Here on MR I’ve been known as a sharp critic of many of Apple’s decisions, especially in newer phones like 16 and 17 series. But let me tl;dr: not gonna lie, I actually liked 17 Pro Max after trying it for the first time.
I will write my review starting with what I liked and go towards things that were not favorite of mine. First thing first, the camera. Well, it is very good! Sharpening is tuned down and noise reduction is finally looking more natural.
LIDAR still had quirks and would sometimes not focus on the winter sunset thru a closed window, but overal performance of AF module in my opinion is stellar, including low light performance.
Computational photography pipeline now makes much less mistakes, though I am still sad that it often doesn’t give me exactly what I’ve seen in viewfinder. Happy that I can fix it in post though.
While 8x is basically a sensor crop and “optical quality”, honestly I can’t say it looks like cheap digital zoom! It seems to be very capable and gives HQ results.
8X daylight camera sample:
I like how color of the trees is reproduced exactly how I would see thru my binocular, as well as HDR imaging pipeline keeps natural color gradation in shadows.
8X performance at dusk:
While color reproduction seems to be fine on this image, I liked the preview one more🙂
Btw both examples are unedited HEIFs.
Other camera modules seem to perform fairly standard, had not seen much difference to even my old 11 Pro that I am currently using. But this 4x module is actual game changer for me and probably a single reason why I am now strongly considering an upgrade.
Aluminum body is actually a HUGE plus. No, I mean… you gotta feel it. Aluminum feels quality, not cheap. Finally after so many years Apple have listened to my complaints. Aluminum literally feels similar to the older one they used in iPhone 5, 5s, 6 and 6s, cool to touch and light. But it is prone to scratches so don’t forget to get a case for it! I used it with original Apple silicone case which as usual feels like home for me, because I’ve been using silicone cases for all my life.
Display seems to be much better than my 11 Pro. Probably it is as good on 16 PM, but I haven’t used this phone myself so can’t say. Despite me being PWM sensitive, I haven’t seen lots of issues during initial phone testing. Maybe I would need more time to test it, but it feels like a big step up in terms of display quality comparing to my current phone. And I didn’t even have to enable PWM accessibility setting for eye comfort.
Though I didn’t like that all photos are now autoHDRed by default. You can disable HDR for videos but not for photos and without low power mode photos would shine into overexposure territory, hopefully thats only a visual effect and it doesn’t transfer to photos, unless you view them on Apple devices. I mean HDR as an effect that automatically brings the screen brightness to max, not the exposure stacking that camera automatically does when shooting each photo.
I didn’t yet test the AI features of the phone because it is not my phone, but as I do and when I get my own 17 PM or Pro I will probably update this post.
That’s just my opinion because I would have liked to share it with other people who are despite watching and reading numerous reviews still undecided.
In my opinion you definitely should upgrade if:
You probably don’t need this phone if:
Feel free to AMA and let’s discuss it even more! I hope this opinion post won’t be seen as spam or smth, just sharing my opinion/review for the sake of sharing and opinion😃
I personally liked the phone only after I’ve seen and tried it myself. Apple actually needs to rethink their marketing strategy as all the money they funnel into tech influencers have gone into nothing: these people FAILED to make me (customer) think that this phone is actually GOOD. Same for their ads, recent “Detective” ad about 4x zoom doesn’t show what you can actually do with that camera. Yeah it is fun and a great nod to certain TV series, but I just mean it doesn’t really resonate with the main target audience: photo and video hobbyists, casual shooters, kids, travelers.
I think they need to hire me as a PR consultant because I have much better vision on how to promote this phone😃
Few UPDs:
Use slow charger! Phone can suck in more than 40 watts of power via USB-C, tested it with my Bluetti power station. And it heats a lot while doing so. Use 10 or 15w charging brick, it will take around 3 hours to charge your phone but it is much safer in the long term for the battery. So if you plan to have this phone for a long haul, better buy a good charger like Samsung 15W usb-c brick which I am using or original Apple 20W adapter.
Magsafe can work nice too I guess, haven’t ever tried it myself
I will write my review starting with what I liked and go towards things that were not favorite of mine. First thing first, the camera. Well, it is very good! Sharpening is tuned down and noise reduction is finally looking more natural.
Less zoom, more power
The 4x 48mp zoom camera which initially seemed to me like a gimmick and downgrade is actually very good and has decent low light performance.LIDAR still had quirks and would sometimes not focus on the winter sunset thru a closed window, but overal performance of AF module in my opinion is stellar, including low light performance.
Computational photography pipeline now makes much less mistakes, though I am still sad that it often doesn’t give me exactly what I’ve seen in viewfinder. Happy that I can fix it in post though.
While 8x is basically a sensor crop and “optical quality”, honestly I can’t say it looks like cheap digital zoom! It seems to be very capable and gives HQ results.
8X daylight camera sample:
I like how color of the trees is reproduced exactly how I would see thru my binocular, as well as HDR imaging pipeline keeps natural color gradation in shadows.
8X performance at dusk:
While color reproduction seems to be fine on this image, I liked the preview one more🙂
Btw both examples are unedited HEIFs.
Other camera modules seem to perform fairly standard, had not seen much difference to even my old 11 Pro that I am currently using. But this 4x module is actual game changer for me and probably a single reason why I am now strongly considering an upgrade.
Feel of the phone
The grip of the phone seems to be better now because of internals being transferred to the so-called “camera plateau”, while Pro Max phone seems gigantic, it feels surprisingly light in hands. Idk what sorcery is that, but Apple did a great job here!Aluminum body is actually a HUGE plus. No, I mean… you gotta feel it. Aluminum feels quality, not cheap. Finally after so many years Apple have listened to my complaints. Aluminum literally feels similar to the older one they used in iPhone 5, 5s, 6 and 6s, cool to touch and light. But it is prone to scratches so don’t forget to get a case for it! I used it with original Apple silicone case which as usual feels like home for me, because I’ve been using silicone cases for all my life.
Display seems to be much better than my 11 Pro. Probably it is as good on 16 PM, but I haven’t used this phone myself so can’t say. Despite me being PWM sensitive, I haven’t seen lots of issues during initial phone testing. Maybe I would need more time to test it, but it feels like a big step up in terms of display quality comparing to my current phone. And I didn’t even have to enable PWM accessibility setting for eye comfort.
Though I didn’t like that all photos are now autoHDRed by default. You can disable HDR for videos but not for photos and without low power mode photos would shine into overexposure territory, hopefully thats only a visual effect and it doesn’t transfer to photos, unless you view them on Apple devices. I mean HDR as an effect that automatically brings the screen brightness to max, not the exposure stacking that camera automatically does when shooting each photo.
The bad and the ugly
Now I am gonna tell you the things I didn’t like. I won’t be writing walls of text but still:- Slow performance of the iPhone. It barely feels faster than my 11 Pro, even despite variable refresh rate, new OLED display, state-of-the-art 3nm processor and 12GB of RAM. I’ve seen a few times when phone would “spin a wheel” when applying a new wallpaper. Camera is fast and steady, as it should be, but UI and apps speed must have been much, MUCH faster compared to 2019 phone. I first noticed this behavior with 16 Pro, but this year it feels to be even slower than 16 Pro🫠
- I personally blame iOS 26 in all those issues. The 26.0 that came with the phone was horrible and full of visual bugs. What a shame, Apple! How could you even forget about testing the release on the phone it comes with? At times phone felt like it was made by Samsung but with Apple’s brand features. I mean Samsungs are great phones, but they do often lag, it is not a secret. Now Apple seems to be in the same league, though. After updating to 26.2 it seems to be much snappier at everything and a with a lot less visual bugs than previously. I only wonder why update took so long, I mean it was so huge they should have included it from the factory.
- Not only phone lacks chargers, Apple logo in the box these days, but wallpapers are non-existent. I am so sad about this decision, literal 1984 (or 1894🙂). Curated wallpapers were for me one of the best things about owning an iPhone. AND NO I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT THE CLOWNFISH!!! I mean it is a great wallpaper, but only one?
- Why not use that opportunity to promote Liquid Glass: add decent wallpapers that blend into the design so user doesn’t have to spend their life on Pexels trying to find something that suits. I mean yeah, using your photos is cool, but sometimes I wish there was more aesthetic about an iPhone with new curated wallpapers like in the gOlden days.
- I feel like clock and the lockscreen could have had more upgradeability. Transparency is good, but I would highly appreciate more clock styles and being able to freely move clocks anywhere I like, similar to app icons.
I didn’t yet test the AI features of the phone because it is not my phone, but as I do and when I get my own 17 PM or Pro I will probably update this post.
That’s just my opinion because I would have liked to share it with other people who are despite watching and reading numerous reviews still undecided.
In my opinion you definitely should upgrade if:
- your phone is old. You have iPhone 12, 11 and older;
- you want a new camera without wasting $$$$ on recent Sony Alpha+lens. Remember: dedicated point-and-shoots don’t exist anymore, sadly. So phone basically replaces them now;
- you want pro camera features. I mean, 4x zoom is the only thing why anyone should consider upgrading!
- next iPhone will probably be more expensive thanks to tariffs and stuff.
You probably don’t need this phone if:
- you have a fresh phone (15 and up) and you like your current device;
- for some reason you don’t like the design of the phone (but I personally do, it looks much better irl than in marketing materials on the web).
Feel free to AMA and let’s discuss it even more! I hope this opinion post won’t be seen as spam or smth, just sharing my opinion/review for the sake of sharing and opinion😃
I personally liked the phone only after I’ve seen and tried it myself. Apple actually needs to rethink their marketing strategy as all the money they funnel into tech influencers have gone into nothing: these people FAILED to make me (customer) think that this phone is actually GOOD. Same for their ads, recent “Detective” ad about 4x zoom doesn’t show what you can actually do with that camera. Yeah it is fun and a great nod to certain TV series, but I just mean it doesn’t really resonate with the main target audience: photo and video hobbyists, casual shooters, kids, travelers.
I think they need to hire me as a PR consultant because I have much better vision on how to promote this phone😃
Few UPDs:
Use slow charger! Phone can suck in more than 40 watts of power via USB-C, tested it with my Bluetti power station. And it heats a lot while doing so. Use 10 or 15w charging brick, it will take around 3 hours to charge your phone but it is much safer in the long term for the battery. So if you plan to have this phone for a long haul, better buy a good charger like Samsung 15W usb-c brick which I am using or original Apple 20W adapter.
Magsafe can work nice too I guess, haven’t ever tried it myself
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