iPhone 17 Pro Max Review

When you first pick up the iPhone 17 Pro Max in silver, it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to impress you. There’s no over the top design flourish or loud statement. It’s quiet, confident, and polished in a way that almost hides how powerful the thing actually is. Apple has a knack for understatement, but this year’s Pro Max feels like the most refined version of that philosophy yet. The silver model especially has this almost liquid metal look to it, giving it this clean look no matter where you use it.

Even though the silver is the colour I ended up with, I can’t pretend the new orange hasn’t grown on me. It’s easily the boldest Apple colour in years and, honestly, one of the best they’ve ever done. It’s fun in a way Apple usually shies away from, and I genuinely think they nailed it. If I didn’t already have multiple devices, the orange 17 Pro would’ve been a must-buy.

The funny thing is that I’m even talking about iPhone colours with any sort of enthusiasm at all, given where I was a few years ago. Three years back, if you told me I’d be writing glowing reviews about an Apple device, I would’ve laughed. I was firmly in the Samsung camp. I liked having a million options and menus and ways to tweak things I didn’t even need to tweak. In a way it became part of the identity. “My Samsung can do more” was the line I used constantly. And to be fair, that’s still true in some ways. Android phones can do more.

But over time I realised something Apple users had been quietly enjoying (while I was busy tinkering with settings and fixing things that broke after updates) not needing to think about their phone. With the iPhone 17 Pro Max, that philosophy has reached a point where it genuinely changes how you use the device day to day. Apple might not let you customise every corner of the interface or run five separate apps in floating windows, but what it does let you do, it does consistently and without friction. And when your phone becomes the central part of your day, that kind of reliability starts to matter a lot more than the extra “options” you never really use.

One of the biggest talking points this generation has been Apple stepping away from titanium after a single year. I actually liked the titanium era. It felt incredibly sturdy and had that unmistakable matte texture. Losing it could’ve easily felt like a downgrade, but after living with this phone for a while, I get why they did it. Apple prioritised thermal performance, and you can feel the difference. The 17 Pro Max stays noticeably cooler under load, especially during long gaming sessions.

And that’s important, because gaming is the single biggest leap forward with this device.

It almost feels strange saying this, but we’re genuinely living in a time where an iPhone can run games that used to require a console or a gaming laptop. Titles like Resident Evil Village or Assassin’s Creed Mirage run with a level of stability and smoothness that you don’t expect from a phone. This isn’t “mobile gaming” in the old sense. This is real, full-scale gaming, and it still blows my mind that the iPhone 17 Pro Max handles these games with almost casual confidence. There’s no choking. No thermal throttling after ten minutes. No weird errors. It just loads, plays and performs.

The absolute turning point is how the phone transforms once you clip it into a Backbone Pro.

The moment you attach the Backbone Pro, the 17 Pro Max stops feeling like a phone. It becomes a legitimate handheld gaming device. It’s not an exaggeration. The ergonomics, the comfort, the responsiveness of the controls, and the quality of the display make it feel like you’re holding a premium gaming system built specifically for high-end gaming. The phone’s weight distribution even works in its favour here, giving you that sturdy in-hand feel without being fatiguing. The camera bump does mean the phone sits ever so slightly unevenly, but a very minimal and somewhat unnoticeable amount.

The phone does, get somewhat hot to the touch during longer sessions, however due to the new vapor chamber cooling that iPhone have focused so heavily on this time round, performance stays consistent. Which is a HUGE plus.

Now, onto the camera. This is another area where the iPhone 17 Pro Max feels like a device that doesn’t need to scream about its features. It’s not trying to artificially sharpen everything or blow colours out of proportion. It produces photos that look true to life. Crisp, but not processed to death. Balanced, but not flat. It’s the kind of camera you can trust regardless of the lighting or environment.

And nowhere does that matter more than when you're travelling, particularly in Japan, as I visited recently and the iPhone is an absolute game changer.

I genuinely think the iPhone 17 Pro Max might be the perfect phone to take to Japan. I’ve travelled with Androids before, including Samsungs that were objectively packed with more features, but the overall experience in Japan is night and day on an iPhone. The biggest thing is Apple Wallet with Suica. It’s almost hard to explain how game changing it is until you experience it. You just tap your phone on the station gates and walk through. You don’t open anything. You don’t double tap. You don’t fumble around on a crowded platform trying to figure out why your card didn’t load properly. It just works instantly. Unfortunately Suica isnt available on android devices.

When you’re navigating Tokyo or Osaka where trains come every couple of minutes and platforms can get chaotic, saving even thirty seconds at a gate can be the difference between making your connection or missing it completely. Samsung can technically do Suica, but the convenience simply doesn’t compare.

Beyond that, the camera is perfect for Japan’s famous neon-drenched nightlife. Whether you’re in Shibuya at 1 am, wandering through the Japanese countryside or watching the sun set over Lake Ashi, the 17 Pro Max consistently nails exposure and colour accuracy. Motion shots look natural. Low light photos have detail without being muddy or noisy. It captures the vibe of Japan in a way that feels authentic. The zoom in particular has come so far over the last 2 or 3 years and iPhone genuinely rivals phones like the Galaxy range for zoom, these 3 photos below are all from the same vantage point, but all at different levels of zoom.

Battery life is also a standout. Japan is a country where you’re out all day, walking long distances, navigating transport systems, taking photos constantly, using Google Maps, and translating menus on the fly. The iPhone 17 Pro Max handles all of that comfortably without needing a mid-day recharge. There’s something incredibly freeing about knowing your phone isn’t going to die while you’re halfway across Tokyo with no idea where the nearest charging point is.

The new iOS features round everything out nicely. They aren’t radical changes, but they add so much polish. The updated widget system feels smoother, notifications are smarter, and background processes feel more efficient. iOS continues to grow without becoming cluttered or overwhelming. After years on Android where sometimes updates felt like they added features just to fill a paragraph in a marketing slide, iOS feels deliberate and cohesive.

When you add all of this together, the iPhone 17 Pro Max ends up being one of the most complete and reliable devices I’ve ever used. It feels like a phone designed for real life, not just spec sheets or benchmarks. It’s powerful where it matters. It’s simple in the right ways. It’s flexible enough for advanced users but friendly for casual ones. And most importantly, it’s consistent.

For someone who once scoffed at Apple users, this is the phone that fully converted me. Not because it’s the most customisable or the flashiest, but because every part of it works the way you expect. And over time, that becomes the thing you value most.

It’s honestly very nearly a 10 out of 10 device for its purpose. Its not perfect, and loses points for a lack of any real innovative features. But that's not always necessarily a bad thing, the iPhone 17 range isn't about "innovation" its about refinement. Taking what it already does very well, and making it even better. And its been enough to convert me from a Samsung user to an iPhone user so much so, I've since gone out and bought an orange 17 Pro.