iPhones are a favorite among tech lovers for their smooth performance and elegant design. They combine innovation with user-friendly features, making everyday tasks effortless. Owning an iPhone feels like having cutting-edge technology in your hands.
iPhones account for nearly 8% of the smartphone market in India. Apple has succeeded in transforming aspiration into accessibility through local manufacturing, more intelligent pricing, and a growing demand for high-end technology. The company’s “Make in India” campaign has aided in national expansion and now it is trying to expand even further with the release of the iPhone 17 series, which includes the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max is the most technologically advanced and expensive model of the range, offering the best that Apple has to offer. It’s got a new design, nicer cameras, a very fast processor and pretty bold colours. It’s even pricier than Samsung’s foldable phone. On paper, it has got everything going for it, if your wallet isn’t restrictive.
Here is our frank assessment of the iPhone 17 Pro Max after using it for a while.
iPhone 17 Pro Max Design & Display:
Dimensions and Weight: 163.4 × 78 × 8.75 mm, 231 grams
Build and Durability: Aluminium unibody with IP68 water and dust resistance
Display: 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR OLED LTPO panel with adaptive 120Hz refresh rate
Peak Brightness: Up to 3000 nits
Available Colours: Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue, and Silver
The titanium frame of the previous two Pro generations has been replaced by a heat-forged aluminium unibody chassis in the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The new vapour chamber cooling system improves the aluminium body’s ability to disperse heat evenly throughout the device, minimising hotspots during demanding tasks like gaming or video recording.
One notable design element is the enlarged camera “plateau” that covers the entire width of the phone’s top back, replacing the conventional bump with an elevated shelf. In addition to improving stability when the phone is placed on a surface, this also has three 48MP lenses, including a telephoto lens that is now 48MP, matching the main and ultra-wide cameras.
The camera control button is still located at the bottom right for easy access to the camera app, and the button placements are still familiar with the lock button on the right and the volume and action buttons on the left.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max ditched the solid titanium for an aluminium frame. This has resulted in smartphone being chunkier and heavier than the previous generation Pro Max model. Due to the aluminium frame the iPhone 17 Pro Max weighs 231 grammes becoming one of the most heaviest smartphones in the market. Whereas the thickness of the device is at 8.75mm. These numbers dont look good compared to the 8.25 mm of thickness and 227 grammes of weight of the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The exceptional screen quality of the iPhone 17 Pro Max really makes it stand out. Although its resolution of 2868 x 1320 may not seem revolutionary, the pixel density guarantees incredibly clear and sharp images. With its brilliant colours and remarkable brightness levels, the OLED panel elevates the experience.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max offers a massive 6.9 inches display that is edge to edge with almost no bezels. Moreover the Dynamic Island is positioned in the same place it was in the iPhone 16 Pro Max, since no major upgrades have been made in it. Other specifications of the iPhone 17 Pro Max remain similar to the iPhone 16 Pro Max which include Super Retina XDR OLED panel with a resolution of 1320 x 2868 pixels.
Other than that the iPhone 17 offers ProMotion technology and an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz, along with HDR support, and an always-on display. Moreover the peak brightness has been cranked to 3000 nits, which is the highest ever on an iPhone. If Screen Protection is concerned Apple’s new Ceramic Shield 2 adds an anti-reflective coating, greatly improving visibility under bright sunlight. With its enhanced brightness and exceptional color accuracy
iPhone 17 Pro Max Camera:
Rear Camera Setup: Triple 48MP system — Fusion Main, Fusion Ultra-Wide, and Fusion Telephoto
Optical Zoom: 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x
Front Camera: 18MP Centre Stage camera for selfies and video calls
Camera’s of the iPhone 17 Pro Max are the most advanced ever seen in an iPhone. The sensors of the camera have also been upgraded on both the front and rear side along with software optimisation. Interestingly, all three cameras in the camera module have been upgraded to a 48MP. These cameras offer sharpness and detail that look Social Media ready. Moreover features like ProRes and Log style features provide users with DSLR level video quality.
While a new 48MP Telephoto camera uses a next-generation tetraprism design with a sensor 56% larger than the previous generation, improving clarity in bright light and capturing more detail in darker scenes, its three 48MP Fusion cameras produce sharper, more detailed images. A new 4x optical zoom at 100mm, ideal for traditional portraits, and an 8x optical zoom at 200mm, the longest on an iPhone, give users more creative freedom and a wider field of view.
In real-world use, the iPhone 17 Pro Max produces crisp, highly detailed images with vivid colors that pop and an impressive dynamic range that handles challenging lighting conditions with ease, making every shot look professional and polished.
With its new Centre Stage front camera, the iPhone 17 Pro Max completely changes the way people take photos and videos. Being the first iPhone with a square front camera sensor, it offers a wider field of view and more detailed images with a still photo resolution of up to 18MP. With this update, users can now hold the phone vertically and take photos and videos in either portrait or landscape mode.
For group selfies, Centre Stage for Photos uses cutting-edge AI to automatically enlarge the frame and seamlessly transition between portrait and landscape mode, guaranteeing that everyone is in the picture.
Another feature that makes the camera perfect for vlogging and ultra-stable 4K HDR video recording is Dual Capture, which lets you record with both the front and rear cameras simultaneously. Thanks to innovative features like Dolby Vision HDR recording, 4K at 120 frames per second, ProRes Log, and ACES support, iPhones have long been the industry standard for smartphone video capture. The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, the first smartphones to support ProRes RAW, Log 2, and genlock.
iPhone 17 Pro Max Performance:
Chipset: Apple A19 Pro, built on advanced 3nm technology
Storage Options: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB
Additional Features: Includes a vapor chamber for improved thermal management
Apple launched it’s most advanced chipset ever made for an iPhone which is the A19 Pro. The in-house designed chipset by Apple offers upto 40 percent better and stable performance. According to Apple this performance enhancement is compared to the previous generation Apple iPhone chipset. Moreover the company designed vapour chamber paired with the A19 Pro Bionic makes it perfect for gaming, video editing and AI LLM models.
As far as the structure is concerned the A19 chipset has 6 core CPU structure. This according to Apple ensures fluid, high-performance graphics with Neural Accelerators in each core, a larger cache, and more memory. The A19 Pro Bionic Chipset is not the only new silicone designed by Apple for the iPhone 17 series smartphones. This time the iPhone 17 series smartphones ship with Apple’s latest wireless networking chip N1 . This enhances iPhones support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread. Apple claims the N1 improves connectivity while boosting the functionality and dependability of features like AirDrop and Personal Hotspot.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max doesn’t significantly outperform its predecessor in daily use. It maintains its speed when multitasking and opening apps, and it manages photo and video editing flawlessly.
Using Resident Evil 4 to test the iPhone 17 Pro Max was an absolutely amazing experience. Even during intense action scenes, the A19 Pro chip maintained fluid graphics and smooth frame rates, handling the game with ease. The Super Retina XDR OLED display brought out every detail, and the vapour chamber cooling kept the device comfortably cool. All things considered, gaming on the 17 Pro Max feels quick, responsive, and gorgeous.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max offers significantly better battery performance than 16 Pro Max. The iPhone 17 Pro Max battery tests conducted in real world under a variety of circumstances showed much better battery life than its predecessor. With a 4,832mAh battery instead of the 16 Pro Max’s 4,685mAh, the device appears to be upgraded in the battery department.
iOS 26:
iOS 26 the heart of the iPhones has also been upgraded massively and was launched alongside the iPhone 17 series. It maintains the comfortable iOS feel but with significant upgrades and customisations. The most significant change in iOS 26 is the Liquid Glass Feature, which gives it more rereshed look. Moreover the increased focus on content in this design resulted in interactions feeling more organic and engaging.
Other significant feature is the Cross-language communication which has been made easy with Apple Intelligence’s Live Translation feature in iOS 26. This feature allows for real-time text and audio translation right within Messages, FaceTime, and Phone. Moreover users can now take a screenshot and instantly search for or act on any element visible on their display thanks to improved visual intelligence tools.
Users can remain focused on important conversations by using new call and message screening tools that intelligently filter unwanted interruptions. With improvements to CarPlay, Apple Music, Maps, and Wallet, iOS 26 enhances the overall iPhone experience beyond intelligence and design. Additionally, it introduces Apple Games, a brand-new centre that consolidates all of your gaming experiences in one location. All of these improvements combine to make iOS 26 the most user-friendly, customised, and potent version of the operating system to date.
Conclusion:
The iPhone 17 Pro Max costs more in India than the 16 Pro Max did the previous year, but that is less likely to be a concern if you have read this far. There’s no denying that this is an exorbitantly priced phone and it needs a lot of desire to justify spending the premium.
As a luxury item, then, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is worth what it’s asking. It can make calls, click photos, run all your texting apps and Instagram, help you conduct business meetings and more. As a high-end smartphone, it sets a new benchmark for conventional slab phones. And that’s all you need to know about the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Nothing else.
Hence, if you have upwards of Rs 1.5 lakhs to spend on a phone, head to your nearest Apple Store and pocket one of these.