We’re almost halfway through 2026 and, even after testing a wide array of new phones like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, the Normal Phone 4(a) Pro, and the budget-friendly iPhone 17e, I still think of the iPhone 17 Pro Max as my go-to.

And I’m not alone: Despite its $1,199 starting price tag, the big-screen iPhone 17 Pro Max was the most popular model in the iPhone 17 line in 2025, according to sales analysis from Counterpoint Market Research. The standard 17 has overtaken it this year, but the iPhone 17, 17 Pro Max, and 17 Pro have locked down the top three spots.

After seeing the iPhone's evolution year after year, the numbers are no surprise. The 17 Pro and Pro Max are Apple’s best phones to date, and a more substantial upgrade than we’ve seen in the past few years. After nine months in my pocket, though, I’ve had plenty of time to see its strong specs translate into real-world performance. Here are a few reasons why I still use my iPhone Pro Max every day, regardless of what I’m testing.

An upgraded camera stack, often powered by three separate lenses, has been the leading feature of every new flagship phone for years now. And every year, Apple always offers new and improved photography and filming capabilities with each new line of Pro phones. The 17 Pro and Pro Max follow suit, as expected, but there are a couple of changes this year that make these phones feel special.

Featuring a trio of 48-megapixel rear snappers—one more than the iPhone 16 Pro—the 17 Pro and Pro Max can take high-resolution photographs at any focal length. I’ve captured hundreds of beautiful, instantly shareable photos of landmarks, landscapes, and wildlife with phones, as well as equally beautiful macro shots. The Dolby Vision-enhanced 4K video footage from both phones was just as lifelike as the still shots.

Hands down, though, my favorite camera upgrade in the iPhone 17 Pro is the addition of a higher-resolution 48-megapixel telephoto lens with Apple’s Fusion tech. By cropping into its high-resolution sensor, the iPhone 17 Pro’s telephoto camera delivers up to 8x optical zoom without sacrificing image quality. That’s a major leap forward from the 5x optical zoom in several past iPhone Pro models, and a boon for aspiring wildlife photographers like myself or those looking to capture live sports and other performances from afar.

When you flip the phone around to the front, the difference is even more striking from past iterations. The entire iPhone 17 line—including the standard iPhone 17 and the ultralight iPhone Air—features Apple’s upgraded front-facing camera. Furnished with an 18-megapixel sensor, it gives you the ability to zoom in and out, or take “landscape”-style photos, dramatically widening the range of photos you can take with the so-called “selfie” camera. It also supports “Center Stage,” a long-running Apple software feature designed to optimize selfies and portrait-style photos and videos.

Between the two new features, the iPhone 17 is easily the best phone to date for selfies, video calls, or any photo/video project using the front-facing camera. I caught myself using its front-facing camera a lot more frequently than on any other iPhone I had.

Apple puts “Pro” in the name of its high-end phones for a reason. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are both incredibly powerful phones, courtesy of Apple’s latest mobile processor, the A19 Pro. Since getting the phone last September, I haven’t encountered a single real-world scenario that caused the device to show even the slightest sign it had been pushed to its limits.

That includes swapping among 10 or more active apps, editing Dolby Vision-enhanced video footage, and playing games like Tomb Raider. Both the Pro and Pro Max aced every test I threw at them. And the phone’s high-tech cooling system worked flawlessly, so I never felt the phone heating up under heavy load. Jumping from the 16 Pro to the newer model might not deliver a palpable performance boost, but the improved cooling is definitely a welcome addition for avid gamers and content creators who edit high-resolution video directly on their phones.

At this point, these phones have set the high bar for mobile performance. Even Samsung’s 2026 flagship, the S26 Ultra, doesn’t quite meet it. And keep in mind that the previous year’s flagship processor, the Apple A18 Pro, is what’s inside Apple’s miraculously efficient budget laptop, the MacBook Neo.

Despite all that power, I was even more impressed by the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s battery life. The big iPhone is part of a very small club of phones that can effortlessly provide two days’ worth of mixed use between charges.

After a full day of heavy screen time, I’ve generally found that I end the day with at least 30 percent battery left. The iPhone 17 Pro naturally lags a tad behind its larger sibling, since it is smaller and, thus, has a smaller battery. Even so, I had no trouble getting through a full day without reaching for my portable battery pack.

And when it’s time to charge, the phone charges as fast as you could possibly hope for. The 17 Pro and Pro Max both support 40-watt wired and Qi 2.2 wireless charging. Using the latest chargers, which support higher output, I could get their batteries to 80 percent in less than an hour.

The most meaningful changes to a phone are always technical, so you’ll feel them, rather than see them. Still, it’s nice when phone brands find ways to change a phone’s physical appearance to make a phone look new. I think Apple succeeded in that with the 17 Pro and Pro Max: By introducing an aluminum unibody and a larger camera plateau, they disrupted what felt like a fairly repetitive string of iterative aesthetic refreshes that had grown too familiar, while without altering the iPhone’s instantly recognizable silhouette.

When I reviewed the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max back in 2019, I called them “the industry’s new apex” because they exhibited a leap in craftsmanship, performance, and all-around user experience. I’d argue that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max come the closest to meeting that higher standard for iPhone releases: They aren’t just great phones, but they offer something new and worthwhile for annual and occasional upgraders alike. If you’re heading out to pick up a new phone today, you can’t go wrong with either one. (Though you may want to wait and see what Apple is cooking up with its 2026 iPhones, which will presumably launch in September 2026.)

Choosing between these two top-tier phones largely comes down to personal preference for phone size, but I’d recommend the Pro Max if you watch a lot of video on your phone, or if battery life is a major concern. The Pro, on the other hand, is smaller and physically fits better in more hands, so it’s the better choice if you prefer to scroll and take photos one-handed.

While I think the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the best overall phone, I absolutely recognize that some people simply aren't into iOS for any number of reasons. If that’s the case, the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is the strongest alternative to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Its hardware performance is comparable to that of the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and it comes with a kitchen sink’s worth of features at a similar price.

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