Apple released its 2025 iPhones today. I was able to preorder an iPhone 17 Pro Max, and have spent the last couple hours setting it up. While the selling point of the iPhone 17 Pro Max was the increased battery life (something I obviously have not been able to test yet), I found myself surprised and impressed in other ways.
This year, Apple redesigned the Pro iPhones. The frame of the phone is made from a single piece of aluminum, giving the phone a singular, cohesive feel in the hand. While thermal conductivity is likely the reason Apple went back to aluminum, I find myself really liking the unibody design. Compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max—where there is a noticeable difference in materials between the titanium frame and the back of the device—the iPhone 17 Pro Max has a much more unified and elegant feel.
Another big design change for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max is what apple calls the ‘plateau’. The plateau is a rectangular area that extends slightly from the top-back of the iPhone and houses the cameras, A19 Pro processor, and other components. Where these components used to be, Apple has included a bigger battery. Think of a ‘camera bump’ but more elegant. The plateau extends across almost the entire width of the device and enough down the length to feel like an element of the design—rather than a solution to a problem.
Performance is, in one word, ‘zippy’. Coming from the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which itself runs iOS 26 quite well, I wondered if the iPhone 17 Pro Max would really feel that much faster. The answer is a resounding ‘yes’. Even just navigating the setup screen, VoiceOver was noticeably more responsive to my touch gestures. Whether this increased responsiveness is thanks to the A19 Pro processor, the boost to 12GB ram, or a little bit of both, the end result is that the iPhone 17 Pro Max is far and away the most-responsive iPhone I have ever used.
While I have had only very limited time with the device so far, my initial impression is that the speakers on the iPhone 17 Pro Max sound noticeably better than those on the iPhone 16 Pro Max; with more bass and high ends across the range of volume levels. This will likely come as good news to many, as the speakers on the iPhone 16 Pro Max left a lot to be desired. One last note about the speakers for now: the bottom speaker is now on the left of the device, whereas on recent models it was on the right.
Other things will require more testing. I tried taking a selfie with the new front-facing Center Stage camera, but it was unclear to me as a blind user if Center Stage was engaged and working properly. I was not able to test Center Stage with FaceTime yet but hope to do so for the full review. Speaking of calls, my first and only call so far on the iPhone 17 Pro Max was not the best, with a couple momentary dropouts. I have no idea what that was about—was it how I held the phone on my shoulder at that moment, something with my Verizon service, or just a fluke.
As for that all-important battery life? We shall see. I have high hopes.
Watch this space...
Comments
I’m running an iPhone SE through generation and an iPhone 15 wit
I don’t think Apple is slowing down older devices. If anything, my iPhone SE third generation is running just as well but I OS 26 and it was iOS 18. That’s why I was a performance of it. The iPhone 15 I just got in August so I don’t think that’s even running any different either because that’s still an older phone and I haven’t noticed any performance differences on that. I think Apple used to have some issues but they don’t do it anymore as far as I can tell.
Misinformation is the denial
The problem is that the video only focuses on the camera bump, whereas the reports are actually mostly about scratches left by MagSafe chargers, therefore the video cannot in any way be used to deny any of the reports, and any attempts to downplay the issue based on that video alone are not logically sound as both problems can be logically true at the same time. That video gives me a bit of confidence about the silver model though, since there's a chance that it might not actually have any anodized paint at all because as I mentioned silver is the natural color of aluminum, and thus the silver models might be completely immune to these scratches..
As for the scratches, I am no chemist, but in my head it does make some sense that rubbing something over an anodized paint coupled with a relatively strong magnetic field might loosen the magnetic bonds that hold the paint, potentially causing it to peel off and produce the reported round-shaped scratches that people observed at Apple Stores shortly after their launch day openings.
Singer Girl
Lucky girl. Some have issues. My is VO stopping on middle of reading notification. It has become more consistent with 26.
VoiceOver and Notifications
If I try to read notifications on the lock screen, its almost guaranteed that the screen will lock mid-read. Reading notifications in the notification center is more reliable, but if a new notification comes in while I'm trying to read another, VoiceOver will stop reading and go all the way back to the top. It's annoying, but not a showstopper.
iPhone Performance
Ever since Apple started using 64-bit processors, the devices have become significantly faster and generally stayed that way throughout their support lifetime. I'm running 26 on an iPhone 11, and it's still very good. On the other hand, running iOS 7 on an iPhone 4 was absolute misery, but to be fair, everything before the 5s had garbage hardware that aged like milk.
This isn't to say you wouldn't notice a performance improvement, but it's very unlikely when you go from the prior generation to the new one. Having said that, if I was ever inclined to get another iPhone which I'm currently not, I'd probably notice a significant performance improvement going from the A13 in the 11 to say an A20 with the iPhone 18 next year when the 11 will more than likely lose support. However, given that Apple supports older releases for a while, let's go even further. If Apple continues supporting 26 with security updates into 2027, 2028, or even 2029, I could conceivably keep my 11 until the iPhone 20 or 21 is released, and then upgrade which would give me an even bigger performance boost.
No scratchs
Asked a sighted person and he said there is none, my phone was out of a case for a day and while I handled it with care it clacked on a table a few times, so I think I’m fine here
Just got my 17 Pro
Apple decided to deliver my silver iPhone 17 Pro earlier than predicted, just like they did with the rest of my order. I have just unpacked the phone and what I have to say is that this thing is a brick. Not only does it have the traditional camera bump multiplied by 3 for the 3 cameras, but those camera bumps also extrude from the plateau, which itself is kind of a chamfered rectangle extrusion at the top third of the back of the iPhone, so the camera bumps are now round shaped extrusions from another extrusion. In addition to this, even the lower side of this iPhone, which is the thinnest, is actually thicker than the SE 2020. While making phones thicker to accommodate bigger batteries is something that generally doesn't bother me, the camera bumps do bother me a lot, because I thought those were already housed inside the plateau which is definitely not the case here. At its thickest side, this phone is significantly thicker than the iPad Mini A17 Pro with a Smart Folio case.
Another thing that I wasn't expecting was a software update. That's right, my iPhone has just updated itself, but I am absolutely clueless about what version was already installed on it because it's now on iOS 26.0. Also the MagSafe magnets are so strong that I literally have to push my chargers down to pick up the phone, because otherwise the magnets are strong enough to lift a charger with a titanium Apple Watch Ultra and its titanium Milanese band that aren't exactly lightweight. I'm also generally unsure how to actually hold this phone, because no matter what part of the edge I grab, I always end up either covering the FaceID sensor, one of the speakers, or accidentally pressing one of the action, side, mute, or volume buttons.
I also ordered the SATECHI MagSafe Wallet that Apple is selling and it works perfectly with the iPhone 17 Pro, extended just far enough up the back of the iPhone to get just short of covering the plateau, and the strong magnets of the iPhone really shine here since this wallet also doubles as a stand for selfie camera action.
João Santos
People describe it the same way. However you will love the battery. Enjoy your phone. Have the 16 pro max so no 17 pro max. Maybe next year the 18 pro max.
Thanks
Thanks for the camera plateau description. I definitely think, should I upgrade to a iPhone 17, I definitely would go with the standard model.