The new iPhone 17 Pro Max sports a forged aluminum unibody built from aerospace-grade 7000-series alloy, making it light yet able to dissipate heat efficiently. Its distinctive rear “camera plateau” holds all three lenses and creates extra room inside – for example, enabling a larger battery.

Apple says the plateaus and vapor chamber (with deionized water) help move heat away from the A19 Pro chip so the phone can maintain high performance for longer. The build is also tough: Ceramic Shield 2 covers the front and (for the first time) the back, yielding 3× better scratch resistance on front glass and 4× better crack resistance on the back versus prior models.

An all-new Action button replaces the mute switch, letting you long-press to quickly launch functions like Silent mode, Camera, Voice Memos, Translation, or Shortcuts. The 17 Pro Max comes in three finishes – Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue, and Silver – all with a matte textured back.

Display

iPhone 17 Pro Max features a Super Retina XDR OLED display that is 6.9 inches, the largest and the brightest display ever on an iPhone. It has ProMotion variable refresh up to 120 Hz to enable silky-smooth scrolling, and can bring the brightness all the way down to 1 Hz or all the way up to an amazing 3000 nits in an outdoor setting.

Always-On display is introduced with this generation, allowing you to view time, widgets and Live Activities on-demand without waking the phone (with efficient refresh rates and power management). The new anti-reflective surface on the glass in front of Apple applications is better in the sunlight. Concisely, it is a very lively, pro-type screen – extremely bright, incredibly smooth and flawless scratch-resistance.

Camera System

On the back of the 17 Pro Max, the camera system is entirely 48 3. -iPhone firsts. Fusion lenses include three Fusion Lenses: a Main wide, an Ultra-Wide, and a new Telephoto. The Telephoto features a tetraprism design with a sensor that is 56 percent larger than the previous that provides it with much sharper shots particularly during the good light. 

It has two optical zoom, 4x at 100 mm (classic portrait length) and 8x at 200 mm – the longest optical zoom on any iPhone. The cameras are able to capture small details and color even during low-light situations with the help of Apple updated Photonic Engine, which employs additional on-device machine learning. Digital zoom It can be extended to 40x on stills (in circumstances needing distance coverage). New Photographic Styles (software filters) are also available such as in iOS 26 a Bright style that smartly enhances skin tones and even sharpness.

On the front, it is a new 18MP Center Stage selfie camera. This employs the original square sensor of Apple, that allows it to take on a broader field of view when held vertically. It can now natively take pictures and video in landscape or portrait mode (no need to turn the phone round) and it will automatically pan/zoom as people move in or out of frame.

 That is, it has a way of keeping everyone focused by employing AI to widen the scope of view of group selfies. The front camera is also able to shoot ultra stabilized 4 K HDR video and a new Dual Capture feature allows you to shoot with the front and back cameras at the same time – ideal when you are shooting yourself and the world around you.

In the case of video, the 17 Pro Max is designed as a professional model: it shoots 4K Dolby Vision HDR (up to 60 fps) with Spatial Audio, and also supports ProRes RAW, Apple Log 2 color, and even genlock (to synchronize the footage between multiple cameras). In a word, be it Hollywood-style video or an informal clip, you have a massively flexible, high quality toolkit.

Performance (A19 Pro Chip)

The A19 Pro chip is central to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and it is the fastest ever iPhone CPU. It is based on a 3-nanometer technology and contains a 6-core processor (which Apple dubs the fastest smartphone processor) and a 6-core graphics. Even the individual cores of each GPU have their own Neural Accelerator and the board has a new 16-core Neural Engine.

 The outcome: Apple boasts of up to 40% improved sustained performance compared to earlier and activities such as gaming and video editing are blisteringly fast. Apple explicitly points out that the chip supports on-device AI (e.g. executing large language or image models locally). In daily use you’ll notice super-fast app launches and smooth multitasking. There’s also a new N1 wireless chip that brings Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support for faster, more reliable connectivity.

The efficient A19 Pro and iOS 26 work together to extend battery life. Thanks in part to the large internal battery (made possible by the unibody design) and smart power management, Apple says the 17 Pro Max delivers the best battery life ever in an iPhone. In practical terms, that means up to 39 hours of video playback on a full charge. 

(Notably, the US/eSIM-only models gain the absolute maximum capacity – models with a physical SIM run about 2 hours shorter.) Charging speeds have improved too: with a high-wattage USB-C adapter (40W/60W), you can get to 50% charge in about 20 minutes. MagSafe wireless charging also now supports the new 25W Qi2 standard, for faster wireless top-ups.

Software and AI Features

The iOS 26 that comes pre-packed with the iPhone 17 Pro Max brings a new intelligent feature and redesigned interface. The Always-On feature of the OS allows your lock screen to display fainted clocks, widgets, and Live Activities at all times with minimal energy consumption. iOS 26 is also accompanied by elements of Liquid Glass theme (translucent, glossy tiles of the UI) and adaptive widgets. 

Apple focuses on Apple Intelligence on the AI side: a series of on-device machine-learning capabilities that were initially announced last year. They are Live Text and Visual Look Up (identifying text and objects in images) and Writing Tools (language enhancements in applications), and Live Translation. A new CleanUp will be able to remove unintended items in photographs. All these AI applications operate on the Neural Engine of the A19 Pro, and therefore can be provided by the 17 Pro Max locally and safely.

Apple Intelligence remains in its beta phase in the select languages.

Durability and Other Features

In addition to the Ceramic Shield glass, the 17 Pro Max also has an IP68 rating (dust and water resistant to 6 m, 30 minutes, according to the Apple spec, though it does not appear on the Apple site).

It is compatible with MagSafe accessories (magnetic chargers, cases and wallets). Apple also did not give up on environmental initiatives: it uses parts such as recycled cobalt in the battery pack and recycled gold in the logic board, and the phone is manufactured using 40 percent renewable power in the supply chain. You also have the most recent privacy and safety features available including Messages via satellite (emergency text) and crash detection the common iPhone offerings.

Pricing and Availability

The iPhone 17 Pro Max begins at $1,199 (USD) for the 256 GB model. Additional storage options include 512 GB, 1 TB, and (for the first time) a 2 TB tier – a whopping amount for storing photos, videos, and files. Pre-orders opened on September 12, 2025, with general availability on September 19 (later rollout in some countries). The device comes unlocked or via carriers, with trade-in and carrier deals available to help offset the cost. As usual, Apple and many carriers also offer installment and trade-in credits if you want to upgrade from an older iPhone.

Specifications