I tested the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and this feature alone justifies an upgrade from the 16

Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max

sep / 2025

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source — a redesign, a change of materials, new colors, a battery upgrade, a processor made even more intentionally for AI, two big camera refinements, and a fix for last year’s biggest flaw.

But how does it fit together in one package, what’s it like to use, and is it worth the upgrade? We’re here to discuss these questions, as we do every year.

As far as iPhone reviews go, I’ve combined my iPhone Pro and Pro Max reviews into one story for the last several years, because the two have been so similar. They are more similar than ever this year, with the only differences being the larger screen and larger battery in the Pro Max. 

Also: Best iPhone 2025: I compared the top models and found the best options for you

So this year, I’m just going to make my review all about the iPhone 17 Pro Max. You can safely assume virtually all of this applies to the Pro model as well, if the smaller Pro is your jam.

I have upgraded iPhones every year since the first iPhone in 2007, and the Pro Max has been the iPhone model I’ve upgraded to every year since the first one arrived with the iPhone 11 Pro Max in 2019. I also had the iPhone XS Max the year before, if you think of that one as the first Max.

And, of course, I’m not alone. The Pro Max has been the best-selling iPhone model since the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which began a reign of making the largest, most expensive iPhone the best-selling phone model in the world, according to Omdia research.

Also: iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. Google Pixel 10 Pro XL: I compared the flagship handsets, and there’s a winner

This year, Apple has already dedicated 40% of its manufacturing capacity to churning out the iPhone 17 Pro Max, with 25% going to the iPhone 17 Pro, 25% to the iPhone 17, and 10% to the iPhone Air, according to The Information. So Apple is already expecting the iPhone 17 Pro Max to be its No. 1 seller, and by a bigger margin ever. That makes sense considering there’s no Plus model this year, so the Pro Max is now the only big-screen iPhone.

N1 chip for better networking – Apple is now running its own N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and a Thread radio. Bluetooth 6 brings better precision-finding for FindMy and support for Auracast, Threads is an upgrade for smart home devices, and using Apple’s own chip for Wi-Fi 7 could presumably lead to much more power-efficient networking since Wi-Fi can be a major power hog. This new chip is also aimed at improving the reliability of AirDrop, which would be huge because it’s a great feature when it works.

• Faster charging – Wired charging gets a slight upgrade to 36W (from 30W last year), but still lags behind Samsung (45W) and the Chinese phone makers that go wild with over 100W charging. Apple claims. 

• 2TB storage option – The maximum storage you can buy increased from 1TB to 2TB, which will now cost $1,999. This is huge, especially for videographers using the iPhone as a pro camera.

Now, let’s talk about the four biggest reasons to upgrade.

1. Design overhaul fixes the biggest flaw

With the iPhone 17 Pro Max, Apple brings the biggest design change in seven years to its flagship iPhone. Every fall for the past six seasons — from the iPhone 11 Pro Max to the iPhone 16 Pro Max — the largest iPhone looked much the same each year. That’s not the case in 2025. 

Apple has redesigned the iPhone 17 Pro Max from the inside out. First, Apple has replaced the titanium material that was a signature feature on the last two Pro Max models with aluminum. This move comes with several trade-offs. 

Also: iPhone 17s are getting dinged up fast – how to protect yours from ‘Scratchgate’

After years of being criticized for its Pro phones’ boring colors, aluminum allowed Apple to be a lot more bold on the Pro models. It went with one light color (Silver/White), one dark color (Deep Blue), and one fun color (Cosmic Orange).

The trade-off is that aluminum is not nearly as tough as titanium, so we’re already seeing reports of the orange and especially the blue iPhone 17 Pro Max getting dinged up pretty badly. My advice: if you’re getting an iPhone 17 Pro Max and you don’t plan to put it in a case right away, then go with the silver/white model that’s far less likely to get dinged up. But I’d recommend putting a case on it — my favorites are the Nomad Modern Case, and Apple’s new TechWoven Case

While the most noticeable changes to the iPhone 17 Pro Max are on the outside, the most consequential ones are on the inside. Switching back to aluminum also has a big impact on thermal performance, as aluminum can be up to 5-10 times better at conducting and dispersing heat than titanium. 

And the biggest Achilles heel I’ve run into with both the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the iPhone 16 Pro Max has been overheating. In 2023, I reported the serious overheating issues I ran into when the iPhone 15 Pro Max was released. While iOS 17.0.3 reduced the issues to a minimal level, I continued to have problems with both the iPhone 15 Pro Max and its titanium successor the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Also: Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: I tried both flagships, and there’s a clear winner

When I would do intense photography and video with either phone, they were regularly prone to overheating, where they would get very hot to the touch — even through a case — and at those times, the battery life would start to drop dramatically, and tasks on the phone would slow down. 

Similarly, when I charged the phones in my car on a MagSafe charger where they were also exposed to the sun, they would regularly overheat and flash a message on the screen that they had paused charging until the phone cooled down. For me, this became a regular part of life with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

In addition to switching back to an aluminum body for the iPhone 17 Pro Max, Apple also tacitly acknowledged the thermal issue by adding a vapor chamber cooling system

More than any other feature on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, I’ve tried to put the new cooling to the test because the overheating issue has been the biggest flaw I’ve experienced with the Pro Max for the past two years. I’m happy to report that the early results have been very positive for the iPhone 17 Pro Max — although not perfect. 

It all started with the migration from the iPhone 16 Pro Max to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. During the several hours it took to migrate my data from last year’s phone to this year’s phone, the 16 Pro Max got very warm (109 degrees) while the 17 Pro Max did a much better job of keeping its cool (86 degrees), as you can see in the thermal image on the right. 

Also: 5 cool ways your iPhone’s lock screen just got more customizable with iOS 26

In going about my daily tasks, including heavy photo and video use and MagSafe charging in the car, the iPhone 17 Pro Max has experienced little to no overheating. So this looked like a big win. However, when I took the iPhone 17 Pro Max to Florida and started doing heavy video and photography during a sunny day in the 90-degree heat, the iPhone 17 Pro Max started acting like its last two predecessors and overheating (Brian Tong reported similar overheating when he took the phone outside in the Southern California heat). Fortunately, it cooled down fairly quickly in my case.

Nevertheless, I’m convinced that Apple has made significant progress on the overheating issue with the iPhone 17 Pro Max — and the fact that it changed materials for better heat dispersion and introduced the new vapor chamber cooling feature are huge steps in the right direction.

2. Apple reinvents the selfie camera

The most exciting new feature in the iPhone 17 Pro Max is undoubtedly the reimagined selfie camera, which both dramatically improves the quality of selfies and makes them easier to take. Apple revealed that people took over 500 billion selfies with iPhones over the past year, so it’s clear that we need it. The front-facing camera has long been the weakest link in iPhone photography.

How did Apple pull it off? It upgraded the sensor on the front-facing camera from 12MP to 18MP (outputting images vertically or horizontally), made it ultrawide, and switched from a rectangular sensor to a square sensor. Apple has branded the new camera as a Center Stage camera, but it’s even more powerful than the Center Stage video camera that merely centers you in the frame during video calls on iPad or Mac. 

In general, so far I’m also liking the photo processing on the iPhone 17 Pro Max — it’s much less warm out-of-camera than the last couple of years — and the image quality is a little bit sharper and clear overall. I’ll be doing a dedicated review of this year’s pro camera system in a couple of weeks, after I take a ton of different types of photos in a variety of lighting conditions with all of the various lenses on the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

4. Battery life finally matches Samsung flagships

With the iPhone 17 Pro Max, Apple has put its largest battery ever in a phone — at 5,088mAh in the US version with no SIM card slot. The international versions with a SIM card slot get a slightly smaller 4,823mAh battery. Combined with the efficiencies of the A19 Pro processor and the N1 networking chip, this gives the iPhone 17 Pro Max a substantial lift in battery life. 

And don’t underestimate the value of having a better thermal design as well. As I mentioned above, one of my biggest challenges with battery life in the last two generations of the Pro Max has been that the battery would drain a lot more quickly when it was overheating.

Apple now rates the iPhone 17 Pro Max as having 39 hours of video playback, compared to 33 hours for the iPhone 16 Pro Max. That’s a 15% boost, and a sizable jump from one generation to the next. In real-world mixed usage, you can now expect about 15-20 hours of battery life. 

Also: I replaced my Samsung S25 Edge with the iPhone Air – and my buying advice has changed

The bottom line is that the iPhone 17 Pro Max now matches devices such as the Samsung S24 Ultra and S25 Ultra. With the last several generations of Samsung Ultra phones, I have simply never had to worry about battery life. They would sometimes get to the end of a business day with nearly a 50% charge. And because they also have super-fast charging, even if I ever did get low on charge with the Samsung flagship — usually because I hadn’t charged it overnight — in less than an hour of charging, it would get plenty of juice to make it through the rest of the day. When it comes to battery life and charging, they’ve been the MacBook Pro of phones. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is now in the same league. 

What I’d like to see in iPhone 18 Pro Max

1. Get rid of the camera bump – I don’t love camera bumps, or camera plateaus as Apple now deems its bump. That’s mostly because a bump makes a phone more awkward to slip in and out of your pocket or bag. It can also make the phone sit a bit awkwardly on a flat surface. I don’t love the aesthetics either, because it gives the phone a more bulky look and feel. This year, Apple not only made the iPhone 17 Pro Max camera bump larger, but it’s now the biggest bump on any of the premium flagship phones. This has made me truly appreciate the Samsung S24 Ultra and S25 Ultra, where the cameras sit completely flush when you put one of those phones in a case.