iPhone 17 Pro Max iPhone 17 Air vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: My Assessment

[Pbwallstreet]

I am coming from an iPhone 14 Pro Max. I have had both the Air and the iPhone 17 Pro Max for 2 days of solid use of each. Even doing A/B testing across a number of things.

Conclusions so far:

• The Air is great in many respects. Its light weight and thinness is much better for usability compared to the PM. Its screen and front facing camera are also the same as the PM. And its build quality and potential resistance to dents and scratches stand out. Finally, screen is good: I don’t miss the larger PM screen when using it.
• The PM is loaded with everything, so that’s great. Its camera is much better than the Air. Battery life is better. Sound, and not just from music, is better including on FaceTime. But the PM is thicker than my 14 PM and close to as heavy. This thing is a brick which is a big con. I dislike the top edge to edge camera bump as it makes it seem top heavy.

The more I test the more I realize there are layers of things that make the PM better in several areas. For instance, it has 3 mics and the Air only 2. The PM also does stronger audio processing to narrow a voice to eliminate background noise.

Right now I’m torn between the two devices and will decide which one within about a week.