Apple iPhone 17 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max
Apple has officially unveiled the iPhone 17 series, including the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Max, bringing major upgrades in design, performance, display, and storage. Despite the premium improvements, the iPhone 17 still starts at $799, making it one of the best-value flagship phones in 2025.
iPhone 17 Key Specifications
The standard iPhone 17 is no longer “basic.” Apple has given it features previously exclusive to Pro models:
Display: 6.3-inch OLED with ProMotion 120Hz adaptive refresh rate
Brightness: Up to 3000 nits outdoors (brighter than iPhone 16 Pro)
Durability: New Ceramic Shield 2 with Apple-designed coating, 3x scratch resistance
Always-On Display: Yes, with enhanced widgets and lock screen info
Camera Upgrades
The front camera is a huge leap forward:
18MP Center Stage Selfie Camera
Wider field of view expansion for group selfies
Smart AI-enhanced portraits and low-light selfies
Supports 4K video recording with stabilization
The rear cameras retain Apple’s dual-lens setup, though the telephoto lens is exclusive to iPhone 17 Pro models.
Performance & Battery
Chipset: A19 Bionic chip (not the Pro version)
Storage: Base storage doubled from 128GB to 256GB
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread networking with Apple’s new N1 chip
Battery: Up to 30 hours video playback (improved from 27 hours on iPhone 16 Pro)
iPhone 17 Pro Max Exclusive Features
For power users, the iPhone 17 Pro Max packs additional Pro-only specs:
Chipset: A19 Pro for faster performance
Camera: Triple-lens system with dedicated telephoto camera
Storage Options: Up to 1TB
Battery Life: 33 hours video playback
Premium Ceramic Shield design (front and back)
What’s Missing on iPhone 17 Compared to Pro
No telephoto camera
No 1TB storage option
A19 (standard) instead of A19 Pro chip
Slightly lower battery life (30 hours vs. 33 hours on Pro Max)
Apple iPhone 17 Price and Availability
iPhone 17 Price: Starts at $799
iPhone 17 Pro Max Price: Starting price expected around $1,199
As I held the 5.6-millimeter thick iPhone Air in my hands, flipping it over and over again, I was a bit astonished.
Hot on Samsung’s heels — the slim Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is still quite new — Apple’s jumped into this emerging category of remarkably slender-phones with the aplomb of a kid cannonballing into a pool.
My amazement didn’t last long, though, as I quickly became enchanted with a different iPhone that Apple introduced this week. Here’s why I’m bucking the hot-new sleekness in favor of a redesigned stalwart, and why I think only the latter has a chance of being called one of the best smartphones.