Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max review: Still the ultimate flex

iPhone 17 Pro Max

There’s a line from The Godfather Part III that sums up every iPhone launch year: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” That’s Apple for you — a company that’s long perfected the art of making the familiar feel new again.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is exactly that kind of product. It doesn’t reinvent the smartphone. It just reminds you why Apple’s still the one everyone else is trying to catch, when it comes to offering a complete package.

With a massive 6.9-inch display, new camera system, upgraded A19 Pro chip, and that unmistakably premium design, it’s the biggest, most confident iPhone yet — and, at times, almost too good for its own ecosystem.

Let’s get this out of the way: the 17 Pro Max isn’t for everyone. It’s not meant to be. It’s the iPhone that exists because some people genuinely want the absolute best — the sharpest screen, the longest battery life, the most flexible camera setup, and bragging rights to match. The rest of us? We’re fine with the regular iPhone 17, thank you very much.

This year’s Pro Max makes a strong argument that “bigger” can also mean “smarter.” For more than a month, the iPhone 17 Pro Max has been my trusted daily driver and here’s how the most expensive iPhone fared:

Design: The titanium era feels finally right

Apple’s flirtation with titanium continues, but this time it actually feels… resolved. The 17 Pro Max’s design is more refined than last year’s model — lighter, better balanced, and subtly sleeker. You still get the squared-off frame, but now it’s contoured just enough to stop biting into your palm after an hour of use.

It’s the little things Apple obsesses over that make this phone feel different. The bezels are barely there — you’ll notice more photo, less phone — and the new Ceramic Glass 2 layer gives the screen that reassuring toughness you want in a Rs 1.6-lakh device.

There’s also a redesigned camera bar that sits flatter, so the phone doesn’t wobble awkwardly on a table like some of its Android rivals (looking at you, Galaxy Ultra).

Colour options? Well, there’s the orange which certainly isn’t my favourite. That colour just doesn’t seem Apple but as they to each his own. The shade of blue looks really classy whereas the silver one also is on the elegant side.

And then there’s the case.

Apple’s new TechWoven case fixes nearly everything wrong with the much-mocked FineWoven. It’s grippier, doesn’t pick up lint like a magnet, and feels better than the silicone ones. The only quirk? The USB-C opening is still annoyingly tight for third-party cables. Typical Apple.

Display: Shines bright

At 6.9 inches, the Super Retina XDR display makes Netflix binges, late-night scrolling, and even WhatsApp forwards look glorious. It’s OLED, of course, running a sharp 2868×1320 resolution with adaptive refresh between 1 Hz and 120 Hz.

Peak brightness hits 3,000 nits outdoors — that’s “read a message in Delhi sunlight” bright. Colours are calibrated beautifully; you won’t see the oversaturated reds that plague some competitors. Apple’s new “Adaptive Tone Pro” also adjusts warmth and contrast depending on your surroundings.

It’s not a huge change, but it’s one of those invisible features you miss when you go back to another phone.

The Dynamic Island is still here and over the years has made me appreciate it quite a lot. Be it how far is your Uber or where is the Zomato delivery man — the Dynamic Island is turning out to be really useful and not a ‘pill’ as it felt when it was first introduced.

Everyday experience: Predictable in the best way

If you’ve used an iPhone before, you’ll feel at home. Apple hasn’t messed with the basics — just polished the edges. The interface is snappy, the gestures fluid, and customisation more flexible than ever.

You can now freely position icons and widgets, ditching the rigid grid that used to drive Android users mad. Wallpapers, lock screens, and widgets blend more naturally, making your iPhone feel uniquely yours — a sentence that used to sound impossible a few years ago.

The Action Button can be assigned it to open the camera, flashlight, or even run shortcuts. The Camera Control button on the right side is Apple’s nod to the pros, though it still feels like a feature in search of a purpose. Not-so-fun fact: I can count on my fingers the times I have used the Camera Control in the last 15 months or so.

This year’s iPhones also run iOS 26, which brings a new design language. It takes time to get used to but the experience remains largely unchanged — polished, predictable, and premium.

The A19 Pro chip brings modest CPU gains — around 15–20 percent faster than last year’s A18 Pro — but what stands out is efficiency. This phone barely gets warm under heavy loads.

Apps open instantly, multitasking feels effortless, and gaming on Apple Arcade or Call of Duty Mobile is buttery smooth. It’s not that the A19 Pro makes the iPhone 17 Pro Max noticeably faster — it’s that everything feels perfectly tuned.

You won’t see throttling, lag, or micro-stutters that even flagship Android phones sometimes show after long use. This is a phone that feels bored by your workload.

And yet, for most users, that power is academic. The real-world difference between the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro Max isn’t night-and-day. It’s more like watching the same movie on a bigger, sharper screen.

Using the iPhone 17 Pro Max feels like living in Apple’s ideal world — where everything just works and looks good doing it. But it’s also an unapologetically large phone.

At nearly 7 inches, it’s a two-handed device. Typing one-handed is wishful thinking. The trade-off is the sheer immersion it offers — watching, reading, editing photos — everything feels cinematic.

Apple’s ecosystem ties everything together seamlessly. AirPods Pro 2 automatically switch audio, your MacBook unlocks when you pick up your iPhone, and AirDrop remains the most underrated convenience feature in tech.

In a sense, the iPhone 17 Pro Max isn’t competing with Android flagships anymore. It’s competing with your own expectations of what an iPhone should be.

Cameras: Three lenses, one vision

For the first time, all three rear cameras on the iPhone 17 Pro Max use 48 MP sensors — ultra-wide, wide, and telephoto. That’s a big deal because it gives Apple’s Fusion Camera System equal footing across lenses, resulting in consistently detailed photos no matter what you shoot.

The wide camera captures clean, balanced images with excellent dynamic range. The ultra-wide now handles edges better, with less distortion in landscape shots. But the star is the new 4× telephoto lens, replacing last year’s 5×.

Why the downgrade? Turns out, it isn’t. The 4× uses a 48 MP sensor that crops internally to deliver lossless “optical-quality” zoom up to 8×. In practice, it’s sharp, stable, and far more useful than the gimmicky periscope lenses on some Android flagships.

You can shoot 24 MP or full 48 MP stills across all lenses, giving you flexibility without diving into RAW editing. And if you do like tinkering, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max remain the only ones to shoot Apple ProRAW.

Low-light performance is excellent — colours stay natural, noise is minimal, and Apple’s software processing avoids the over-bright “fake daylight” look that Google and Samsung often produce.

Having said that, this is still not the best camera you will find in any phone. It is extremely versatile and reliably consistent but the likes of Vivo and Oppo seem to offer a few features, which you feel should come to the iPhone as well — at least in the most expensive model.

The iPhone remains the best video phone you can buy. The 17 Pro Max now supports 8K ProRes RAW recording, 4K 120 fps Dolby Vision, and even Genlock for syncing multi-camera shoots.

That’s overkill for most users, but it’s a gift for content creators, vloggers, and small production houses who genuinely use their phones to shoot professional footage.

The front camera, shared across the iPhone 17 lineup, gets a new 24 MP “Center Stage” sensor that auto-crops intelligently in video calls. It’s a neat touch that makes Zoom meetings less robotic.

And yes, you can finally transfer large ProRes files at 10 Gbps through USB-C — but only on the Pro models. The regular iPhones are still stuck on USB 2.0 speeds from the year Titanic released.

Don’t get me wrong — this isn’t the ultimate camera phone packed with every trick in the book. In fact, Oppo and Vivo’s premium flagships arguably deliver better photography in several areas. But a phone, even one that costs a small fortune, isn’t just about the camera. It’s about the overall experience. And that’s where the iPhone 17 Pro Max shines — offering a camera that’s versatile and reliable, inside a phone that handles everything else with effortless confidence.

Battery Life: Quietly the biggest upgrade

Apple claims the 17 Pro Max offers better endurance than the iPhone 17 and roughly 30 percent better than the Air. In practice, that feels conservative.

This phone just refuses to die. A heavy day of calls, video, music, navigation, and endless notifications still leaves around 30 percent by bedtime. On lighter days, you’ll wake up the next morning with juice to spare.

Charging via USB-C is a tad faster, but Apple still caps wattage to stay within its safe thermal zone. You’ll hit 50 percent in about 30 minutes with a proper charger — not blazing fast, but consistent and battery-friendly.

Even after a couple of years of battery degradation, it should still comfortably last a full day.

But wait…what about AI?

For most iPhone users, Apple’s new wave of AI features doesn’t really move the needle. The iPhone’s appeal has never rested on how many “smart” tricks it can do, but on how seamlessly it works. Whether it’s taking photos, chatting, or using FaceTime, the experience has long been defined by polish, not novelty.

Sure, Google and Samsung phones have been showing off AI features for the last few years — magically erasing people from photos, summarising emails, and whatnot. But the truth is, most iPhone users aren’t switching platforms just because Android does a few more AI party tricks. The iPhone remains aspirational, as much a cultural symbol as a gadget. Its ecosystem, reliability, and resale value do more to keep people hooked than any algorithmic flourish ever could.

Apple is late to the AI race, no doubt, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting. The company’s approach has always been to wait, polish, and integrate new technologies in ways that feel invisible. So while rivals boast about dozens of AI tools, Apple’s restraint doesn’t really seem to bother buyers as much. For now, the iPhone seems to be doing just fine without all the AI noise.

Should you buy it?

The iPhone 17 Pro Max doesn’t scream innovation. It whispers confidence. It’s Apple doubling down on the fundamentals — screen, camera, performance, and battery — and doing them better than almost anyone else.

It’s also the rare big phone that doesn’t feel like a compromise. The design is elegant, the battery unshakable, the camera system versatile, and the display stunning. Everything else — USB-C, AI features, 10 Gbps transfer — just adds to the sense that this is the iPhone Apple’s been inching towards for years.

If you love large phones, shoot a lot of photos or videos, or just want the best piece of Apple hardware you can buy, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is it. It’s not for everyone — but that’s the point.

In a world of incremental upgrades and AI gimmicks, Apple’s big phone feels like a reminder that refinement is innovation.

Starting at Rs 1,69,900, this is one of the most expensive smartphones you can buy. For those who want the best of the iPhone experience, this remains the ultimate flex. For others, the iPhone 17 can do the job with aplomb.