The iPhone 17 Pro Max offers a refreshed design inside and out and all the usual year-over-year upgrades we’ve come to expect. If you view the iPhone Air as too radical and the base iPhone 17 as too similar to its predecessor, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is, like the smaller Pro, perhaps a better mix of the new and the familiar. Given the title of the article, I should mention that my literal first impression after opening the box last night was that the iPhone 17 Pro Max is not as thick and heavy as reviews had suggested. Tech reviewers do love their narratives, but I use a lot of big phones and this new Pro Max looks and feels no bigger, heavier, or thicker than its predecessor. And it’s clearly lighter than the Pixel 10 Pro XL I recently reviewed (and loved). It even adopts some Pixel features that were previously exclusive differentiators of Google’s flagships: The new camera bar-like “plateau” ensures that the iPhone 17 Pro Max doesn’t wobble when placed on a table or other flat surface, just like every Pixel since the Pixel 6 series in 2021, and it features three high resolution rear camera sensors, a feat Google first pulled off two years ago with the Pixel 8 Pro. But the iPhone has long had its own advantages, of course, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max brings those forward or, in some cases, expands on its lead. For example, it was Apple that first innovated the magnet-based MagSafe system that evolved into the Qi2. x wireless charging standard that Google now uses in the Pixel 10 series phones and calls Pixelsnap. The iPhone 17 Pro Max, like the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL, uses the latest and fastest version of that specification yet. That this competitive back-and-forth in the smartphone space mirrors that in the PC vs. Mac battles of a previous generation is perhaps not surprising. But its impact on consumers, no matter which platform you prefer, is the same as ever and undeniably positive, now as before. Which makes choosing a platform difficult, in some ways. I wish this were easier, frankly, but there are few no brainers in personal technology these days unless you’re willing to give up your soul and go all-in with a particular ecosystem. It’s not that I’m a fence straddler, so to speak, I’m just not a fan of lock-in, and so I go back and forth. For this go ‘round, I chose the iPhone 17 Pro Max in Deep Blue. This was a compromise, as I’m not a fan of the garish Cosmic Orange color that most reviewers seem to prefer for some reason. And let’s face it, Silver is about as boring as boring gets, though I considered it, knowing that I could brighten things up with a case. But whatever, Deep Blue it is. I was somewhat swayed by Apple’s new TechWoven cases, but hoping to keep it as thin and light as possible, I instead went with a Bare Cases Bare Naked case, also in Deep Blue. This should at least help protect against any paint chipping, which is apparently particularly noticeable with the iPhone color I chose. But I like that it almost looks like there isn’t a case at all. The most obvious giveaway, and this is a slight disappointment, is that you can’t see the two-toned back of the Pro Max, which I do like, or the Apple logo, which I couldn’t care less about. The iPhone 17 Pro Max can be configured with 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, or 2 TB (!) of storage. Those latter amounts are overkill for most, but creators and professionals shooting 4K video or taking lots of RAW photos require it. I am neither, so I went with 256 GB, which I feel is the minimum for any smartphone in 2025. On this, Apple agrees: Even the base iPhone (17) now comes with a minimum of 256 GB of storage, which I like to see. And that’s it for configuration. As I noted in Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max Preview, this costs $1199, the same as last year, but my final cost was about $530 after a $670 trade-in for my iPhone 16 Pro Max, which I’m shipping back to Apple today. (We just flew home from Mexico yesterday and arrived late last night, so I’m still a bit out of it.) And not counting the case, of course. As always, I’m particularly interested in the photography experience, and I’ve been trying to learn to live with and, God help me, even master the myriad of camera-related settings that Apple burdens these devices with. (I touched on that the other day in From the Editor’s Desk: Seeking a Little Expertise ⭐.) As noted, this is the first iPhone with three high-resolution rear camera lenses: The main (main), ultra-wide, and telephoto lenses are each 48 MP, which maps nicely to the 24 MP image option Apple offers. Well, with one notable caveat: Though the telephoto lens offers “optical quality” up to 8x zoom, the optical zoom is only 4x, so 8x zoom shots will be cropped off the full sensor and be of lower resolution. The telephoto lens on the iPhone 16 Pro Max offered 5x optical zoom but with a lower-resolution 12 MP sensor. So this is still an upgrade that I am curious to investigate. The biggest upgrade with the iPhone 17 Pro Max (and all iPhone/Pro models this year), however, is with the selfie camera. And that will be interesting, as I rarely take selfies and will need to work on that. This is a so-called Center Stage camera-gotta love Apple’s naming-and the key innovation is that it has a square sensor, so you can take portrait or landscape shots no matter which way you hold the phone. Apple also reworked the Pro and Pro Max this time around to help dissipate heat better, a problem I’ve had with previous iPhones. It stepped back from the stainless steel and titanium designs of the past and went with an aluminum unibody design this year with a new vapor chamber, among other changes. This system is unique to the iPhone lineup, and I hope it works. There are lots of other updates, of course. A larger battery. Ceramic Shield protection on the rear (and not just on the display). The standard year-over-year processor upgrade, from A18 Pro to A19 Pro. A dual capture mode for videos, though not with two separate video feeds, which I assume is happening someday. Faster wired and wireless charging. And probably a few things I’m forgetting. Complicating matters, I have a Pixel 10 Pro Fold to review as well, and I’m still sorting out how I can do both simultaneously. And some new PCs, and other hardware. And yeah, it never ends. So I will have more soon.
https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/ios/329960/apple-iphone-17-pro-max-first-impressions