{"id":420538,"date":"2026-01-20T02:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/420538\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T02:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:52:11","slug":"5-takeaways-after-upgrading-to-iphone-17-pro-max","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/420538\/","title":{"rendered":"5 takeaways after upgrading to iPhone 17 Pro Max"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Over the holiday break, I finally decided to take the plunge and get a new iPhone after four years holding on to my iPhone 13 Pro Max. Here are the main differences I\u2019ve been noticing so far.<\/p>\n

Between being the stingy one in my group and living in a country with some of the world\u2019s highest iPhone prices<\/a>, it\u2019s easy to see why I held onto my iPhone 13 Pro Max for so long.<\/p>\n

But over the holidays, during a quick trip to New York, I finally made the jump and upgraded. I blame the idle time I spent waiting for the Apple Vision Pro demo.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what has been standing out so far:<\/p>\n

Infinite battery life<\/p>\n

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As someone who tries to avoid anxiety triggers as much as possible, I never check the battery health percentage on my devices. But I didn\u2019t need to go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health to know that something was seriously wrong.<\/p>\n

Since I work from home, this wasn\u2019t really a problem during weekdays. But on weekends, it was impossible to spend a Saturday or a Sunday out without having to top it up at least once.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, it\u2019s no surprise that the biggest improvement I\u2019ve been noticing with the iPhone 17 Pro Max is its seemingly infinite battery life. Even during the NY trip, where I used it heavily to take pictures and navigate the city, I couldn\u2019t get it to drop below 85% after unplugging in the morning.<\/p>\n

Obviously, battery health will degrade, and iOS apps (and even iOS itself) will demand more from it as time goes on. But if I had to rely more on battery life throughout the day, this improvement alone would have been more than enough to justify the jump.<\/p>\n

Look and feel<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As a fierce member of Team Caseless, I have to unexpectedly admit that I\u2019m not crazy about how the iPhone 17 Pro Max feels in my hand.<\/p>\n

Its finish is way too slippery, the rounded edges feel bloated, and although the iPhone 17 Pro Max is only about a millimeter thicker than my old device, it feels much bulkier by comparison.<\/p>\n

Even the fact that the iPhone 17 Pro Max is about 10 grams lighter than the iPhone 13 Pro Max feels uncomfortable to me, as if it were trying to appear robust, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max feels like an actual heavy-duty piece of technology.<\/p>\n

This is almost certainly a temporary issue after four years with the same iPhone. Still, every time I pick up the iPhone 13 Pro Max to prep it for sale and then switch back to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, the contrast feels a bit\u2026 disappointing.<\/p>\n

That camera<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another obvious point: it\u2019s no surprise that photos taken on devices that are 4 years apart will have stark differences in quality.<\/p>\n

But yes: while over-year camera gains might not be immediately apparent, they do add up over longer periods of time. Who\u2019d have thunk it?<\/p>\n

The only problem with the new cameras is that they made me regret not getting the iPhone 17 Pro Max as soon as I landed in NY. Scrolling through my photo library, the switch from the old iPhone to the new one is immediately obvious, particularly in low-light shots.<\/p>\n

That Camera Control<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Second unexpected admission: I like the camera button. While I\u2019m still training myself to actually use it, I prefer it to left-swiping the Home Screen or activating it through Control Center.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a fan of the confusing gestures to actually control the camera, though, so I\u2019ll keep them turned off (and I can absolutely see they now come off by default<\/a>). But quickly pressing the Camera Button to invoke the Camera app, or pressing and holding it to invoke Visual Intelligence, feels more natural and useful than I spent the last year giving it credit for.<\/p>\n

Always-on display? Nope<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the very first thing I did as soon as I set up the new iPhone: I turned off the always-on display. Then, I turned it back on to give it a shot. It didn\u2019t take.<\/p>\n

I might change my mind someday and give it another try, but right now, for my workflow (and my ever-enduring quest to avoid any sort of unnecessary cognitive load), it just feels like a bug to leave the screen on all the time, even with its current implementation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Any workflow involving Apple Intelligence still feels clunkier than it should be. I have been trying to train myself to rely more on both on-screen and on-camera Visual Intelligence<\/a> features, as well as on ChatGPT as a fallback to Siri, and the actual results have been better than I expected. Still, it feels faster to do most of these tasks on the Mac, which is perhaps just me showing my age.<\/p>\n

The gains in screen real estate feel less noticeable than I thought they would, particularly the smaller bezels around the screen. Putting both iPhones side by side makes for a starker contrast, but in everyday use, I can\u2019t really say that extra space makes that much of a difference.<\/p>\n

Finally, I don\u2019t really think there\u2019s anything original or very insightful I can add about the Dynamic Island that hasn\u2019t already been said or written. In my experience, it is a huge gain over the Face ID notch, and the interface for quickly checking things like a food delivery or controlling playback looks great. That said, I still can\u2019t wait for it to go away, at least in situations where a pill-shaped dead zone takes away from an actual full-screen experience.<\/p>\n

All in all, I couldn\u2019t be happier with my new device. If my track record holds, I\u2019ll be riding this one out until at least the iPhone 21, seemingly on a single charge.<\/p>\n

Accessory deals on Amazon<\/p>\n

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FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.<\/a><\/p>\n

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