iPhone 17 Pro & Pro Max Review After 2 Weeks: The Biggest Upgrade You Can’t See? 🤔
Have you ever wondered why your iPhone feels “the same” year after year? Because Apple has been selling you power, not so much progress. But this year, they finally changed. The Pro iPhones just became the MacBook Pros of the smartphone world.
So, what did Apple do differently for the iPhone 17 Pro this time? Well, after using the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max for two weeks, let’s talk about how Apple quietly changed everything.
Design & Build
So, I chose the iPhone 17 Pro Max in this Silver color, which was very calm and just blends and matches with almost everything, whether it’s a Mac, the Apple Watch, especially this Ultra version which has antenna lines around the watch face, and more on the antenna lines later on. And it also matches with the AirPods Max or even your Apple TV remote as well. And this truly represents Apple’s clean and minimal look.
But the iPhone 17 Pro’s hero color this year is this, the Cosmic Orange. This just steals the attention. But while this color really stands out, people in general reacted more when I was using the iPhone Air compared to having this particular Pro version of this color. And speaking of that, the iPhone Air review is out, so do check it out if you guys haven’t seen it.
But there was one doubt when I was using these Pro models, as these Pros are slightly thicker than last year’s Pro models, which is 8.8mm instead of 8.3mm. But with the aluminum unibody and with the slightly curved edges, this felt really comfortable to hold and felt cold in a very good way. And the typing experience was great.
While both of these do weigh slightly more, I did not find any issues on day-to-day usage. So, you’ll easily get used to this. But I did feel a little uneasiness when I was shooting for longer periods of time, specifically when I was shooting vertically. Maybe it’s because of the weight or the new design, I’m yet to figure that out.
But this new Camera Plateau design does make the phone wobble less when placed flat on a table.
And speaking of this plateau design, this is also where Apple has decided to put in the antenna lines around it, where this apparently also boosts the signal when it comes to phone calls as well.
Another big change from the build quality perspective, or should I say a newer or the “older” aluminum back instead of titanium, because the older iPhones like the iPhone 5, 6, and 7 were using aluminum. So, this new old finish allows the phone to spread out heat faster, which was the major issue for the iPhone 15 Pros and the 16 Pros. But if you’re wondering if replacing the titanium with this new aluminum back again is a success, well, I’ll come to that in a minute.
Because the biggest elephant in the room is the “Scratch Gate”, which has plagued the world of the internet ever since these phones were launched. And to be honest, I was not very surprised about how easy it was to scratch. Why? Because remember the Midnight color on the Mac? Yep. That too had reports of that being scratched easily.
But for the very first time ever, I have been using these two phones without a case, to the point that people actually came up to me and said, “Wow, you’re using this without a case.” True story. And after two weeks, I’m yet to see any major scratches or color chipping. So, don’t worry about that, because it’s not as bad. Unless your pocket doubles up as a sandpit, then you definitely have to worry about that.
And that anxiety levels were even lower when I was using the Silver variant, because I know it won’t leave any scuffs. But the good news is that even with the Cosmic Orange variant, it was fine from day-to-day usage. Of course, that was without any extreme drops or bumps happening.
However, according to research, 75% of smartphone users put a case on their phone, and this number jumps up to 85% for iPhone users. And while I do understand that this issue should not even happen in the first place because of the amount of money that you spend on this, even if this did not have the scratch gate, people would have already put a case on this anyway. So if you’re one of them, the next part might just save you some money and anxiety.
Speaking of cases, there are these amazing cases that I would recommend. Firstly is of course Apple’s very own TechWoven case. Definitely one of the best Apple has made.
Then there are two from dbrand. Firstly is the Ghost case. As this not only protects the phone very well, but it also shows off the phone’s color, it is very lightweight and obviously protects the phone from scratches, and it also has a nice grippy drop protection all around the case with a more tactile feel on the buttons. What’s extra sweet is that dbrand promises that these cases would not turn yellow, which happens in most cases, pun intended.
But if you want the ultimate protection, dbrand’s Tank case is even more durable. It also comes with options with the Custom Button Kit too, where this particular case also turns the iPhone into black, a color which was not included this year.
And if you want to give your phone screen the extra layer of protection, you can get dbrand’s Prism 2.0 screen protector with a super idiot-proof way of applying it, where dbrand gives you two just in case you get panic easily or just screw it up when you’re applying it.
You can head to dbrand.com/adamlobotv to get yours. And speaking of protecting your screen, let’s talk about this next.
Display
So, the iPhone 17 Pro has a 6.3 inch screen and the iPhone 17 Pro Max has a 6.9 inch screen. So, no changes since the previous models. Both have the anti-reflective 120 Hz ProMotion with Ceramic Shield 2 protection.
So, this anti-reflective screen is new, but not a matte finish as mentioned in my other iPhone reviews. But the screen feels a little tiny bit textured. Definitely feels newer compared to the iPhone 16 Pros. Maybe there is an improvement, or it’s just me because it’s brand new.
But other than that, watching videos on this was really nice, perfect for watching Netflix, Disney+, or even YouTube videos.
And the content viewing experience was not only because of the phone screen, but the stereo speakers on this are bloody good as this has the best stereo speakers that I’ve ever heard. The audio was very clear and the proper separations of the instruments with a very nice amount of bass too, while also being more than loud enough.
Then as for using the phone daily, yes, it shines, like literally, with 3,000 nits of peak brightness, where this looks very clear in direct sunlight, especially when it comes to shooting videos or photos under a very bright sun, as compared to last year’s iPhone 16 Pro, while also maintaining the brightness for long periods of time.
But also the automatic brightness on this has also really improved significantly too, going really bright when it needs to or very dim when there’s very little light. So, yes, it is a superb and an improved screen all around.
Performance
With 12 GB of RAM, this has the newest A19 Pro chip, which I would say is too good for a smartphone at this particular point, because of all of the possible games that you could think of, this runs every single one of them with the highest settings, with the highest FPS value.
And a huge shout out goes out to the new vapour chamber cooling because this does make the phone to be very cool compared to the iPhone Air. And the difference is very clear. This also does not drop the brightness or the FPS as quickly as the earlier models. So, yeah, you can call this a huge win with an overall comfortable experience when it comes to gaming.
And those antenna lines mentioned earlier wrapping around the Camera Plateau, this is a difference that you will definitely feel, because if you’re used to areas where your signal is not as strong, for example, in the basement parking or even in the elevator as well, and that is something very underrated and not mentioned enough, because in the end of the day, it’s a phone, right?
Camera
As for cameras, this does have the new 48 MP telephoto lens, which got upgraded from 12 MP, but the optical zoom went from 5x zoom to 4x zoom. So the optical lenses are based on 2x increments.
And because this is a 48 MP lens, the photos are slightly more detailed as compared to last year, especially the new 8x zoom, where the telephoto lenses were really good.
But of course, the main lenses during the day and night were really awesome as expected.
But one thing I’ve noticed is that while iPhones used to be known for their “point, shoot, and upload” before, I honestly feel that the Pros are now going towards or inclining towards a more natural look. What I mean by that is that you definitely need to edit a little if you want it to be social media ready, as based on my recent test of the cameras, smartphones and the pictures coming out from the Xiaomi 15T Pro or even the new vivo X300 Pro are a little more ready to post.
So over here, if you’re satisfied with the natural photos, then you can just go ahead and post it, or you can play around with the photography styles, which honestly is the easiest way to edit your photos depending on your mood.
But this still lacks in one place, the lens flare or the glare in low light conditions when it comes to shooting against signages, cars, or even street lights, which in my opinion, Apple should have fixed by now. But if you compare that to the base iPhone or even the iPhone Air, the lens flare over here is so much lesser.
But then again, as a “Pro” variant, this shouldn’t even have that in the first place, as much as these cameras really impress me.
Video Recording
[Check out the video footage on my YouTube video]
But the iPhones always had a very good reputation when it comes to videos. And yes, it was amazing over here with amazing stabilization for the rear cameras.
As for the front camera as well, especially with the new 18 MP square sensor, which gives you the same great ultra wide style video quality.
But the biggest creative addition to the iPhones is the ProRes RAW recording capabilities with Open Gate recording support. Before I tell you what Open Gate is and why it is important, let me tell you why ProRes RAW is a big deal.
Firstly, ProRes RAW is a codec that you only get in high-end cameras like Blackmagic cameras that we use or even the Nikon Z9, but most other camera brands like Sony, Canon, or Panasonic needs an external recorder like the Atomos Ninja V. And this is because the ProRes RAW records in 12-bit RAW. So imagine a movie quality recording on your phone.
Then the Open Gate recording is where the whole sensor, which is a 3:2 aspect ratio, is used. Why is this important? Well, in the world of creating content on a vertical and a landscape position, by shooting Open Gate, you can crop to a 9:16 vertical or a 16:9 aspect ratio by only shooting once on a landscape position.
But in order to shoot this ProRes RAW and Open Gate, it only works with the Blackmagic Camera app and the Final Cut Camera app. So, it’s not in the native camera app.
But while that was fine because you can simply just download those apps and you’re ready to go, the huge caveat is that the app only allows you to record ProRes RAW with an external SSD, which makes me wonder why have a 2 TB option for the iPhone 17 Pro Max then, right?
But the good news is that with the latest software update on the Blackmagic camera app, you can also shoot Open Gate but on the Apple ProRes Log 422. So, with that big storage option, as I mentioned, it will help to do a very quick high quality video in a pinch without thinking of getting an external SSD. Oh, and also worth mentioning is the fact that there’s no stabilization option at all with Open Gate and ProRes RAW recording too.
Anyways, I’m getting too nerdy over here. So, let’s talk about the battery life next, because that was the area that I was extremely impressed with.
Battery
I was getting close to 7 and a half hours of battery with just 10% left on the iPhone 17 Pro. And considering the size and my ultimate heavy usage, that was a very respectable number.
But the Pro Max did confuse me a little because when I started using the phone, it was only giving me roughly about 6 hours of screen-on time, which was strange compared to the Pro, right? But with the latest software update, I added a day with 52% battery with a total screen-on time of 5 hours and 41 minutes without charging the phone. And overnight it lost only about 6%, which is not a lot, because of the fact that the Always-on display was turned on. So that was a great start.
And I got about 2 and a half hours on battery life on Day 2 with about 9% left. So all in all, I was getting almost 8 hours of screen-on time on a very heavy usage. So yes, the battery life on this is definitely “Pro Max”, pun intended.
But the final flourish is the fact that Apple did improve on the charging speed. While it’s not a huge upgrade, but this does get to 50% faster than last year’s Pro models.
Software
This also comes with iOS 26 out of the box. All good and no complaints at all as mentioned in my other iPhone 17 model and the iPhone Air review.
I did hear some complaints from people who are using the iPhone 15 Pro models that their battery life has gone down significantly ever since this update. But my advice is this. Do a hard reset and just start clean. Yes, this means downloading your apps and entering all your login information again, which is something that I do not only for iPhones, but every new phone that I use when I put my SIM card in.
Yes, this is a very tedious process, but I’ll tell you why you should. Number 1, by doing so, it makes your phone start from scratch, so there’s no unwanted files and data being stored on the phone.
And Number 2, and I believe very strongly on this, is that most apps on your phone are probably apps that you haven’t been using for years. So trust me, do that and you’ll technically feel like you got a brand new phone, especially with this brand new iOS 26 update.
Conclusion
So, with this, to answer the question of “What did Apple do differently for the Pros this time?”
The answer is simple: Apple gave the Pros the same clear differentiating aspect like they have given to the MacBooks.
You see how the baseline MacBooks like the M2, M3, and M4 are very powerful enough for the majority of the users while being at a very competitive pricing, allowing them to be easily available for the majority of people. And if someone wants that raw power or more specs, they can go for the M3 Pro or the M4 Max.
That is the exact same way that Apple is trying to place the baseline iPhone 17 by providing almost everything a normal user would want at a very competitive pricing.
And for someone who wants the extra raw power, the vapour chamber cooling, ProRes RAW, and better cameras and all, they would go for the Pro and the Pro Max. This way, Apple can target both the type of users while giving you what you actually need.
Related:
