There’s no doubt that the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the best iPhone that Apple has ever made, but let me make it clear right from the start — I am not saying this just because it is the newest one. That argument works every year, but if you line up iPhones generation by generation and look at how much each one has truly pushed things forward, this time feels different. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is a complete package in a way very few iPhones have ever been. In fact, I’d go as far as saying it is the most complete iPhone Apple has ever built. Not only because of the big-ticket upgrades, but also because of how all the small changes come together to give you that sense of polish and thoughtfulness. And before I get into the 17 Pro Max specifically, I have to give a nod to the entire iPhone 17 series this year. Apple hasn’t just focused on the most expensive model. Every iPhone in the line-up has something going for it.
Also read: iPhone 17 Review: The most sensible iPhone in 2025!
The regular iPhone 17 is finally worth calling ‘bang for your buck’ because Apple has brought the 120Hz ProMotion display, along with 256 GB base storage, down to the standard iPhone for the first time. That alone makes it a far better buy for most people. Then there’s the new iPhone Air, which is Apple’s boldest experiment in years. Whether it succeeds or goes the way of the old ‘Mini’ and ‘Plus’ models remains to be seen, but at least it shows Apple is trying.
But the Pro models, especially the iPhone 17 Pro Max, are where Apple has gone all out. I’ll be honest, the last time a Pro iPhone truly blew me away was the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Since then, the upgrades have felt safe and incremental. But four years later, the 17 Pro Max finally feels like the spiritual successor to that device: big, powerful, unapologetically premium, and absolutely stacked with features. Everything you expect in a flagship phone is here, and Apple has sprinkled in some completely new stuff too. Some things are evolutionary, some are revolutionary, but all combined, this phone makes a very strong case for itself.
Of course, it comes with a catch. The brilliance here doesn’t come cheap. Pricing starts at Rs 1,59,900 for the base 256GB model, and if you’re the kind of person who wants the full-fat 2TB version, you’ll have to fork out Rs 2,29,900. That’s not just expensive, that’s luxury territory. But as I’ll explain, Apple has packed in enough to at least justify why the iPhone 17 Pro Max sits at the very top of the iPhone pyramid.
Design and build: A fresh direction
Apple has made some bold changes with the Pro models this year. The first big one is the move away from titanium and back to aluminium. At first glance, that sounds like a downgrade, but there’s a smart reason behind it — thermal management. Aluminium allows for better heat dissipation, and Apple has paired it with a brand-new vapour chamber cooling system. For years, Android flagships have had advanced cooling setups, while iPhones would heat up easily under load. That changes here. The iPhone 17 Pro Max finally has the hardware to keep the A19 Pro chip running cool for longer.
The design itself feels like a mix of familiar and fresh. The overall silhouette still screams ‘iPhone,’ but the rear panel is a clear departure from past Pro models. The huge camera island is now stretched across the width of the phone, a feature Apple even calls a ‘plateau’. You’ll either love it or hate it, but there’s no denying it gives the Pro Max a distinct look. The colours add to its personality: Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue, and Silver are your options this year. There’s no black, which might disappoint some, but personally, I find the Deep Blue version stunning, and it’s also the closest you can get to a black iPhone Pro.
The phone is still massive, there’s no two ways about it. At 6.9 inches, it is the biggest iPhone you can buy, and it’s also heavy at 233g. This is not a phone for small hands or skinny jeans. But the build quality is rock solid, and the new Ceramic Shield 2 glass is said to be three times more scratch-resistant than before. With an IP68 rating on top, you’re getting one of the toughest smartphones out there.
Display: Apple’s best yet
The screen on the Pro Max is always a big deal, and this year, it’s a genuine showstopper. It’s still a 6.9-inch OLED panel with ProMotion, which dynamically adjusts between 1Hz and 120Hz, but the brightness has taken a big leap. The iPhone 17 Pro boasts a 3,000 nits peak brightness versus 2,000 nits on the 16 Pro Max. However, these peak brightness numbers can be misleading, because when phone manufacturers list a peak brightness number, it doesn’t mean the entire display can reach that brightness.
That said, in my real-world testing of the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s screen with a lux metre, I recorded a peak brightness of 1,940 nits. For comparison, the iPhone 16 Pro Max hit 1,662 nits. That’s a noticeable jump, and it makes the 17 Pro Max one of the best and brightest displays you can get on any phone today. Minimum brightness also drops down to 0 nits, so you get those deep, true blacks that OLED panels are known for.
Watching HDR content is an absolute joy. Whether it’s streaming something on Netflix, looking at your photos or simply editing them, the screen is vibrant, sharp, and incredibly fluid thanks to ProMotion. The 460ppi density ensures text and images look razor sharp, and Apple’s colour calibration continues to set the standard.
Performance and software: Power meets polish
Under the hood, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is powered by the new A19 Pro chip, and it’s a beast. On paper, it has two performance cores, four efficiency cores, six GPU cores, and a 16-core Neural Engine. But forget the specs for a second. What matters is how it feels in real life.
In simple terms, it’s just smooth. All the time. No matter what task you throw at it, playing a game, recording 4K footage or just juggling dozens of apps, the iPhone 17 Pro Max doesn’t break a sweat. The new vapour chamber cooling system makes a real difference, too. I noticed far less throttling during extended gaming sessions compared to older iPhones.
Call of Duty: Mobile ran with minimal frame drops, even during long multiplayer sessions, and the phone stayed cooler than any iPhone I’ve tested before. Demanding AAA titles like Resident Evil Village performed well, with only the occasional stutter under peak loads. The vapour chamber here helps significantly compared to the graphite cooling solution in the 16 Pro Max. Where the older phone would start warming up and dial back performance, the 17 Pro Max maintained steadier frame rates over long stretches. This makes it far more reliable for marathon gaming.
For the numbers-minded, here are some benchmarks:
Antutu: 2,341,424
Geekbench 6: 3,687 (single-core), 9,609 (multi-core)
3D Mark Wildlife Extreme: 5,462 overall score with 32.7 average fps
Aztec Ruins (High Tier): 3,651 frames
These are some of the best results you can get on a smartphone right now.
On the software side, iOS 26 comes preinstalled, and it brings the most significant visual overhaul since iOS 7. Apple calls the new design language Liquid Glass, and after looking at it for a few days, I think that name fits. In addition to the new look for home screen icons, the biggest design change impacts the lock screen, which can now dynamically fit widgets around your chosen wallpapers. It’s a neat visual trick.
Apple typically promises long-term support, and you can safely count on the iPhone 17 Pro Max getting at least five years of major iOS updates, maybe more.
As for Apple Intelligence, the iPhone 17 Pro Max doesn’t bring the full suite just yet. The standout feature is Live Translation, which lets you converse across languages in real time. It works on iPhones and AirPods, and at launch supports English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, with Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin expected later this year. At the moment, it’s limited to English-speaking regions like the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and there’s no clear timeline for wider availability.
There’s also Visual Intelligence, which can analyse photos and fetch search results based on what’s in the frame. Meanwhile, the Photos app has gained smarter editing tools that can remove unwanted elements, things like power lines or passers-by, with a single tap.
Camera: Shoot like a pro
If you’re a serious photographer or videographer, this is where the iPhone 17 Pro Max truly shines. The camera system is a serious upgrade. You get three 48MP sensors: primary, ultra-wide, and telephoto. The telephoto lens now offers 4x optical zoom, which may sound like a downgrade from the 5x on last year’s Pro Max, but Apple has improved the quality across the range.
The results speak for themselves: sharper detail, richer colours, and better low-light performance. The images I captured look sharper, have more detail, and deliver a little more visual pop compared to the last-generation model. Any shots you zoom in past 2x or 4x are demonstrably clearer and have far less noise. Even shots zoomed as far as 8x look right, though digital zooming past about 10x starts to lose detail and resolution.
The upgraded 18MP selfie camera is worth highlighting. It’s more versatile than before, offering both wide and standard perspectives, and the image quality holds up against the best Android phones out there. Apple has also introduced a new Centre Stage system that makes use of a square sensor, so you can capture shots in portrait or landscape, regardless of how you’re holding the device. On top of that, there’s a bit of digital zoom available, letting you switch between wide and standard framing for both orientations. It gives the front camera a level of flexibility most rivals don’t match, though getting used to the controls does take a little practice.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max is perhaps one of the most consistent and reliable camera systems on a mobile phone in the current market. In ideal lighting conditions, the camera delivers stunning results, offering remarkable detail and outstanding colour accuracy, maintaining Apple’s reputation for top-notch image quality. However, in challenging lighting, the phone does tend to sometimes crush shadows, resulting in a loss of detail in darker areas. While this can be a downside for some users, the overall image quality remains strong. Portrait mode is especially impressive, with 4x zoom shots showcasing crisp detail and striking depth of field.
In low light, the iPhone 17 Pro Max excels at reducing noise and managing highlights, though this sometimes gives images an artificial appearance. Photographic Styles, first introduced last year, are also present on board. These come in two categories: Mood and Undertones. Each style lets you tweak three key parameters — Tone (contrast), Colour (saturation), and Palette (like a colour filter). While experimenting with these styles can be fun, they may not become a daily tool for most users.
Video remains Apple’s strongest card. The Pro Max supports everything from 4K HDR at multiple frame rates (24, 30, 60, 120fps) to Cinematic Mode at 4K 30, and Action Mode at 2.8K 60. Professional users can push further with ProRes recording up to 4K 120fps when using external storage. The biggest new addition is GenLock, which keeps multiple cameras in perfect sync during recording, a serious upgrade for multi-cam workflows. I haven’t tested GenLock myself, but for those who shoot with more than one iPhone (or mix it with pro gear), it’s a huge deal.
All said, footage shot on the iPhone 17 Pro Max simply looks fantastic. While Google and Samsung phones can capture higher-resolution 8K 30 content, they don’t support as many video modes or frame rates, nor can they handle colour standards like ACES for post-processing flexibility. The ability to capture 4K at 120fps also makes for impressive slow-motion footage with excellent clarity.
Battery and charging: No more battery anxiety
This is the first iPhone where I didn’t feel the need to constantly keep an eye on the battery percentage. The 4,823mAh unit inside the Indian variant (5,088mAh in the US eSIM model) delivers phenomenal endurance.
In my usage, I easily got more than a day and a half. After 36 hours, which included 8.5 hours of screen-on time, I still had 25% left. Light users can easily stretch it to two days. That’s a huge leap from the iPhone 16 Pro Max. In our 1080p video loop test, the phone lasted an astounding 25.9 hours.
Charging is fairly quick, too. The iPhone 17 Pro Max supports 40W fast wired charging and 25W fast wireless charging. In my testing, with a 150W PD 3.0 charger, the 17 Pro Max took 62 minutes to go from 0 to 100%. That’s not the absolute fastest in the industry, but combined with the excellent battery life, it’s more than enough.
Verdict: Brilliance at a price
The iPhone 17 Pro Max is the kind of device that reminds you why Apple still sits at the top of the smartphone market. It nails the basics: display, performance, battery, cameras, and then adds layers of polish that make it feel truly special. From the new design and cooling system to the advanced camera tools and iOS 26, everything comes together seamlessly.
But let’s not sugar-coat it: this phone is expensive. Starting at Rs 1,59,900 and going all the way to Rs 2,29,900, it’s not a device most people can justify buying. For the majority, the iPhone 17 itself is the smarter choice, especially now that it has a 120Hz display, similar base storage as the Pro models, same 18MP selfie camera and the list goes on.
However, if you’re someone who wants the best iPhone money can buy, whether you’re a creator, a gamer, or just someone who values having the absolute top-end Apple experience, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is unmatched. It’s not perfect, but it’s the closest Apple has come in years.
Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max Key Specs, Price and Launch Date
| Release Date: | 09 Sep, 2025 |
| Market Status: | Launched |
Key Specifications
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Aman Rashid
Aman Rashid is the Senior Assistant Editor at Digit, where he leads the website along with the brand’s YouTube, social media, and overall video operations. He has been covering consumer technology for several years, with experience across news, reviews, and features. Outside of work, Aman is a sneaker enthusiast and an avid follower of WWE, Dragon Ball, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. View Full Profile
