I examined the iPhone 17 Professional Max, and this is one huge purpose for a year-over-year improve

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The brand new flagship iPhone brings two huge pictures upgrades, within the zoom digicam and the front-facing digicam
• The brand new A19 Professional processor, the N1 chip, and the thermal upgrades mix to rev up efficiency
• For the creator, this yr’s improve selection boils all the way down to overcoming a flaw prior to now two Professional Max fashions

extra shopping for decisions

So far as annual upgrades go, we obtained quite a bit within the iPhone 17 Professional Max — a redesign, a change of supplies, new colours, a battery improve, a processor made much more deliberately for AI, two huge digicam refinements, and a repair for final yr’s largest flaw.

However how does it match collectively in a single package deal, what’s it like to make use of, and is it definitely worth the improve? We’re right here to debate these questions, as we do yearly.

So far as iPhone opinions go, I’ve mixed my iPhone Professional and Professional Max opinions into one story for the final a number of years, as a result of the 2 have been so related. They’re extra related than ever this yr, with the one variations being the bigger display and bigger battery within the Professional Max. 

Additionally: Greatest iPhone 2025: I in contrast the highest fashions and located one of the best choices for you

So this yr, I am simply going to make my evaluate all concerning the iPhone 17 Professional Max. You possibly can safely assume nearly all of this is applicable to the Professional mannequin as nicely, if the smaller Professional is your jam.

I’ve upgraded iPhones yearly for the reason that first iPhone in 2007, and the Professional Max has been the iPhone mannequin I’ve upgraded to yearly for the reason that first one arrived with the iPhone 11 Professional Max in 2019. I additionally had the iPhone XS Max the yr earlier than, in case you consider that one as the primary Max.

And, after all, I am not alone. The Professional Max has been the best-selling iPhone mannequin for the reason that iPhone 14 Professional Max, which started a reign of constructing the biggest, most costly iPhone the best-selling telephone mannequin on this planet, based on Omdia analysis.

Additionally: iPhone 17 Professional Max vs. Google Pixel 10 Professional XL: I in contrast the flagship handsets, and there is a winner

This yr, Apple has already devoted 40% of its manufacturing capability to churning out the iPhone 17 Professional Max, with 25% going to the iPhone 17 Professional, 25% to the iPhone 17, and 10% to the iPhone Air, based on The Data. So Apple is already anticipating the iPhone 17 Professional Max to be its No. 1 vendor, and by an even bigger margin ever. That is sensible contemplating there is no Plus mannequin this yr, so the Professional Max is now the one big-screen iPhone.

Once more, I am going all-in on the Professional Max this yr for my evaluate. However, for the previous decade, I have never really useful anybody to improve to the most recent iPhone in the event that they already had final yr’s iPhone — even if I improve annually due to the work I do. Nonetheless, my shopping for recommendation is completely different this yr, so keep tuned for that on the finish.

What’s new within the iPhone 17 Professional Max

First, let’s do a fast lightning spherical on new options, however I am going to save what I contemplate the 4 largest upgrades to speak about in only a second.

• The A19 Professional – One of many unsung heroes of the iPhone’s success and its broad attraction is its highly effective Apple Silicon chips that make it really feel very snappy and responsive in on a regular basis use. This yr, it will get one other leg up. The A19 Professional within the iPhone 17 Professional Max has a 6-core CPU with 2 efficiency cores and 4 effectivity cores, and a 6-core GPU with upgraded “Neural Accelerators” added to every GPU core to make issues like computational pictures, language fashions, and different AI options run a lot quicker. Apple claims a 20% improve in efficiency. This can be a onerous one to quantify in real-world testing (and I do not belief benchmarks as a result of these firms are sensible and know how you can recreation them). Time is the best real-world check for efficiency, so I am going to withhold judgment till I can do a longer-term evaluate on the efficiency of the iPhone 17 Professional Max within the months forward. However for now, suffice it to say that the iPhone 17 Professional Max is powering by way of virtually the whole lot I’ve thrown at it and might be ready for more difficult AI workloads to totally stress-test it.

• New show – The display obtained an improve from 2,000 nits of max brightness to three,000 nits, which makes it simpler to see if you’re outdoor in full daylight (and takes it over the Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely at 2,600 nits). The iPhone 17 Professional Max additionally obtained a brand new anti-glare coating that makes it simpler to view below shiny lights, whether or not you are indoors or outdoor.

• N1 chip for higher networking – Apple is now operating its personal N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and a Thread radio. Bluetooth 6 brings higher precision-finding for FindMy and help for Auracast, Threads is an improve for sensible house gadgets, and utilizing Apple’s personal chip for Wi-Fi 7 may presumably result in far more power-efficient networking since Wi-Fi generally is a main energy hog. This new chip can be geared toward enhancing the reliability of AirDrop, which might be big as a result of it is an awesome function when it really works.

• Sooner charging – Wired charging will get a slight improve to 36W (from 30W final yr), however nonetheless lags behind Samsung (45W) and the Chinese language telephone makers that go wild with over 100W charging. Apple claims now you can get a 50% cost in 20 minutes utilizing a 40W or larger adapter. ZDNET remains to be within the strategy of battery testing, however anecdotally, that quantity feels prefer it’s in the correct ballpark to this point, and it is about 20% quicker than final yr. 

• Higher wi-fi charging – This yr’s telephone additionally now helps Qi2.2 wi-fi charging at 25W by way of MagSafe. The improve right here is that final yr’s mannequin may do MagSafe 25W charging however solely with an Apple charger. Now you may as well use third-party Qi2.2 chargers to get most wi-fi charging speeds — versus beforehand being caught at 15W on these third-party chargers.

• RAM improve – It has 12GB of RAM, up from 8GB final yr, which is able to assist with multitasking and intensive AI functions.

• Extra scratch-resistant display – Apple says the display is 3x extra proof against scratches, due to Ceramic Defend 2. Actually, I do not belief that, not for the reason that iPhone 15 Professional Max obtained a nasty scratch on the display moments after I took it out of the field, and it bothered me to take a look at day by day I used it. I now put a glass display protector on each iPhone once I take it out of the field. The one I might advocate for the iPhone 17 Professional Max is the Nomad ProShield Glass. 

• 2TB storage choice – The utmost storage you should purchase elevated from 1TB to 2TB, which is able to now price $1,999. That is big, particularly for videographers utilizing the iPhone as a professional digicam.

Now, let’s speak concerning the 4 largest causes to improve.

1. Design overhaul fixes the most important flaw

With the iPhone 17 Professional Max, Apple brings the most important design change in seven years to its flagship iPhone. Each fall for the previous six seasons — from the iPhone 11 Professional Max to the iPhone 16 Professional Max — the biggest iPhone seemed a lot the identical annually. That is not the case in 2025. 

Apple has redesigned the iPhone 17 Professional Max from the within out. First, Apple has changed the titanium materials that was a signature function on the final two Professional Max fashions with aluminum. This transfer comes with a number of trade-offs. 

Additionally: iPhone 17s are getting dinged up quick – how you can shield yours from ‘Scratchgate’

After years of being criticized for its Professional telephones’ boring colours, aluminum allowed Apple to be much more daring on the Professional fashions. It went with one mild shade (Silver/White), one darkish shade (Deep Blue), and one enjoyable shade (Cosmic Orange).

The trade-off is that aluminum isn’t practically as powerful as titanium, so we’re already seeing stories of the orange and particularly the blue iPhone 17 Professional Max getting dinged up fairly badly. My recommendation: in case you’re getting an iPhone 17 Professional Max and you do not plan to place it in a case straight away, then go along with the silver/white mannequin that is far much less prone to get dinged up. However I might advocate placing a case on it — my favorites are the Nomad Trendy Case, the Spigen Nano Pop Magfit, and Apple’s new TechWoven Case.

Whereas probably the most noticeable modifications to the iPhone 17 Professional Max are on the surface, probably the most consequential ones are on the within. Switching again to aluminum additionally has a big effect on thermal efficiency, as aluminum might be as much as 5-10 instances higher at conducting and dispersing warmth than titanium. 

And the most important Achilles heel I’ve run into with each the iPhone 15 Professional Max and the iPhone 16 Professional Max has been overheating. In 2023, I reported the intense overheating points I bumped into when the iPhone 15 Professional Max was launched. Whereas iOS 17.0.3 lowered the problems to a minimal degree, I continued to have issues with each the iPhone 15 Professional Max and its titanium successor the iPhone 16 Professional Max.

Additionally: Apple iPhone 17 Professional Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely: I attempted each flagships, and there is a clear winner

Once I would do intense pictures and video with both telephone, they have been recurrently susceptible to overheating, the place they’d get very popular to the contact — even by way of a case — and at these instances, the battery life would begin to drop dramatically, and duties on the telephone would decelerate. 

Equally, once I charged the telephones in my automotive on a MagSafe charger the place they have been additionally uncovered to the solar, they’d recurrently overheat and flash a message on the display that they’d paused charging till the telephone cooled down. For me, this grew to become an everyday a part of life with the iPhone 15 Professional Max and the iPhone 16 Professional Max.

Along with switching again to an aluminum physique for the iPhone 17 Professional Max, Apple additionally tacitly acknowledged the thermal problem by including a vapor chamber cooling system that makes use of deionized water to chill the A19 Professional chip and run it at most velocity by maintaining it from overheating. 

Greater than some other function on the iPhone 17 Professional Max, I’ve tried to place the brand new cooling to the check as a result of the overheating problem has been the most important flaw I’ve skilled with the Professional Max for the previous two years. I am blissful to report that the early outcomes have been very optimistic for the iPhone 17 Professional Max — though not good. 

It began with the migration from the iPhone 16 Professional Max to the iPhone 17 Professional Max. Through the a number of hours it took emigrate my knowledge from final yr’s telephone to this yr’s telephone, the 16 Professional Max obtained very heat (109 levels) whereas the 17 Professional Max did a a lot better job of maintaining its cool (86 levels), as you possibly can see within the thermal picture on the correct. 

Additionally: 5 cool methods your iPhone’s lock display simply obtained extra customizable with iOS 26

In going about my every day duties, together with heavy picture and video use and MagSafe charging within the automotive, the iPhone 17 Professional Max has skilled little to no overheating. So this seemed like an enormous win. Nonetheless, once I took the iPhone 17 Professional Max to Florida and began doing heavy video and pictures throughout a sunny day within the 90-degree warmth, the iPhone 17 Professional Max began appearing like its final two predecessors and overheating (Brian Tong reported related overheating when he took the telephone exterior within the Southern California warmth). Luckily, it cooled down pretty shortly in my case.

However, I am satisfied that Apple has made important progress on the overheating problem with the iPhone 17 Professional Max — and the truth that it modified supplies for higher warmth dispersion and launched the brand new vapor chamber cooling function are big steps in the correct route.

2. Apple reinvents the selfie digicam

Probably the most thrilling new function within the iPhone 17 Professional Max is undoubtedly the reimagined selfie digicam, which each dramatically improves the standard of selfies and makes them simpler to take. Apple revealed that individuals took over 500 billion selfies with iPhones over the previous yr, so it is clear that we want it. The front-facing digicam has lengthy been the weakest hyperlink in iPhone pictures.

How did Apple pull it off? It upgraded the sensor on the front-facing digicam from 12MP to 18MP (outputting photos vertically or horizontally), made it ultrawide, and switched from an oblong sensor to a sq. sensor. Apple has branded the brand new digicam as a Middle Stage digicam, but it surely’s much more highly effective than the Middle Stage video digicam that merely facilities you within the body throughout video calls on iPad or Mac. 

Now you can maintain the iPhone vertically however change between taking a vertical or horizontal picture with a single thumb faucet on the brand new Middle Stage button that mechanically pops up if you’re utilizing the front-facing digicam. And even cooler, in case you faucet the Middle Stage settings button on the high of the display, and you’ll activate each Auto Rotate and Auto Zoom, then the digicam will use AI to acknowledge the faces in your group selfie shot and mechanically change between vertical or horizontal orientation to verify to get everybody within the shot. 

Additionally: Why I am recommending this iPhone 17 mannequin to most individuals (and it is not the Professional Max)

To Apple’s credit score, it launched the brand new selfie digicam to your entire iPhone 17 lineup this yr. I would not be shocked to see a lot of different telephone makers undertake sq. sensor front-facing cameras in 2026 as a result of as soon as you utilize Apple’s new selfie digicam, the whole lot else appears like a step behind. 

3. Zoom pictures will get much more professional 

I really like zoom pictures, and I additionally dig iPhone pictures. I’ve taken over 100,000 iPhone pictures prior to now 18 years, however once I have to take telephoto photographs, that is once I nonetheless pull out my Sony mirrorless digicam. Whereas the Professional Max has had a 5x zoom lens for the previous two generations, it is not been nice. It is effective for taking a couple of photographs to put up on social media, however the high quality hasn’t been on the identical degree as the opposite iPhone cameras. I by no means use it for photographs I’ll wish to print, flip right into a desktop or cell wallpaper picture, and even use for ZDNET hero photos on tales.

Within the iPhone 17 Professional Max, Apple has elevated the sensor of its tetraprism zoom from 12MP to 48MP whereas altering the principle zoom lens to 4x. Apple has additionally created an 8x zoom lens choice that crops in and creates an optical zoom picture at 12MP. Thus far, I have been impressed with the standard of this new zoom lens, particularly in full daylight. It will possibly create photos which can be extra crisp and fewer grainy than I am used to on iPhone zoom pictures — and that is a welcome change. 

Will it’s adequate that I can use it extra typically to seize extra skilled photographs? I am optimistic, however I’ll want extra time to take a greater diversity of photographs and consider them afterward. I additionally wish to evaluate it to the Google Pixel 10 Professional XL and different Android telephones which have lengthy had an enormous benefit over the iPhone on zoom photographs.

Generally, to this point I am additionally liking the picture processing on the iPhone 17 Professional Max — it is a lot colder out-of-camera than the final couple of years — and the picture high quality is a bit bit sharper and clear total. I will be doing a devoted evaluate of this yr’s professional digicam system in a few weeks, after I take a ton of several types of pictures in a wide range of lighting circumstances with the entire varied lenses on the iPhone 17 Professional Max.

4. Battery life lastly matches Samsung flagships

With the iPhone 17 Professional Max, Apple has put its largest battery ever in a telephone — at 5,088mAh within the US model with no SIM card slot. The worldwide variations with a SIM card slot get a barely smaller 4,823mAh battery. Mixed with the efficiencies of the A19 Professional processor and the N1 networking chip, this offers the iPhone 17 Professional Max a considerable raise in battery life. 

And do not underestimate the worth of getting a greater thermal design as nicely. As I discussed above, considered one of my largest challenges with battery life within the final two generations of the Professional Max has been that the battery would drain much more shortly when it was overheating.

Apple now charges the iPhone 17 Professional Max as having 39 hours of video playback, in comparison with 33 hours for the iPhone 16 Professional Max. That is a 15% increase, and a large bounce from one technology to the subsequent. In real-world blended utilization, now you can count on about 15-20 hours of battery life. 

Additionally: I changed my Samsung S25 Edge with the iPhone Air – and my shopping for recommendation has modified

The underside line is that the iPhone 17 Professional Max now matches gadgets such because the Samsung S24 Extremely and S25 Extremely. With the final a number of generations of Samsung Extremely telephones, I’ve merely by no means needed to fear about battery life. They’d generally get to the tip of a enterprise day with practically a 50% cost. And since additionally they have super-fast charging, even when I ever did get low on cost with the Samsung flagship — often as a result of I hadn’t charged it in a single day — in lower than an hour of charging, it could get loads of juice to make it by way of the remainder of the day. Relating to battery life and charging, they have been the MacBook Professional of telephones. The iPhone 17 Professional Max is now in the identical league. 

What I might wish to see in iPhone 18 Professional Max

1. Do away with the digicam bump – I do not love digicam bumps, or digicam plateaus as Apple now deems its bump. That is largely as a result of a bump makes a telephone extra awkward to slide out and in of your pocket or bag. It will possibly additionally make the telephone sit a bit awkwardly on a flat floor. I do not love the aesthetics both, as a result of it provides the telephone a extra cumbersome appear and feel. This yr, Apple not solely made the iPhone 17 Professional Max digicam bump bigger, but it surely’s now the most important bump on any of the premium flagship telephones. This has made me actually respect the Samsung S24 Extremely and S25 Extremely, the place the cameras sit fully flush if you put a type of telephones in a case.

2. Software program that catches as much as the {hardware} – As you possibly can inform by now, Apple has absolutely leaned into the design and {hardware} options within the iPhone 17 Professional Max this yr, and it has usually created a terrific improve. The telephone additionally will get a software program redesign with the arrival of iOS 26, which is a little bit of a blended bag. The Liquid Glass design seems fashionable, new, and flashy, but it surely additionally has readability points. I positively favor to flip the change for Scale back Transparency in Settings. 

Additionally: I am skipping the iPhone 17 Professional this yr – 3 causes the bottom mannequin makes extra sense

However the greater software program problem for the iPhone 17 Professional Max is what’s not there. It is a telephone that’s constructed to excel for next-gen AI options, however none of these options are right here but — at the very least not from Apple. As quick because the broader AI ecosystem is evolving, the iPhone may have loads of instruments to reap the benefits of its AI capabilities, however they will come from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and others. This can be a missed alternative, as a result of Apple may clearly combine one of the best of AI extra deeply into its flagship product in ways in which app builders merely cannot. On the very least, we want a a lot better Siri that takes benefit of one of the best prospects of generative AI in subsequent yr’s Professional Max.

3. A foldable iPhone 18 Professional Max can be superb – Samsung’s Galaxy Fold 7 confirmed me what’s doable with foldable telephones — a telephone practically the identical dimension as a flagship when it is closed with the usability of a small pill when it is open. However what I need is a full flagship telephone with all the identical digicam capabilities, display dimension, and kind issue that matches a telephone just like the Galaxy S25 Extremely or the iPhone 17 Professional Max. 

Samsung practically obtained there with the Fold 7, however the cowl display remains to be a bit slimmer and the cameras nonetheless have compromises. Possibly Samsung will get there with the Fold 8. But when Apple may make a foldable iPhone that appears and appears like its common flagship telephone when closed however unfolds into an iPad Mini, then it’s going to have created its strongest gadget but. I might even put up with a digicam bump to get that. 

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

Make no mistake — Apple has packed a ton of latest stuff into this yr’s iPhone 17 Professional Max. This could be probably the most substantial year-over-year improve we have seen to a Professional Max. Nonetheless, I’d not usually advocate folks with both of the final two generations of the Professional Max improve for any of those options. However this yr is a bit completely different. 

Primarily due to the overheating downside, I’ll advocate one thing that I usually wouldn’t. If you happen to have been like me and also you’re operating into a whole lot of overheating points with both the iPhone 15 Professional Max or the iPhone 16 Professional Max, then I might advocate that you just contemplate upgrading to the iPhone 17 Professional Max. I do know that could be an costly choice, relying on the place you’re along with your wi-fi service. However if you’re due a telephone improve or you possibly can improve for minimal price with a trade-in, then I feel you will be quite a bit happier with the iPhone 17 Professional Max. 

In case your service provides you grief about upgrading or needs to overcharge you for it, then considered one of your choices is to contemplate switching carriers — as a lot of a ache as that may be — as a result of rival carriers will now typically pay any excellent balances or switching charges to entice you to make the bounce. 

You probably have an iPhone 14 Professional Max or earlier and also you held off on upgrading to both of the final two Professional Max fashions, then your persistence has been rewarded this yr. You are going to be a telephone with a lot better efficiency, a lot better battery life, a vastly improved digicam system, and one which’s prepared for the most recent AI options — regardless of which firm is making them.

If the overheating problem has not precipitated you issues along with your iPhone 15 Professional Max or iPhone 16 Professional Max and you are still getting good battery life (verify your battery well being), then keep on about your corporation and preserve a watch out for the iPhone 18 Professional Max. Possibly we’ll even get a folding model subsequent yr, and it can save you your cash to place towards that one, as a result of it is most likely going to be much more costly.