out in the world, or at a photo or other image, so you can find out what it is you’re looking at. This is similar to a Gemini feature on Pixel, of course, but it seems to work just about as well.

If I have any complaints about iOS, and I do, they’re mostly minor. There’s the familiar paradox that Apple, known for minimalist and elegant UI design, preloads an astronomical number of in-box apps on this device spanning multiple home screens. And while iOS 26 introduced some new call and text spam fighting capabilities that Apple users seem to love, these features pale in comparison to what Google does on Pixel.

This is an area Apple still needs to improve. What really puts the iPhone experience over the top, of course, is when you use multiple Apple devices and multiple Apple services. In that, I am curiously one of Apple’s best customers as I also use an Apple Watch (Series 10), an iPad Air M3 with a Magic Keyboard, AirPods Pro 3 earbuds, and an Apple TV 4K with HomePod speakers (with different setups in Mexico and Pennsylvania) literally every single day.

I also have an M3 MacBook Air that I use occasionally and Beats Studio Pro headphones I use when traveling. And I subscribe to Apple One Premier—at a whopping $38 per month—because I can share it with my two iPhone-using children. That service provides iCloud+ with 2 TB of storage, Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, and Apple News+, the latter of which has become my favorite news source as I read each morning.

It’s probably not worth repeating what is well-understood and often-repeated, but there is so much cross-device functionality here, much of it excellent. The one I use the most, I think, is AirPods Pro 3 across multiple devices. But AirPlay is also a key strength here, and little things like copying something to the clipboard on one device and then pasting it on another never cease to amaze. The odd thing, perhaps, is that I only skim across the top of this particular iceberg.

Were I even deeper into the Apple ecosystem, I would use my iPhone as a webcam for my Mac and take better advantage of the iCloud storage and whatever apps across devices. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is available in three colors, Silver, Cosmic Orange, and Deep Blue. Prices start at $1199, the same as with its predecessor. The base model includes 256 GB of storage, but you can upgrade to 512 GB ($200 more, or $1399), 1 TB (+$400, $1599), or 2 TB (+$800, $1999) of storage.

I purchased a Deep Blue iPhone 17 Pro Max with 256 GB of storage back in November. But this will likely be the last phone I configure that way. Thanks in part to our ever-bigger photo collections and ever-improving photo quality, I’m finding that 256 GB is not enough. Your mileage will vary in that regard, of course. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is the best single-screen smartphone on the market and the rare significant year-over-year upgrade, at least for those who care deeply about the device’s photographic capabilities.

It performs better than any smartphone in the market, offers superior battery life, has the best authentication experience via Face ID, and has a colorful, handsome new design. Everyone raved about the non-Pro iPhone 17 this past season, but the Pro and Pro Max offer enough advantages to justify the branding and remain at the top from a functional perspective. I highly recommend the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

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