iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: Main differences to expect
Intro
As if it were yesterday when we welcomed the iPhone 16 generation, and it's nearly time to witness the arrival of the iPhone 17, which might be just around the proverbial corner, slated for the usual September release.
This time around, Apple is changing many things on its largest phone, with the rumor mill hinting at potential external and internal changes.
Would any of these novel features leave the older iPhone 16 Pro Max in the dust?
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max expected differences:
| iPhone 17 Pro Max | iPhone 16 Pro Max |
|---|---|
| Updated design with a Pixel-like camera strip at the back | Flat design language with a large but conventional camera island at the back |
| Slightly thicker 8.7mm frame, possibly aluminum | Thinner at 8.2mm, titanium frame |
| Triple 48MP cameras at the back | 48MP main and ultrawide, but a 12MP periscope camera |
| 24MP FaceTime camera | Lower-res 12MP FaceTime camera |
| Apple A19 Pro chipset | Apple A18 Pro chip on board |
| Likely 12GB of RAM | 8GB RAM |
| Brighter 6.9-inch screen (3000 nits) | Dimmer 6.9-inch screen (2000 nits) |
| Smaller Dynamic Island possible | A standard Dynamic Island cutout |
| Possibly a battery larger than 4,700mAh | 4,685mAh battery |
| Possible reverse wireless charging | No reverse wireless charging |
Table of Contents:
Design and Size
Taking a page out of Google's book
Apple will be shaking up the appearance of the iPhone 17 lineup with notable changes.
In the case of the iPhone 17 Pro Max, that would be an enlarged camera island at the rear, which will span side-to-side and will somewhat remind of the camera strips on Google's Pixel phones, just larger in size.
That would be a stark change in comparison with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which used a refined yet mostly familiar and largely unchanged design language in comparison with its predecessors.
Rumors also point out that the iPhone 17 Pro Max might get slightly thicker at 8.75mm versus the iPhone 16 Pro Max's 8.25mm size. Hopefully, Apple will fill all that extra space with battery, which is always the anticipated outcome of design enlargements.
Build materials might also get changed up a bit. There are rumors claiming that Apple might turn its head away from titanium and come back to aluminum with the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which would make the whole assembly slightly lighter and more cost-effective. Most importantly, however, worldwide titanium production is domineered by China, which could be a major issue should the trade tensions with the US continue.
The button configuration will remain the same: an Action button on the left-hand side and a Camera Control button on the lower-right side of the phone, giving users more control over how they control their devices.
Display Differences
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a 6.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR display once again, with 120Hz ProMotion technology. In this regard, the upcoming device will stay identical with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
However, the iPhone 17 Pro Max might feature a slightly smaller Dynamic Island notch up front. Historically, this wouldn't be the first time Apple has minimized the cutout at the front: back with the iPhone 13 generation, Apple diminished the display notch by 20% in comparison with the previous generations, leaving more screen real estate accessible to the user.
Another possible upgrade could be Apple's adoption of Samsung's M14 OLED panel, which could vastly increase the potential peak brightness from 2,000 nits currently to nearly 3,000 nits in the right ambience. At the same time, the minimum brightness will still gravitate around 1 nit, like on the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Performance and Software
3 or 2nm?
The next iPhone will certainly use the Apple A19 Pro chipset. Although we are sure about the name, we don't know whether it will be manufactured on a 3nm or a denser and more advanced 3nm node.
Given that both the A17 and A18 Pro chips were built on TSMC's 3nm manufacturing node, the A19 Pro will logically use this manufacturing process, but recent rumors claimed that TSMC might have installed the equipment necessary for the 2nm manufacturing process ahead of time, leading to speculation that Apple and the iPhone 17 Pro Max might be first in line to get the faster and even more efficient 2nm chips this year.
In any case, regardless of the manufacturing process, we expect gains in terms of performance and efficiency with the Apple A19 Pro chipset. However, when directly compared with the A18 Pro inside the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the differences might be smaller, so you probably won't gain that much if you upgrade.
Rumors claim Apple might boost the amount of RAM to 12GB on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, likely to bolster the device's future-proofness as far as artificial intelligence goes. Due to the same reason, the iPhone 16 family scored 8GB of RAM across the board, but it might not be enough.
iOS 19 will come as standard on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max will get it over-the-year in September. We currently anticipate a major visual redesign, the first one in over a decade. AI features are probably currently on hold, as Apple Intelligence was off to a very rocky start.
Camera
Triple 48MP cameras
Aside from the larger camera island at the rear, which might soon rival the Las Vegas Strip, we are reportedly only getting little changes with the rear camera assembly.
It seems Apple will finally move to a higher-res 5X periscope camera, allegedly a 48MP one, a definitive upgrade over the 12MP one that debuted with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and was also used on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. With a higher-res periscope camera, Apple will be able to use in-sensor cropping for enhanced hybrid zoom, which essentially means potentially longer zoom with lossless optical quality.
This would also mean that all rear cameras of the iPhone 17 Pro Max will be 48MP ones.
Apple might also include 8K video recording for the first time on the iPhone lineup. This feature will most certainly remain exclusive to the Pro models, though.
A major change could take place at the front: the iPhone 16 Pro Max's 12MP FaceTime camera might get upgraded to 24MP on the iPhone 17 Pro Max for higher-quality selfies and video calls.
Battery Life and Charging
Possibly a larger battery on board
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is the current record holder when it comes to battery sizes on iPhones, but rumors claim that glory might be very short-lived. The 4,685mAh battery on board could be overtaken by the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which might give us a battery larger than 4,700mAh, but likely no larger than 5,000mAh.
The hinted depth increase could allow for a larger dual-stacked battery at the rear of the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but the perfection of the "stacking" technology might be the main reason we could potentially see a larger battery here.
We currently don't expect any improvements to the charging speeds. As a reminder, the iPhone 16 Pro Max could draw up to 40W of wired charging in certain scenarios, while its MagSafe 2.0 charging speeds top out at 25W.
Specs Comparison
Although early, we seem to know or at least be able to pinpoint a large swath of the iPhone 17 Pro Max specs. Here's how they will compare against the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
| iPhone 17 Pro Max | iPhone 16 Pro Max |
|---|---|
| Size, weight 163.0 x 77.6 x 8.75 mm | Size, weight 163.0 x 77.6 x 8.25 mm 227 gr |
| Screen 6.9" OLED 120Hz ProMotion 3000 nits peak brightness | Screen 6.9" OLED 120Hz ProMotion 2000 nits peak brightness |
| Processor A19 Pro 3nm (2nm?) | Processor A18 Pro 3nm |
| Versions: 12GB/256GB 12GB/512GB 12GB/1TB LPDDR5 | Versions: 8/256GB 8/512GB 8/1TB LPDDR5 |
| Cameras: 48MP main 48MP ultra 48MP 5X zoom 24MP front | Cameras: 48MP main 48MP ultra 12MP 5X zoom 12MP front |
| Battery: 4700+ mAh | Battery: 4,685 mAh |
| Charging: USB-C 27W wired 25W MagSafe 2.0 | Charging: USB-C 27W wired 25W MagSafe 2.0 |
Summary
Overall, it appears that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will be yet another fairly minor and incremental upgrade when compared with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
That's natural to expect: as consumers now upgrade every three years or more seldom, the latest top iPhone is usually not aimed at those who bought last year's best model.
This is why iPhone 16 Pro Max users will most certainly find little reasons to upgrade to the newer device; it's more or less aimed at holdouts of iPhones older than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, where it will definitely present better value.
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