iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: What’s different?

Apple has dropped its brand-new iPhone 17 series, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max is once again the king of the lineup. This year’s model packs a radical new look, a smarter camera, and some huge boosts to battery and charging.

This leaves a big choice for anyone in India eyeing a top-tier iPhone. Do you go all-in on the hot new iPhone 17 Pro Max, or is last year’s still-excellent iPhone 16 Pro Max the smarter buy? Let’s break down what’s new and help you decide.

Design and display

Apple has changed things up here for real. The iPhone 17 Pro Max ditches the titanium frame of its predecessor and returns to aluminium after just two generations—though it’s unibody this time. The company says this switch, along with a new internal vapour chamber, makes the phone much better at handling heat.

The back is dominated by a huge, full-width camera ‘plateau’. This design uses less glass on the back, which might just save you from a repair bill. Last year’s muted titanium colours are gone too, replaced by a vibrant Cosmic Orange, a Deep Blue, and a classic Silver.

ALSO READ: iPhone 17 series colour options: Say hello to Cosmic Orange

The display is still a massive 6.9-inch screen with 120Hz ProMotion, but it gets a huge brightness boost. The new panel can hit a searing 3,000 nits outdoors, a big jump from the 2,000 nits on the 16 Pro Max. Add to this a new seven-layer anti-reflective coating that should make it easier to see your screen.

Cameras

The camera system too gets a clever overhaul. The new Pro Max still has three 48MP sensors, but the telephoto lens has changed up. Its sensor is 56 per cent larger and switches from a 5x zoom to a more practical 4x optical zoom. This is a great change for portrait shots which often felt a bit too tight on the 16 Pro Max. The larger sensor also allows the phone to zoom 8x at 12MP without quality loss.

ALSO READ: Apple iPhone Air launched featuring an impressively thin new design

Up front, there’s a new 18MP square Centre Stage camera. This thing lets you take landscape selfies while holding the phone vertically. It’s a neat trick that’s also genuinely useful for group shots. Lastly, for the video pros, it can shoot in ProRes RAW and supports professional features like Genlock for syncing with other cameras.

Performance

Under the hood, the new A19 Pro chip offers a performance bump. To support it, the 17 Pro Max gets a 50 per cent RAM increase to 12GB, which will make multitasking feel more seamless. Battery life also gets a massive boost, with Apple promising 39 hours of video playback.

That’s about six hours more than the already excellent 16 Pro Max. Charging speeds have also improved dramatically. The new model supports 40W wired charging, which can get you to 50 per cent in just 20 minutes compared to the 35 minutes it took the old 25W charger.

Pricing

So what’s the damage? The iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at Rs 1,49,900 for the 256GB model in India. That’s a Rs 5,000 increase over last year’s iPhone 16 Pro Max which started at Rs 1,44,900. This Rs 5,000 price hike is consistent across the 512GB and 1TB models as well. There’s also a new 2TB option for a whopping Rs 2,29,900.

That said, the current pricing on Croma for the 16 Pro Max is actually Rs 1,34,900, making the handset Rs 15,000 more affordable.

But honestly, even a 15,000 jump for these upgrades feels pretty reasonable. You’re getting a totally new design, a more versatile camera, a noticeable boost in performance, and big improvements to battery life and charging.

If you already own a 16 Pro Max that’s serving you well, you might not feel the need to rush. But if you value longer battery life and faster top-ups, or if you’re a photographer who wants that better portrait zoom, the iPhone 17 Pro Max makes a very compelling case for itself.