iPhone 17 Pro Max — One Year Later: Buy It Before the iPhone 18?
I've been using the iPhone 17 Pro Max for most of the past year — there were a couple of months where I switched to the iPhone Air, but for the majority of the year this was my main phone. And after this long, the thing that bothers me most isn't the cameras, the design, or even how ridiculously big it is. It's the software — which is kind of crazy for an iPhone. We're also only a few weeks from the iPhone 18 Pro Max, which is rumored to cost significantly more, so the question I kept asking myself: does it actually make more sense to just buy the 17 Pro Max now?
Quick Verdict
After a year, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is a genuinely boring long-term review — and boring is exactly what you want. The hardware has aged really well: the design still looks distinct, the new vapor chamber tamed the thermals, the A19 Pro is still a monster, and resale value remains best-in-class. The one real frustration is iOS 26, easily the buggiest iOS I've used in a long time (the iOS 27 beta has actually been more stable). With the iPhone 18 Pro Max rumored to jump $200–300 in price, buying the 17 Pro Max now is a more reasonable move than it usually is this close to a launch — but if your current phone is fine, waiting a few weeks to see the 18's real price is still the smart play.
Design and Durability
I still really like this design — compared to older Pro Max phones it actually looks different, and you immediately know you're looking at the newest iPhone. I went with deep blue (the best color, I don't care what you say). There were reports of some cosmic orange units shifting toward pink or rose gold; I've never seen one do that in person, so it doesn't seem widespread, but it happened to some people. My blue one has held up well. I run a ridiculously thin Aramid fiber case and a screen protector, and I've dropped it a few times — one drop (with the case on) put a small dent in the bottom-left corner, but it didn't crack the glass and nothing stopped working.
Thermals: The Underrated Upgrade
This is one of the biggest improvements Apple made with the 17 Pro Max that doesn't get talked about enough. Older iPhones could get hot; Apple finally added a vapor chamber on the 17 Pro series and paired it with the aluminum body, and it made a noticeable difference. The phone still gets warm, but it manages heat far better. In sustained testing I saw surface temps around 94–95°F, versus roughly 100°F on the 16 Pro Max in similar situations. Six degrees doesn't sound like much, but right around the point where the phone starts throttling, it matters — and that's what really improved: sustained performance. Nobody scrolling Instagram will care, but for gaming, shooting lots of video, or editing, you'll notice it. And the A19 Pro is still an absolute monster — I've never once wished it were faster.
The Size Problem
I'm a big guy with big hands and I can handle a large phone, but these Pro Max phones are getting ridiculous. Because I spent so much of this year on thinner phones like the iPhone Air and some thin foldables, every time I come back to the Pro Max it feels like a brick. If it's the only phone you use, you get used to it — but pick up something significantly thinner and lighter, let your hand relax, then come back, and you realize how enormous it is. The 17 Pro Max weighs 233g — heavier than the Fold 8. And the 18 Pro Max is rumored to get slightly thicker again for an even bigger battery. I get why, but there's a point where making a phone bigger and heavier every year starts to feel like a step backward.
Battery
I have 166 charge cycles and 100% battery health, which is fantastic — but I haven't used this phone every single day all year (a couple of months went to other phones), so my cycle count is lower than a daily user's. I don't want to pretend 100% after a year is what everyone should expect. The 17 series was also the first generation where Apple enabled Adaptive Power by default, which makes small automatic adjustments to things like brightness and background activity when it thinks you'll need more battery that day.
Cameras
They're great — but the best in the world for stills? Not quite. There are phones from Xiaomi, Honor, Oppo, and other Chinese manufacturers whose photos I prefer in certain situations, especially zoom in low light. What the iPhone does extremely well is consistency: I pull it out, take a picture, and I know what I'm going to get. It won't randomly blow out the scene, over-process the image, or crank the sky into that crazy contrasty blue.
Video is where the iPhone is still the phone to beat — 4K 120, ProRes, ProRes RAW, Apple Log 2, ACES support, Genlock. If someone told me they wanted to start making videos today and already owned a 17 Pro or Pro Max, I'd tell them not to buy a camera yet — learn lighting, composition, audio, and editing, because the one in your pocket is good enough for seriously professional-looking work. The sleeper hit is the front Center Stage camera (18MP square sensor) — landscape video while holding the phone like a selfie should be standard on every flagship, it's that good.
The Real Complaint: Software
My biggest issue after a year has easily been the software. iOS 26 has been one of the buggiest iOS experiences I've had in a long time, which is strange because "Apple makes the hardware and software, so it just works" is a core reason people buy iPhones. I've had random app crashes, app stalls, and the occasional black screen where I'm left wondering whether to just restart. Certain iOS 26 updates absolutely hammered my battery — one of the more recent 26.1.1-ish updates was particularly bad, with days where I struggled to make it through on a Pro Max.
Then there's Apple Intelligence: Apple sold a huge vision for Siri, and a lot of the most interesting stuff took far longer to arrive than expected. It wasn't really until iOS 27 and the new Siri AI announcement that the original vision started coming together. I've been running the iOS 27 public beta for about a month, and the crazy part is it's been more stable than iOS 26 — still the occasional bug (it's beta) and battery still isn't where I'd like (I end the day around 20–30%, versus 40–50% when things were running properly). Honestly, and I hate to say it: Android just feels more stable to me right now. I'm not saying Android is better overall — the iPhone still has the better app ecosystem and more polished apps — I'm specifically talking OS stability, where Android 17 has given me fewer problems than iOS 26. That's something I wouldn't have said a few years ago.
Resale Value: Still the Ace
One thing that hasn't changed is resale value — still a huge advantage of buying an iPhone. From the resale data I found, the 17 Pro Max had depreciated roughly 25% at a comparable point where the 16 Pro Max had lost more than 30%, and iPhones across the board hold value far better than any Android phone. Everyone looks at the purchase price, but if you buy a $1,200 phone and sell it two years later, what you get back matters. If you regularly sell to upgrade, the iPhone still makes a lot of financial sense.
Should You Buy It Right Now?
Normally, this close to a new iPhone, I'd tell you to wait — and if your current phone is fine, I still think you should wait a few weeks (or another year), because then we'll know exactly what the iPhone 18 Pro Max costs. The difference this year is that credible reports suggest the new Pro models could see a $200–300 price increase. At the same time, the 18 Pro Max is rumored to get a bigger battery, a variable-aperture main camera, a smaller Dynamic Island, and a new processor. Those are nice upgrades — but are they $200–300 worth of upgrades? We don't know yet.
So that's the iPhone 17 Pro Max, one year later — kind of boring, which is what you want in a long-term review. After a year, the hardware hasn't given me anything major to complain about. The only thing that's genuinely frustrated me is iOS 26.
Where to Buy
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Published: August 2026
