Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max review: trading thinness for brilliance

It’s a cliché of Apple’s iPhone launch cycle that the latest Phones are ‘the best ever’ but they don’t always take a large enough step forward. As you’ll be pleased to hear, this year’s Pro lineup does take a large step in the right direction.

In terms of performance and versatility, this phone sits head and shoulders above anything else in Apple’s range –  the standard iPhone 17 Pro comes close, but there are some appealing facets that make going Pro Max something of

The Pro series still carries a price premium over the iPhone Air ($100/£100 more), marking the Air out as a phone that currently sits in between the standard and Pro phone series.

Unlike the Air, the Pro models still offer the option of using a standard nanoSIM card as well as eSIM for global units, though they are eSIM-only in the US. We’re expecting the iPhone 18 to introduce eSIM-only more widely. Chinese units still have dual nanoSIM slots.

The base iPhone 17 Pro Max comes with 256GB of storage (like the 16 Pro Max) and starts at $1199 / £1199. The 512GB model costs $1399 / £1399 and 1TB is $1599 / £1599. You can also now get 2TB for $1999 / £1999 if you’re a content creator concerned about space – it’s a big premium but you do get a whole lot of space.

One challenge the Pro now has is that there is less to distinguish it from the standard iPhone 17 for many users. With the dual camera and 120Hz ProMotion display now being part of the standard model, the Pro has to change things up in other areas. Of course, it has a few things to rely on. The larger 6.9in display, longer battery life and powerful telephoto lens remain as the key Pro Max selling points (and it’s an all-new telephoto this time around).

Is the iPhone 17 Pro Max design an improvement?

The Pro series iPhones feature a striking new look this time around. It’s a bit of a glo-up – literally. In addition to a silver and my ‘deep blue’ model, there’s also a stunning ‘cosmic orange’ (I can’t lie and pretend I wasn’t disappointed to not get the orange model as it absolutely pops!).

This is possible because the IP68-rated frame is now an aluminium unibody rather than titanium. That’s despite Apple telling us titanium is the best material to use for the last couple of years. The change seems to have come about due to heat issues when the unit is running full throttle.

The camera bar or ‘plateau’ (as Apple is calling it) goes across the full width of the Pro and Pro Max. It’s just a design gimmick really, though does looks distinctive, but one benefit I’ve found from it is that I can pick the phone up by the ‘plateau’ if it’s leaning against something. There is space under the ‘plateau’ for MagSafe wireless charging – this has a distinctive matte finish.

The slight drawback is that the phone is now slightly heavier than it was before (227 vs 233g) and larger. It does feel very chunky in the hand compared to the 165g iPhone Air which at 6.5in is sized between the 6.3 and 6.9in Pro models.

I can’t help but feel the change to aluminium is less durable – I have already managed to ding my review unit in a similar fashion to how I damaged the frame around the screen of an iPhone 12. My titanium iPhone 15 Pro and 16 Pro units didn’t befall the same fate.

Is the iPhone 17 Pro Max display the same as before?

Again this year’s Pro Max has a 6.9in 1320 x 2868 display with the same resolution as its predecessor, giving you around 460ppi. It’s once again capable of 120Hz ProMotion, but so is the standard iPhone 17 and iPhone Air. This is no longer a distinctive Pro feature and neither should it be.

However, display is now capable of up to 3000nits of brightness for better viewing in direct sunlight. Ceramic Shield tech now protects both the display as well as the back of the phone, too and there’s also an anti-reflective coating. The display has around 3x the scratch resistance which is excellent – and needed.

This display is super bright and even though you might struggle to see things under very bright sunlight, there’s so much contrast on offer. Colours are really punchy.

iPhone 17 Pro Max camera: a fine triple

As you’d expect there’s still a triple camera system (all 48MP and a wide/ultrawide/telephoto as you would expect) but the periscope telephoto has had a power-up with an 8x optical zoom (there’s also a 4x default option).

Note that the camera system is the same as in the iPhone 17 Pro; there’s no change between the model sizes. But the Pro camera setup does leave the iPhone Air’s single camera in the shade. If photography is important to you, you won’t even consider the Air.

The Pro digital zoom has also risen from 25x possible to 40x. The results from this are amazing and far-off views look clear and crisp with amazing detail for the most part (detail does drop off towards max zoom). Certainly shots are more detailed than zooms from the iPhone 16 Pro and the pictures look brighter, too.

Clearly some significant work has taken place on the processing here. Providing light is good, there is little evidence of noise when zooming even to extreme levels.

Close up shots are also fantastic and capturing text is really effective – which then you can copy and paste from images of course.

To go alongside this, there’s an improved 18MP f/1.9, 20mm front camera that enables better framing via Centre Stage plus the ability to use it in both portrait and landscape. Yep, you can take landscape selfies without having to re-orientate the phone. A small usability point, but a good one.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is a performance powerhouse

As expected, this model features the A19 Pro chip, again based on TSMC’s 3nm process. It’s the same chip as inside the standard Pro as well as the iPhone Air and is extremely high-performing in benchmarks with single-core scores as good as the Mac Studio’s M3 Ultra chip (12% higher than the A18 Pro) while there’s a 20% uplift for multi-core performance according to Geekbench 6. Simply stunning figures.

There are 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores and it’s teamed with 12GB of LPDDR5X memory as well as a 5 core graphics processor and 16 core neural engine. I found the Air got hot when taxing the phone, but Apple has mitigated heat concerns for the Pro range.

For the first time, the company has been talking up a ‘vapour chamber’ heatsink to draw heat away from the A19 Pro chip and sustain performance for longer periods when gaming or shooting in high-end video formats. This appears to be the key reason behind the aluminium exterior in order to better cope with the heat produced by the A19 Pro. To go alongside this, the graphics have been upgraded too.

Other iPhone 17 Pro Max specs and battery life

The battery life on the Pro Max has been superb for a while, but Apple is now citing 37 hours of video playback for the 4823mAh model we have. We could just about get it through two working days with reasonable use, which is brilliant. Most will need to charge during the second day.

Where there’s an eSIM-only version the battery is even larger at 5088 mAh and so I’m looking forward to that rolling out more widely in future years.

There’s also even faster charging this time around and you can get to about 50% in 20 minutes with a 40W or higher adapter. Wireless charging can get to 25W with MagSafe or the recently-introduced Qi2 standard.

Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 is on board, while if listening out loud is your thing, there is once again a stereo speaker system in contrast to the mono speaker on the iPhone Air. As with all Apple iPhones sold now, there is no charger in the box, just the USB-C cable.

iPhone 17 Pro Max software: a Liquid Glass story

iOS 26 is very much changed from the predecessor software, iOS 18. The key change is in the introduction of Apple’s Liquid Glass look and feel.

The result is patchy, largely because it is less legible and therefore harder to use in some respects which is an unusual step from Apple. Some apps – Safari and Music in particular – are harder to use in my opinion. I find Liquid Glass less frustrating on bigger displays – like the iPad and Mac – but on the phone it just feels such an unnecessary step. And this is is the largest iPhone we’re talking about!

iPhone 17 Pro Max verdict

With a supreme spec sheet, there’s so little that can be argued against the Pro Max, with the new telephoto impressing and the durability of the finish my only qualm (even if the display is tougher according to Apple).

Of course, it’s still very expensive. But if you’re in the market for a phone that can do anything, it’s a price you’ll be willing to pay. And I love the new finishes, too. I was rather sad when the courier came to collect it and that’s always a reliable sign that a product is absolutely brilliant. There’s no better 2025 phone out there.

iPhone 17 Pro Max technical specifications

Screen	6.9in 2868×1320 OLED HDR at 460ppi
CPU	Apple A19 Pro
Memory	12GB
Cameras	48MP ƒ/1.8 main, 48MP ƒ/2.2 ultrawide, 48MP ƒ/2.8 telephoto (8× optical zoom in) rear; 18MP ƒ/1.9 front
Storage	256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB on-board
Operating system	iOS 26
Battery	4823 mAh (nanoSIM), 5088 mAh (eSIM)
Dimensions	163x78x8.8mm (6.43 x 3.07 x 0.35 n), 233g (8.22oz)

Screen 6.9in 1320×2868 120Hz AMOLED CPU Apple A19 Pro RAM 12GB Storage 256/512GB/1TB/2TB OS iOS 26 Cameras 48MP+48MP+48MP rear, 18MP front Battery 4823mAh (USB-C) Dimensions 163x78x8.8 mm, 233g