iPhone 17 Pro Max GSMArena review is out

[super chimp]

In all honesty, I never take gsmarena reviews that seriously. It’s not like they are the gold standard or anything.

I certainly don’t think they are as good as they used to be.

At least they seem to like the iPhone 17.

Apple iPhone 17 review

The iPhone 17 is the next installment in Apple's mainstream lineup and with its Plus sibling replaced with an Air model this year, it sounds like the dud...

m.gsmarena.com

 

[t0rqx]

The bulk of the replies seems to not agree with you.

Its still Mac fans, and evidence don't lie.

 

[Cuesca]

Not to mention every Macbook Pro display comes with scratches or dents in the screen. Even the service parts.

You literally said every MacBook Pro screens comes with scratches and dents.

 

[t0rqx]

You literally said every MacBook Pro screens comes with scratches and dents.

Definitely. I ordered 50 all of them had it.

 

[Cuesca]

Definitely. I ordered 50 all of them had it.

You understand that all of what you're saying is anecdotal right?

 

[LevorgPenmancho]

Tell me you got the 17 Pro Max without telling me you got it…. sorry for you.

I got the iPhone 15, you?

 

[jsmith1]

I got the iPhone 15, you?

Air thankfully

 

[tomtad]

Phone Arena calling 17 Pros half baked and no excuse for how mediocre it is.

https://www.phonearena.com/news/app...t-of-iphone-17-pros-blatant-problems_id174337

And I agree with them. I do feel that while this may be a good year of the (regular) iPhone, it's not a good year for iPhones. Now the excitement of new designs has died down it's becoming increasingly clear Apple has spread themselves too thin and released at the higher end two models which aren't pleasing many people.

 

[SmOgER]

In all honesty, I never take gsmarena reviews that seriously. It’s not like they are the gold standard or anything.

What exactly do you not agree with on their 17Pro review though?

It's hard to argue with what they presented. It throttles more than the previous model relative to the initial cool running performance = hard to justify vapour chamber as being game changing. Sounds reasonable to me.

 

[FeliApple]

The 16 Plus beats the 17 Pro Max in their battery life test? Wow.

It also beats the 16 Pro Max (17h 18 min)

 

[jsmith1]

Heavy bricks will always have better batteries, who cares, the air is for the person on the go, not the person that needs a travel case to bring their phone with them lol

 

[FeliApple]

Heavy bricks will always have better batteries, who cares, the air is for the person on the go, not the person that needs a travel case to bring their phone with them lol

Yeah, battery life is decent. Not amazing like the 16 series (especially the Plus it replaced), but it is decent for all but the heaviest users.

 

[SmOgER]

The 16 Plus beats the 17 Pro Max in their battery life test? Wow.

View attachment 2560135


It also beats the 16 Pro Max (17h 18 min)

Plus has a smaller screen and only 60Hz. Plausible... They are close enough either way.

 

[Tsepz]

In a nutshell, for those who were still in doubt:
View attachment 2558500

LE: Full review here: https://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_17_pro_max-review-2884.php

The battery rating is not as significantly higher as I thought from 15PM but I think overall I will be happy with the upgrade from 15 PM to 17 PM.
Looks like it will be a worthwhile upgrade.
Of course one has to get the device and use it themselves to see how much better it is for my own personal usage patterns.

 

[super chimp]

Heavy bricks will always have better batteries, who cares, the air is for the person on the go, not the person that needs a travel case to bring their phone with them lol

You could say the same for the regular iPhone 17 that’s compact and relatively light, and better equipped and cheaper than the Air.

 

[FatLouie]

Putting reviews and Liquid Glass aside ... the 17 Pro Max still reminds me of Bender from Futurama. 🤣

 

[Thor_9]

And I agree with them. I do feel that while this may be a good year of the (regular) iPhone, it's not a good year for iPhones. Now the excitement of new designs has died down it's becoming increasingly clear Apple has spread themselves too thin and released at the higher end two models which aren't pleasing many people.

The few people complaining here and on Reddit does NOT mean people aren’t happy. Complainers complain, happy people don’t.

 

[adrianlondon]

No Apple stickers in the box either.

I can't believe the 'Apple Fanboys' are letting that slide.

The Pro models have a large sticker with an Apple logo on the back. Apparently, they're quite easy to scratch off if you don't like it 😁

 

[LevorgPenmancho]

Air thankfully

Sorry for you.

 

[stiliyan]

I was really excited after the presentation of the base iPhone 17 and was planning to upgrade from my iPhone 13 Pro. However, I’m now hesitant because the battery life doesn’t seem to be much better. Apple’s battery life estimates highlight video playback, where the iPhone 17 performs well, but in web browsing it actually falls behind the base iPhone 16. According to PhoneArena’s review, the difference is small, but GSMArena’s tests show the iPhone 16 has about a 25% advantage in browsing.

The iPhone 17 is still a very good phone, but one of my main reasons for upgrading was to get significantly better battery life in a similar-sized device—and that doesn’t seem to be the case.

 

[gvcg9n]

I had a full day of 5G safari browsing on 17PM ios26, the battery usage feels to be similar to 15PM on ios18.x IIRC.
I dont have the extra battery life expected.

something is not right with ios26 web browsing and A19 pro

 

[Furrr]

As for the thermals, Geekerwan did a deep dive into the thermal capacity of the new Pros and contrary to GSMArena found that it has improved dramatically. However, GW felt that Apple was being too conservative with their thermal profile for certain applications, prioritizing coolness vs performance and that, based on application performance where Apple did allow for greater thermal headroom, Apple was almost certainly leaving performance on the table for the Pro line of phones. This can be probably be improved with firmware updates in the future - not uncommon for the thermal curves of a new phone to require tweaking.

How dit they manage to get a 4000+ single core and 11000+ multi core score?

After a reboot, in airplane mode and let it idle for a few minutes i’m getting 3821 SC and 9829 MC score. And what i’m seeing online is that my score is pretty average?
Are they benching in a freezer or something?

 

[Furrr]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/why-does-nobody-talk-about-the-micro-damages-in-the-screens-of-the-new-m-series-macbook-pro.2414590/page-1

I have the same experience.
Needed to exchange my MBP M1 Pro 3 times because the first one had a deep dent in the aluminium screen housing, the 2nd one had a dent in the screen and even the 3rd one had a little scratch in the aluminium in one of the corners. Decided to keep the last one.

Also with an iPad pro which had a crater of a dent on the backside. 2nd one was in pristine condition.

Last year I had to return the 16 pro max 3 times because all of them had dust specs on the camera lenses behind the glass cover. The 4th one wasn't perfect either but was the best with just a tiny spec of dust.

Once with airpods pro which had glue all over the speaker grill.


My theory is that those products were returned during the return time window, re-packaged and got sold again.

 

[t0rqx]

I have the same experience.
Needed to exchange my MBP M1 Pro 3 times because the first one had a deep dent in the aluminium screen housing, the 2nd one had a dent in the screen and even the 3rd one had a little scratch in the aluminium in one of the corners. Decided to keep the last one.

Also with an iPad pro which had a crater of a dent on the backside. 2nd one was in pristine condition.

Last year I had to return the 16 pro max 3 times because all of them had dust specs on the camera lenses behind the glass cover. The 4th one wasn't perfect either but was the best with just a tiny spec of dust.

Once with airpods pro which had glue all over the speaker grill.


My theory is that those products were returned during the return time window, re-packaged and got sold again.

I ordered more than 59 brand new customised MBP M1/M3/M4 all of them had dust like dents or scratches.

Even serviced one unit which had it too. They are noticeable when shining a flashlight or id you focus on cleaning it. Then you find out its not dust but damage.

Lot of people have similar experiences, they found out too late and are not aware they were there all along.

My theory is that the environment these products are made are not great. The only perfect unit was during covid when the unit got delivered after 4 months. I suspect back in the covid period things areas were super clean.

Honestly, my cheap work HP laptop does not have these damages.

 

[crazy dave]

How dit they manage to get a 4000+ single core and 11000+ multi core score?

After a reboot, in airplane mode and let it idle for a few minutes i’m getting 3821 SC and 9829 MC score. And what i’m seeing online is that my score is pretty average?
Are they benching in a freezer or something?

View attachment 2560880

Yup. While I don't think they said in this video, Geekerwan does that regularly - especially on their Geekebench tests. I think they've even used liquid nitrogen.