iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: Apple’s got a new top phone

iPhones don’t always get huge upgrades over their predecessors, but Apple^[1] has really shaken things up this year, making some of the biggest changes to the lineup in a long time.

Sure, there aren’t any new buttons this time around, but the iPhone 17 Pro Max^[2] has had a visual overhaul from the iPhone 16 Pro Max^[3], and there are even bigger changes behind the scenes.

So is the iPhone 17 Pro Max worth upgrading to? Or should you stick with the iPhone 16 Pro Max? Below, we’ll take a closer look at how these two phones compare, to help you make that decision.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: specs comparison

You’ll find a detailed look at the specs and features of these phones below – along with their prices – but first, here’s just a brief overview of their specs sheets, so you can see how they compare at a glance.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: price and availability

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The iPhone 17 Pro Max was available from September 19, though at the time of writing you might be waiting longer than that, as it’s in high demand^[4].

The iPhone 16 Pro Max, meanwhile, launched in September of 2024, but Apple has now discontinued it, so you can’t buy it from Apple direct. Buying it new from retailers is still possible right now, but it could become increasingly tricky over the next few months unless you’re happy to look at pre-owned or refurbished units.

As for the cost, the iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149, for which you get 256GB of storage. You can also pay $1,399 / £1,399 / AU$2,599 for 512GB of storage, $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,999 for 1TB of storage, or $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,799 for 2TB of storage.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149, which again gets you 256GB of storage. So the starting price is identical – though in practice you may well be able to find the iPhone 16 Pro Max for less, if you can find it new at all.

If you move up the price brackets then the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s pricing remains identical to that of the iPhone 17 Pro Max, outside Australia at least, where the new phone is slightly more expensive. Though note that the iPhone 16 Pro Max tops out at 1TB of storage, so you can’t get a 2TB model.

Winner: tie – unless you can find the 16 Pro Max for less (or already own it!)

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: design

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The most obvious difference between these phones is their designs, as the iPhone 17 Pro Max has a redesigned back. Here, you get a large camera bump running across the width of the rear, while on the iPhone 16 Pro Max there’s a smaller camera housing in the top-left corner.

The top half of the rear and the sides of the iPhone 17 Pro Max are aluminum, with a glass panel on the bottom half of the back – whereas the whole rear of the iPhone 16 Pro Max is glass, and its sides are titanium.

From the front, though, the two phones look far more similar, as they both have a flat screen with a Dynamic Island at the top. Both phones also have an Action button and a Camera Control key.

Their weights and dimensions do differ, though, with the iPhone 17 Pro Max coming in at 163.4 x 78 x 8.8mm and 233g, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max is 163 x 77.6 x 8.3mm and 227g. So Apple’s newer phone is slightly taller, wider, thicker, and heavier.

The colors also differ, with the iPhone 17 Pro Max being sold in Silver, Cosmic Orange, and Deep Blue shades, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max is available in Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, and Desert Titanium.

Some less visible design elements include their water and dust resistance, with both phones having an IP68 rating, and the protection on their screens, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max using Ceramic Shield while the iPhone 17 Pro Max uses Ceramic Shield 2 – which is said to offer three times better scratch resistance.

These are both good looking phones and it will be subjective which you prefer, with our iPhone 17 Pro Max review^[5] describing it as having “a fresh, possibly divisive look” and our iPhone 16 Pro Max review^[6] praising its “iconic design with excellent materials.”

Still, while the looks themselves are down to personal preference, the improvement in scratch-resistance alone gives the new phone a slight advantage here.

Winner: iPhone 17 Pro Max

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: display

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The iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Pro Max both have 6.9-inch 1320 x 2868 OLED^[7] screens with a 120Hz refresh rate and 460 pixels per inch resolution.

Both have a Dynamic Island, both support always-on display, and both have a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio. So there’s really very little to choose between them on this front.

However, they’re not quite identical. You see, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s peak outdoor brightness is 2,000 nits, the iPhone 17 Pro Max increases that to 3,000 nits. On top of that, the iPhone 17 Pro Max also has a new anti-reflective coating on its screen.

The result is that the newer phone’s display should look less washed out in bright sunlight, and should pick up fewer reflections.

There hasn’t been much in the way of screen upgrades otherwise, but that’s okay – because they weren’t really needed. As our iPhone 17 Pro Max review has it “images pop and blacks are as inky and dark as you would hope they’d be”.

Winner: iPhone 17 Pro Max

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: cameras

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While the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s screen hasn’t had many upgrades, its cameras certainly have. This phone has a 48 MP f/1.6 main camera (also capable of optical-quality 2x zoom photos), a 48MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera with a 120-degree field of view, and a 48MP f/2.8 telephoto camera capable of 4x optical zoom or 8x optical-quality zoom. Where we mention ‘optical-quality’, that’s achieved by cropping into the sensor.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max also has an 18MP f/1.9 front-facing camera with a new Center Stage feature that will rotate between portrait or landscape shots as needed, without you having to change the angle you hold the phone at.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max has similar 48MP main and ultra-wide cameras, but its telephoto snapper is just 12MP, and can only take photos at 5x optical zoom. Its selfie camera is also just 12MP, and lacks the Center Stage feature. But both phones can record video in up to 4K quality at up to 120fps.

So the iPhone 17 Pro Max is a substantial upgrade in terms of its telephoto and front-facing cameras, and our review described this as “Apple’s best camera array ever”. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is no slouch here either, of course, with our review of that saying it has “a great array of lenses” – but the 17 Pro Max does beat it overall.

Winner: iPhone 17 Pro Max

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: performance and software

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You’d expect a new iPhone to be more powerful than an older one, and such is the case here, but the upgrades are actually even greater than usual.

First, there’s the bit you’d expect: the iPhone 17 Pro Max has a new A19 Pro chipset, in place of the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s A18 Pro. This provides the generational upgrade in performance you’d expect, but the iPhone 17 Pro Max also has more RAM, with 12GB rather than 8GB, and it features a vapor chamber which helps keep it cool – thereby allowing it to sustain peak performance for longer.

So the iPhone 17 Pro Max is a seriously powerful handset, with our review describing it as “fast and effective in every scenario”. That said, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is still a very powerful phone even a year on from launch, so unless you have really high-end performance demands, you might not notice much difference.

You shouldn’t notice any difference in the software, either, as both of these phones run iOS 26^[8] – though the iPhone 17 Pro Max will probably receive software updates for one year longer than the iPhone 16 Pro Max now will.

Winner: iPhone 17 Pro Max

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: battery

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While Apple doesn’t detail the capacity of its phones’ batteries, certifications have revealed that the iPhone 17 Pro Max has a 5,088mAh cell in the US and a 4,832mAh one elsewhere. The difference is because the phone is eSIM-only in the US, so there’s space for a larger battery.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max, meanwhile, has a 4,685mAh battery wherever you buy it, so it’s a lower capacity, and that translates to worse life.

Apple claims the iPhone 17 Pro Max will last for up to 37 hours of video playback between charges, while the figure for the iPhone 16 Pro Max is 33 hours.

Our own tests similarly found that the new model lasts longer, and it charges faster too, with a 40W or higher charger able to juice it to 50% in around 20 minutes, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max will take around 35 minutes to reach the same level of charge.

But while the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the clear winner for battery life, the iPhone 16 Pro Max still has many phones beat, so neither handset should disappoint on this front.

Winner: iPhone 17 Pro Max

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: verdict

This may not be a huge surprise, but the iPhone 17 Pro Max is an upgrade over the iPhone 16 Pro Max in every category above other than price, with everything from its chipset to its RAM, its cameras, its screen brightness, and its battery life all improved over the previous model. Plus there’s the new vapor chamber, which should improve performance.

The display hasn’t been massively upgraded, admittedly, and the new design could prove divisive, but in most ways the new model is a better phone, and Apple hasn’t even had to raise the price to achieve this.

Whether it’s worth buying if you already have the iPhone 16 Pro Max is more debatable, and you might want to read our full iPhone 17 Pro Max review^[9] before deciding. But of the two it’s clearly the better phone, and if you’re rocking a handset that’s a few years old then upgrading to the iPhone 17 Pro Max should make a night and day difference.

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