An iPhone that makes you feel like you can accomplish anything.
Price When Reviewed
1449 Euro
There was a time when Apple offered one iPhone model. That’s it. You want an iPhone, you got it. Does someone else you know want an iPhone? They got the same one you did.
Times are a little more complicated, and now Apple offers multiple iPhone lines and models. Plenty of reasons exist for why that is, including the evolution of technology, the maturing of the market, Apple’s approach to sales, and more. But all that doesn’t matter to you. What matters is that a simple task is no longer so: Which iPhone should I get?
Apple is doing its part to clarify which iPhone is the right one for each customer. Take the iPhone 17 Pro Max, the focus of this review. It’s Apple’s top-of-the-line phone, and it’s oozing with high-end features. Those high-end features are geared towards professionals more than ever–it’s really a Pro model–which means that for regular folks, the iPhone 17 Pro Max may be more phone than they need.
That being said, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is an iPhone that can make you feel like you can accomplish almost anything. It’s an iPhone that empowers the person holding it. That’s special.
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Max are almost identical, using the same type of display, chip and other internals, cameras, and other aspects. While this review looks at the iPhone 17 Pro Max, many of the evaluative statements made here can apply to the iPhone 17 Pro. The clear exceptions are the phone’s display and battery, where this review specifically addresses the iPhone 17 Pro Max.iPhone 17 Pro Max: The color and the shape
I am the proud owner of an orange car, so that gives you an idea of how I feel about the iPhone 17 Pro’s Cosmic Orange. It’s one of the better colors Apple has used on an iPhone. It’s rich, electric, and fun, but it almost doesn’t matter because I always use a case. A clear case lets the orange through but dampens the effect.
I am using an Apple TechWoven Case with MagSafe in Sienna, and time will tell if TechWoven holds up better than FineWoven. But for $59, it better not fall apart. You can get a sturdy case for much less with the help of our iPhone 17 case guide. One important thing: USB-C cables with wider plug casings won’t plug in if you have the TechWoven Case on. The case gets in the way. Apple’s USB-C cables, which have a narrower plug, work fine.
The iPhone 17 Pro is available in two other colors, Deep Blue and Silver. Black isn’t an option, which is odd considering its popularity. Again, if you’re using a case, it doesn’t matter. Get a black case.
If you thought the previous Pro Maxs were too big, this one won’t change your mind. The overall size of the iPhone 17 Pro Max is a smidge larger than the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and noticeably larger than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I prefer iPhones in this size category, and though it is larger than ever, it hasn’t yet stretched the boundaries of my comfort when carrying and using it all day.
With the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple introduced a titanium frame into the Pro series, and continued with titanium in the 16 Pro. But with the iPhone 17 Pro, Apple switched to a proprietary “aerospace-grade” aluminum and implemented it as a unibody instead of a frame. The unibody provides rigidity and works with a new vapor chamber to dissipate heat that could affect performance. Apple claims it’s 20 times greater at thermal conductivity and “significantly lighter” than titanium.
Apple also introduced Ceramic Shield 2, an improvement of the Ceramic Shield treatment of the glass Apple uses for the front of the phone. Ceramic Shield 2 offers better scratch resistance, but more importantly, it comes with an anti-reflective coating that’s supposed to reduce glare by 60 percent. While I didn’t take an awl to the phone to test the scratch resistance, I did notice the anti-reflectivity, and it makes a noticeable difference compared to previous models. I can stop ducking away from the sun and other lights when using the iPhone 17 Pro Max. As for the back glass, it has the original Ceramic Shield treatment.
The camera bar–excuse me, the “plateau”– is a big departure from the camera array on past iPhones. Fortunately, it didn’t hinder my handling of the phone at all.
