Introduction: A Week with the iPhone 17 Pro Max
So, I’ve had the iPhone 17 Pro Max for about one week, and I want to give you my one week later review, my thoughts on this phone, and how it stacked up over this time. [Music] So, what is up, guys? Nick here helping you to master your technology. And I’ve had this phone for about a week now, which I understand is not a super long time. Um, but it’s enough time for me as somebody who analyzes these phones all the time, multiple different devices to give you a really good picture of what you’re getting here with the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Design and Color Choices
Now, I went with the cosmic orange mostly. At first, I was going to go with silver, but I decided to go with silver for the base pro that might be my main phone. Uh, we’ll see. Right now, I’m still rocking the 17 Pro Max here. Uh, the orange has been growing on me a bit because it definitely reminds me of pumpkin season, you know, Thanksgiving, these holidays. I’m kind of digging it right now. I don’t know that I’ll dig it in about 3 or 4 months when it’s switches seasons. And I still would have preferred a red uh with this this uh design with a red would have been nice. Um, but the orange definitely pops in person and to me is the most flashy looking one uh this year for sure.
Price and Value for Money
Uh let’s talk about the very first thing I want to talk about which is the price to value ratio of this phone. So what I mean by that is how much like value are we getting for the price. So this phone does retail for right around a pretty penny $1.99 and it goes up from there. Also if you’ve been noticing Apple’s prices actually have been inching up. As you do go to ahead to buy an iPhone here, you’ll see that we do have ourselves the iPhone 17 Pro Max starting at $1199, but they now introduced a 2 TBTE model. So, this phone actually could come in all the way up to $2,000. So, I think Apple’s trying to get you used to the fact that there can be $2,000 phones here in the lineup because next year we’re going to be going to the iPhone. We’re probably gonna have a folding phone next year. So, they’re probably trying to get you used to the prices are on the rise.
Material and Build Quality
Um, but they are you can still get this for $199 like the 16 Pro Max. And does it feel worth the money? Well, yes it does because of the powerful chip, the super powerful triple camera, the really improved front-facing camera, still a super large display, and really a very long powerful battery. However, I do have to state that I’m not loving the aluminum material versus the uh titanium. I understand it does dissipate heat much more, but it’s just to me doesn’t feel quite as premium.
Design Impressions and Durability
Does it look good? Yes, it’s a good-look phone, but aluminum can be found on much cheaper phones. So, I definitely uh preferred titanium. I like titanium on the iPhone air as well. So, uh, this one to me not quite as good in that respect, but, uh, the heat has been great. And also, I do like it how it doesn’t get fingerprinty. I do really appreciate that. I I still like that they stick with the lack of fingerprints all over this one. So, that aluminum is something that won’t attract too much of that on this cosmic orange. You’ll see right here, we do have this 5G antenna up here. I I’m never going to love that. I don’t like it. It just sticks out like a sore thumb up there. It doesn’t look very good.
Design Details and Subjective Taste
Um, but generally the design is different, but I can’t say it’s the best looking iPhone I’ve ever seen after a week. Uh, I don’t I don’t know whether I like this two-tone look with the plateau. To me, it looks a little busy. It doesn’t look quite as minimal and clean as I’d like. So, I do prefer the look of the iPhone Air as well as the 16 Pro Max that came before this over this one. But, at least it looks different. We finally don’t have the same looking phone as we had over the years.
Scratchgate and Accessories
And um some people are going to say, “Well, you know, every time Apple changes something, people got something to complain about.” No, I’m just telling you my subjective take on it. You might think this looks amazing, and that’s why I want to hear from you down below in the comments. Also, you’ve been seeing some things about scratchgate down here. Apple I I think I seen an article that Apple was saying that they uh the Mag Safe accessories in the store were scratching it up.
Weight, Feel, and Handling
uh not necessarily that they scratch so easy, but there are reports saying also that the anodized aluminum on here is the reason why, you know, it’s painted or whatever and like it easier shows scratches, especially especially on the deep blue color. Glad I didn’t go with that one. Not so much on the silver. Um but you might see it a little bit here on the orange. I got the tech woven case, so I don’t really care.
Display Performance and Brightness
So, when it comes to the display, the 6.9 in display is definitely stunning. It’s super smooth, 120 Hz, but it’s brighter than before at 3000 nits. And so, just like the 16 Pro Max, it’s a stunning panel. It’s not like overly exciting though if you had an iPhone 16 Pro Max before this, but just having that extra brightness is nice.
Software Experience: iOS 26
So, let’s go ahead and talk about software. Now, we have iOS 26. And I do think iOS 26 is actually the real star of the show this year, not so much the hardware. And that’s because of the new customizations you can do, the new liquid glass effects, and for some people, it’s not going to be their favorite.
Performance and Heat Management
Now, when it comes to the performance, they actually improved the performance across the board here on the iPhone 17 line. Uh, specifically, this Pro has much better heat management, which allows this phone to be pushed harder without the thermals like burning your hand or anything.
Battery Life and Charging
Now, when it comes to battery, obviously I only got two cycles. It’s only been a week. I’ve been charging it like a lot in between so I don’t cycle it up too much. Um but this the battery just lasts and lasts. This thing is I was using the Air initially and that is significantly behind this phone in battery life.
Camera Performance and Pro Features
So, when it comes to the camera 1 week later, I’m going to tell you the main thing I’ve been loving the 4x optical zoom and the eight times. I feel like I’m using a Samsung phone basically now. You know how Samsung always has the longest zoom? Now we go 40.
Connectivity and Network Performance
This phone seems to charge a little bit better. It also has better network performance than ever before. So, when you are making phone calls, I feel like I have better reception. I also have faster 5G, faster Wi-Fi performance. As usual, every year that should get a little bit better or every other year.
Final Thoughts and Verdict
Uh, this definitely does that. And so, that’s about all I got to talk about here. A week later, uh, Apple continues to offer a great phone with a high-end specs, polished uh, feel to it, polished software. uh software does need some updates to have even smoother animations and smoother optimizations because they were still like kind of like I feel like they were still in the beta process.
Conclusion: Worth the Upgrade?
And before you start saying, “Oh, that’s a typical Apple fanboy response is this. Yes. While titanium is better, aluminum dissipates heat better. You complained, people have complained, I’m not going to say you, cuz I’m not sure you did specifically, but people complained about thermals. So, Apple chose the better thermal managing material, which is aluminum.
End Note
And so, yeah, I think they’re playing top of the game. I want to see how the S26 Ultra stacks up to this uh when that comes out as well. So, stay subscribed. Thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Subscribe if you haven’t already. And I will catch you on the next episode. But I will be covering the other iPhones as well, but we’re going to do them specifically here individual videos cuz I want to keep the focus on the phone that we’re covering. So, I’ll catch you on the next one. Nick here. Be sure to be well and peace.
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