For years, Apple's iPhone Pro Max upgrade formula has seemed familiar: A faster chip, a few camera improvements, slight tweaks to the display and battery life.
But with the iPhone 17 Pro Max, the American tech giant has made a big change in design, performance and mobile photography.
This high-end phone has completely solved the inherent weaknesses of its predecessors, such as returning to aluminum to solve the heat dissipation problem, the selfie camera system has been completely "reborn", and the battery life has been greatly upgraded.
Do these changes really create a groundbreaking experience, and is the iPhone 17 Pro Max the phone for everyone?
- Advantage:
+ Long battery life
+ High performance and stability
+ Sharp camera system
+ Good display
- Limit:
+ High price
+ Aluminum material is less durable than titanium
+ Large and convex camera cluster
+ Charging speed is still slower than some Android competitors.
Editor's tip: If you're on an iPhone 15 Pro Max or 16 Pro Max, upgrade only if you're really bothered by overheating issues and need better battery life.
If you're using an iPhone 14 Pro Max or older, you'll be completely satisfied with the money you spend to upgrade; from design, performance, battery to camera, you'll feel a big difference.
Design
Apple's return to aluminum (removing titanium) and glass on the iPhone 17 Pro Max has disappointed many Apple product fans; but in fact, this is a calculated strategic move by the company.
The biggest weakness of the iPhone 15 and 16 Pro Max is the overheating problem. When performing many heavy tasks such as recording 4K videos for a long time, playing high-graphics games or even charging in the sun, the device often becomes hot, leading to reduced performance and rapid battery drain.
Aluminum, which conducts and dissipates heat 5 to 10 times better than titanium, was Apple’s answer. This change, combined with a vapor chamber cooling system first seen on an iPhone, made a noticeable difference.
In daily use, the overheating phenomenon has almost disappeared, resulting in a much more stable and reliable experience.
The switch to aluminum also allows Apple to be bolder with colors. Instead of dark tones, the iPhone 17 Pro Max launched with three options: Silver, Deep Blue and especially Cosmic Orange, which is sought after by many Vietnamese users.
Meanwhile, the rear camera cluster is no longer a square "island" but stretches into a horizontal strip that takes up almost the entire width of the back, which Apple calls the "camera shelf".
This design not only creates an aesthetic highlight but also helps the machine balance better when placed on a flat surface.
However, this camera bump is also significantly larger, measuring 0.53 inches (13.5mm) thick, making it one of the most "rugged" camera clusters on the market.
Many Vietnamese users shared on technology forums that they do not like this design on the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
The manufacturer rounded the edges of the device more softly, giving a more comfortable and secure grip compared to the flat edges of the previous generation. Despite the larger size and weight, it still feels very comfortable in the hand.
Of course, aluminum is not as durable and scratch-resistant as titanium; many users have reported that the orange and blue versions are more prone to dents and scratches.
Therefore, using a case is almost mandatory to protect the expensive investment that users spend.
In return, the front and back of the device are protected by Ceramic Shield 2 glass, which Apple advertises as being 3 times more scratch-resistant than the first generation. The device also meets IP68 dust and water resistance standards - on par with competitors on the market.
Screen
Apple continues to maintain its dominant position in display quality. The iPhone 17 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR display, the largest in the lineup. While the resolution (2868 x 1320 pixels) and pixel density (460 ppi) remain unchanged, the most notable upgrade is in brightness.
The maximum brightness of the screen has been pushed from 2,000 nits to 3,000 nits, surpassing even the formidable competitor Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (2,600 nits).
Apple has integrated AI into many applications to help users have more convenient experiences (Photo: Thu Uyen)?
Our experience with outdoor use shows good visibility, even in bright sunlight. Additionally, a new anti-glare coating reduces reflections, keeping content legible in all lighting conditions.
ProMotion technology allows the refresh rate to vary from 1Hz to 120Hz, ensuring smooth scrolling and saving battery when displaying static content.
Along with that, Dynamic Island, Face ID and features like True Tone are still indispensable parts, providing a comprehensive, vivid and intelligent display experience.
Performance
At the heart of the iPhone 17 Pro Max lies the all-new A19 Pro chip, built on an advanced process that includes a 6-core CPU (2 high-performance cores and 4 power-efficient cores) and a 6-core GPU.
The special highlight is that each GPU core now has its own "neural accelerator", which speeds up AI and computational photography tasks by up to 30% when used by users. Combined with 12GB of RAM, the iPhone 17 Pro Max can smoothly handle all tasks, from editing 4K ProRes video, playing high-graphics games to large AI language models right on the device.
However, the chip's power would not be fully utilized without the vapor chamber cooling system, which is the first equipped on the iPhone. It helps the A19 Pro chip maintain good performance for longer periods of time without throttling due to overheating.
This is a major step forward, transforming the iPhone 17 Pro Max from a powerful but "hot" phone into a stable and high-performance machine.
In real-life use, the difference is huge, AI applications like removing objects from photos happen in a flash. Gaming experiences on heavy titles like War Thunder Mobile or racing are completely smooth, lighting effects are vivid and most importantly, the device no longer gets hot after a short time.
Apple has also equipped the device with its largest battery ever (5,088mAh for the US version), combined with a powerful chip and a good heat dissipation system for optimal energy efficiency.
According to the manufacturer, the device can play video continuously for up to 39 hours, compared to 33 hours of the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
In our real-world test of streaming HD video over Wi-Fi at maximum brightness, the iPhone 17 Pro Max lasted 32 hours and 11 minutes. That's 10 hours longer than its predecessor and well ahead of Android rivals like the Galaxy S25 Ultra (14 hours and 15 minutes).
With mixed real-world usage, users can expect to get between 1.5 and 2 days of use without needing to charge, which puts the iPhone 17 Pro Max on par with Samsung flagships in terms of battery life, an area where Apple has lagged behind for years.
In terms of charging technology, the product supports 40W fast wired charging, allowing 50% battery charging in just 20 minutes; while MagSafe wireless charging has also been upgraded to 25W and is now compatible with third-party Qi2.2 standard chargers at maximum power.
While still much slower than some Chinese competitors, given the superior battery life, this charging speed is perfectly acceptable.
Camera
The camera system has always been the pride of the Pro Max line and this year Apple has brought some really meaningful upgrades, especially in the telephoto camera and selfie camera.
The device's main and ultra-wide cameras still have 48MP resolution for sharp photo quality, true colors and wide dynamic contrast range thanks to Smart HDR 5 technology.
Apple has made a big change with the telephoto lens, instead of the 5x lens of the previous generation, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is equipped with a completely new 48MP tetraprism sensor; this allows users to take 4x optical zoom photos and 8x "optical quality" zoom by cropping from the 12MP center area of the sensor.
Image quality from this lens, especially at 4x and 8x in good light, shows sharper images with less noise and significantly better detail retention than digital zoom.
This turns the telephoto camera from a "just-in-time" feature like on previous generations into a photography tool, especially for portraits and shooting distant subjects.
The maximum 40x digital zoom still exists but the quality is not high and is only for demonstration. While big competitors like Samsung and some Chinese brands have integrated AI image processing for much better quality.
The most exciting new feature is definitely the completely redesigned 18MP selfie camera. Apple has replaced the traditional rectangular sensor with a square sensor (1:1 ratio).
This change brings unprecedented flexibility. Users can hold the phone vertically but still easily switch between vertical and horizontal selfies with just a tap.
Furthermore, with AI, the camera can automatically recognize when there are more people in the frame and zoom in so as not to miss anyone. The image quality is also significantly improved, sharper and more detailed. This is a big upgrade for iPhone users who love taking selfies.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max impresses with its video recording capabilities, supporting 4K Dolby Vision recording at multiple frame rates up to 120fps, ProRes RAW 4K120fps recording, and supporting professional color systems such as ACES and Apple Log 2.
Tools like cinema mode, action mode, and audio zoom make every shot look professional and highly stable.
Software
The iPhone 17 Pro Max comes pre-installed with iOS 26, which is the biggest interface overhaul since iOS 7. The new "Liquid Glass" design language creates a transparent, modern, and sleek feel for app icons and widgets.
However, many iPhone users have expressed that the new interface makes users tired/sore eyes very quickly. The lock screen is also smarter, can automatically rearrange widgets around your wallpaper.
On the other hand, Apple integrates some smart features like Live Translation (live translation of conversations), Visual Intelligence (search by image) and object removal tool in the Photos app.
One notable point is ChatGPT's deep integration and voice interaction capabilities with most apps, showing that Apple is opening up to third-party AI partners while developing its own ecosystem.
Conclude
The iPhone 17 Pro Max shows a clear change in Apple's efforts after years of complaints about heat dissipation and battery. The return to aluminum, the addition of a vapor chamber and a large battery help the device operate more stably, cooler and more durable in real-life use. This is a remarkable step forward, showing that Apple has listened to users.
However, this innovation also comes with trade-offs. The aluminum frame is less luxurious and scratches more easily than titanium, the large camera cluster is cumbersome, and the charging speed is still behind Android competitors. iOS 26 brings many changes to the interface and AI but does not make a clear difference.
Overall, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is stronger, more durable, and better tuned, but not really worthy of the nearly 40 million VND price that users expect.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/danh-gia-iphone-17-pro-max-hieu-nang-pin-va-camera-co-xung-voi-muc-gia-20251004163139885.htm
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