Apple iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max hands-on review: Biggest changes in years

I’ve been covering all the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max leaks leading up to Apple’s ‘Awe Dropping’ event, and this is one of those rare times when I wasn’t surprised by the announcements. That’s because the leaks left nothing to the imagination. But despite this, the new Pro models from Apple establish themselves as solid best phone contenders given their upgrades.

After spending some time with both phones, I have a better appreciation for them — and with good reason. In my iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max hands-on, I’ll tell you everything new about the new models and what stood out most.

From their new two-toned designs, to their new 48MP telephoto camera, and their prices, there’s a lot to unpack here apart from the size differences of the two Pro handsets.

While Apple did spend a fair amount of time with their hardware changes, there’s one particular iPhone 17 Pro area that Apple didn’t touch up on — in contrast to past events.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max hands-on review: Specifications

Apple iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max hands-on review: Price and release date

I was honestly surprised when Apple revealed prices for its Pro models. Although the iPhone 17 Pro technically gets a price increase by $100, it now comes with 256GB of starting storage. This effectively makes the new phone $1,099, which is actually the same as the 256GB iPhone 16 Pro.

Meanwhile, there’s no change for the iPhone 17 Pro Max, as it still commands the same $1,199 starting cost as last year’s model — and it comes with the same 256GB of storage.

Preorders are available right now, with a full availability online and in-stores starting on September 19. There are only three color options to choose from: Silver, Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue. Among those, I have to say Orange certainly stands because of how Apple’s kept the Pros with very neutral colors.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max hands-on review: Design

Call it a long overdue makeover, as the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max’s designs are dramatically different from recent iPhones. This is due to the two-toned color design that Apple has gone with, along with ditching the titanium frame for an aluminum one.

There are people who will vouch for how titanium is regarded as the more premium material, but the aluminum frame still gives the iPhone 17 Pro models that premium feel.

Apple’s using Ceramic Shield for the back casing, which is part of the reason why it looks like it has two, slightly different colors. At the same time, there’s a much more sizable camera cutout that extends side-to-side and protrudes outward. I’ve always enjoyed the square cutout of the Pro’s cameras, so this one’s going to take time getting acquainted with.

Apart from their size differences, there’s nothing terribly different about the way the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max look — they still have the Camera Control button, USB-C port, and Action Buttons from before.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max hands-on review: Display

Apple didn’t change the display sizes on either Pro model, so you’ll find 6.3 and 6.9-inch displays with the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, respectively. It’s rated for up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness, but it’s hard to say if that’s accurate until we get them in the labs.

What’s different this time is the Ceramic Shield 2 protecting the screen, which Apple claims to be 3x better at scratch resistance, plus a new anti-reflection coating to reduce glare.

I loaded up the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer and it looked fine indoors, but it’s hard to say if its anti-reflective properties are effective under the indoor settings. Sunlight will be the true test.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max hands-on review: Cameras

For the first time ever, there’s a triple 48MP camera system on board both the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. While the 48MP main and 48MP ultrawide are similar to the shooters on the iPhone 16 Pros, the new 48MP telephoto with 4x optical zoom effectively gives the iPhone 17 Pro seres an 8x optical-like quality performance. This should deliver even richer looking telephoto shots, with the 8x camera crop yielding 12MP photos.

You get a maximum 40x digital zoom with photos, which is an improvement though still way behind the 100x zoom on the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Pixel 10 Pro XL.

I really like some of the new camera features that Apple introduces, like dual-video recording that lets me simultaneously record with the front camera and any of the three rear cameras. My only minor complaint is that the resulting footage isn’t saved as separate files, but rather, combined into just a single one.

There’s also a slew of new camera features that specifically target creators, like the addition of ProRes RAW, Log 2, and Genlock support.

The Center Stage Front camera is a big upgrade for selfies over the old TrueDepth camera, because the square 18MP sensor is smart enough to switch from portrait to landscape mode when the iPhone 17 Pro senses there’s more people in the frame.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max hands-on review: Performance

The iPhone 17 Pro chip is pretty powerful, offering a 6-core CPU and 6-core GPU, complete with Neural Accelerators built into each core for better AI performance. The bigger question is how long will the performance last?

The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max use a new vapor chamber cooling system that’s designed to deliver better sustained performance. Therefore, you should be able to game for longer without suffering performance drop-offs from overheating.

I loaded up Arknights: Endfield on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the ray tracing effects look amazing on the display, which is complemented by the smooth frame rates. I really couldn’t tell if the vapor chamber cooling system was working because I only got to run the game for a short time; we’ll have more telling results once we put the iPhone 17 Pro through some testing in the labs.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max hands-on review: Battery life and charging

Not surprisingly, Apple’s claiming even longer battery life with the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. The battery gains have been attributed to the new redesign and a move to eSIM models in more countries — that essentially lets Apple pack bigger batteries into its new phone.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is rated for 39 hours of video playback, compared to 33 for the previous model. And the iPhone 17 Pro gets a bump from the iPhone 16 Pro’s 27 hours to 33 hours. Considering how the iPhone 16 Pro Max set a record for all iPhones in our battery drain test, I have full confidence the new Pro Max model will land on our best phone battery life list.

The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max finally offer faster charging, too, promising a 50% charge in just 20 minutes.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max hands-on review: Outlook

At $1,099 for the iPhone 17 Pro and $1,199 for the iPhone 17 Pro Max, Apple has held the line on pricing. Sort of. Like I mentioned earlier, the iPhone 17 Pro is $100 more but you get 256GB storage to start, matching the base capacity of the Pro Max.

Between the two, I’d put my money on the iPhone 17 Pro Max because of its larger display and likely longer battery life — all while being only $100 more to pick up. The Pro looks almost cute by comparison, but it’s certainly capable for a phone of its size.

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