iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6 Weeks Later!
The iPhone 17 Pro Max is the iPhone’s biggest design change in years. Some people love it, some say it’s gone too far. It’s also the most powerful iPhone ever. After six weeks, it’s faster and cooler, but it’s probably not going to change how you use your iPhone.
Design
The new unibody frame is milled from a single block of metal, and it feels like it: heavier, but very balanced. The camera plateau stretches across the top. It looks intentional and clean, until you set it on a table and it still wobbles. The Ceramic Shield back doesn’t quite line up with the frame, one of those small details that gets to me. In the hand it feels great; Apple’s been rounding the edges since the 14 and it makes a huge difference in comfort.
My daughter is an artist with opinions about how things look, and she’s not a fan. I get it. To me, this finally feels like a tool again instead of a piece of jewelry: more industrial, less flashy.
I started with cosmic orange, which I thought I wanted. Many of us begged Apple for color on the Pro line, and when they did it, I returned it, because a bright orange iPhone locks me into certain case colors all year. Silver it is. I still hope Apple keeps doing bold Pro colors, even if I don’t have the guts to stick with them.
Display
A 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR OLED, up to 1,600 nits for HDR, and Apple says up to 3,000 nits outside. Next to phones that get 2,000 nits, I can’t really tell a difference.
A19 Pro
Six CPU cores, six GPU cores, more neural accelerators, and a new vapor chamber. Apple says up to 40% faster than the 16 Pro. In my regular use, I can’t feel it. My 14 and 15 Pro Max still feel just as snappy for everything I actually do. In Call of Duty it did seem to stay cooler than the 16 Pro Max. That’s not a bad thing: Apple makes chips that feel fast for years. And when Apple Intelligence and the new Siri fully roll out, I’ll be ready.
Cameras
The main and ultra wide sensors are technically the same as the 16 Pro, but the processing is different: photos finally look less overcooked, with the sharpening dialed back, so they look like photos instead of AI art gone wrong. The new 48 MP 4x telephoto, with an 8x crop, gives you 13 mm to 200 mm with the lenses and up to 40x digital. I wouldn’t print a 40x photo, but it’s great for reading something far away. The 4x lens also makes real portrait shots with real bokeh instead of software blur that misses hair.
The 18 MP selfie camera is sharper and cleaner, especially in low light, takes landscape selfies without rotating the phone, and Center Stage reframes as faces join. Then there are true pro features like open gate, Genlock, and ProRes RAW, which most of us will never use.
I really wanted to love Camera Control, but it’s more trouble than it’s worth. As a shutter it takes too much force and shifts the camera, it’s somehow both too responsive and not responsive enough for settings, and I accidentally open the camera picking the phone up off a table. Yes, you can require a double click, but muscle memory won the day. I have it disabled most of the time.
Still, this is the most capable iPhone camera yet, and for the first time in a while the photos look like photos.
Battery
Outstanding. I get 6–7 hours of screen time and go to bed with 20–40% left, mostly Safari, YouTube, Reddit, social apps, podcasts, email and work messaging, not games. Apple says nearly 20% more than the 16 Pro Max, and there’s definitely something to that. MagSafe and Qi2 charge at 25 W, 50% in 30 minutes; wired, 50% in about 20.
Wi-Fi 7, technically
It has Wi-Fi 7, but only 160 MHz channels, not the full 320 MHz. Before anyone freaks out: distance, walls, other devices, and interference affect your speed far more than channel width. Websites load at a few megabits and streaming tops out around 50. What’s your workflow that needs multi-gigabit speeds on your iPhone? I’m curious.
Should you upgrade?
For many, probably not. If you have a 16, 15, 14, or even a 13 or 12, a new battery might get you a couple more years. If you play a lot of games, your phone is cracked all over, or it’s actually slowing your workflow down, find a good trade-in deal. You’ll probably use the same apps the same way. With no major bugs, I can probably call this the best iPhone ever.
Links
In this video
- 00:00 - Design
- 01:13 - Bold new colors and design reflections
- 01:38 - Display
- 01:56 - A19 Pro
- 02:58 - Camera hardware & photo quality improvements
- 03:39 - Zoom lens upgrades and utility
- 04:47 - Selfie improvements & Center Stage
- 05:27 - Pro video tools
- 05:46 - Camera Control button – love or hate?
- 06:36 - Battery life & charging improvements
- 07:21 - Wi-Fi 7 support explained
- 08:03 - Should you upgrade or wait?
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