Apple iPhone 17 Pro vs iPhone 16 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.3-inch Apple iPhone 17 Pro (with Apple A19 Pro) that was released on September 9, 2025, against the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A18 Pro and came out 1 year and 1 month before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 17 Pro
  • 45% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2538K versus 1750K)
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
  • The phone is 1 year and 1 month newer
  • Supports higher wattage charging (40W versus 30W)
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 5.7 mm narrower
  • Weighs 21 grams less
  • 14% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3992 and 3507 points
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
  • Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
  • Delivers 78% higher peak brightness (1790 against 1004 nits)
  • Shows 31% longer battery life (35:01 vs 26:48 hours)
  • The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
8 / 256 GB
23.1
(Mediocre)
Value Index
58.7
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.3 inches 6.9 inches
Resolution 1206 x 2622 pixels 1320 x 2868 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 460 ppi 460 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 3000 nits 2000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1600 nits 1600 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Ceramic Shield 2 -
Screen-to-body ratio 90.4% 92.3%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.6%
PWM - 240 Hz
Response time - 1 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
iPhone 16 Pro Max
6.9″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 18.1 in2
iPhone 17 Pro
6.3″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.1 in2
~19% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
1004 nits
1790 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 150 mm (5.91 inches) 163 mm (6.42 inches)
Width 71.9 mm (2.83 inches) 77.6 mm (3.06 inches)
Thickness 8.75 mm (0.34 inches) 8.25 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 206 g (7.27 oz) 227 g (8.01 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Silver, Blue, Orange White, Black, Silver, Gold
Fingerprint scanner No No
Repairability Good (3.04/5) Average (2.83/5)
Drop resistance Very good (B) · 180 drops Good (C) · 90 drops
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPhone 17 Pro and Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
SoC
Chipset Apple A19 Pro Apple A18 Pro
Max clock 4260 MHz 4040 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.6 GHz:
- 2 cores at 4.26 GHz:
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics 6 core Apple GPU 6 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 768 640
GPU clock 1620 MHz 1490 MHz
FLOPS ~2488.3 GFLOPS ~2289 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPhone 17 Pro and Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
44342
Compute Score (GPU) 44342 33340
Single-core score 3992 3507
Multi-core score 10688 8789
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
2538751
CPU 753740 508577
GPU 926158 540541
Memory 217137 191233
UX 641716 509980
Total score 2538751 1750331
Samples [6 tests] [4 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 74%
Graphics test - 13 FPS
Graphics score - 1718
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test - 28 FPS
Section 1 - 34 FPS
Section 2 - 29 FPS
Section 3 - 21 FPS
Graphics score - 7448
Sources: 3DMark [5]

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPhone 17 Pro
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-16 (Anatoli)AnTuTu 112304042
📘 2026-06-03 (Vin)Geekbench 6 CPU3890 / 10107
📘 2026-05-11 (Atti rajan)AnTuTu 112301246
📘 2026-04-10 (Resul)AnTuTu 112538751
📘 2026-02-23 (FiLsImRoZeR)AnTuTu 112106484
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-23 -> RappzzzzAnTuTu 112043169
📘 2026-09-20 (thuanday)AnTuTu 112043169
📘 2026-09-17 (Jonibek)AnTuTu 111692383
📘 2026-07-21 (l1tsemerr)AnTuTu 111650968
📘 2026-04-27 -> hoduyhaodzso1tgBattery lifeSOT 12:58 / –

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iOS 26 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) iOS 18 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27)
OS size - 18 GB
OS updates 7 years 7 years
Security updates 7 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 4252 mAh 4685 mAh
Max charge power 40 W 30 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (25 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes Yes
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (70% in 30 min) Yes (46% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:18 hr 1:57 hr
Battery cycles 1000 cycles 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:51 hr 14:34 hr
Watching video 19:54 hr 22:01 hr
Gaming 06:49 hr 07:12 hr
Standby 117 hr 163 hr
General battery life
26:48 hr
35:01 hr
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (111th and 14th place)

Main camera

Matrix 48 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8064 x 6048 8064 x 6048
Zoom Optical, 4x Optical, 5x
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 120FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Telephoto: 48 MP
3) Ultrawide: 48 MP
4) Depth
1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 48 MP
4) Depth
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 48 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.78 f/1.8
Focal length 24 mm 24 mm
Sensor Sony IMX903 Sony IMX803
Sensor size 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 48 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.8 f/2.8
Focal length 100 mm 120 mm
Sensor Sony IMX973 Sony IMX913
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 48 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX972 Sony IMX972
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 170 160
Preview - 93
Zoom 141 130
Samples Photo samples of Apple iPhone 17 Pro from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 18 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4896 x 3672 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.9
Focal length 20 mm 23 mm
Sensor Sony IMX914 Sony IMX714
Sensor size - 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) Yes Yes
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 149
Video - 155

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Type of SIM card eSIM eSIM
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2025 September 2024
Release date September 2025 September 2024
Launch price (MSRP) $1099 $1199
Successor - - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
SAR (head) - 1.22 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.45 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on iPhone 17 Pro:
    - The eSIM-only model has a larger battery than the Nano SIM + eSIM version – 4,252 mAh vs. 3,988 mAh.
    - Only the Chinese version offers dual Nano SIM slots and it also has a weaker 15-watt wireless charging system.
Notes on iPhone 16 Pro Max:
    - The US version of the smartphone exclusively supports eSIM, while the international model features both a physical SIM slot and eSIM capability. In China, the device is available with dual physical SIM card slots only.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the performance and gaming are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 17 Pro. But if the battery life is more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
223 (45.8%)
264 (54.2%)
Total votes: 487

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Avatar
Shokhrukh December 19, 2025 at 05:17 AM
What is better to buy?
+10 Reply
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee September 16, 2025 at 03:13 AM
the iPhone 17 pro has a higher gpu performance than the 16 pro max. i know at this time there is no gpu benchmarks for the 17 pro so it should be marked unrelible
+13 Reply
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee September 16, 2025 at 04:05 AM
i agree with this review
+9 Reply