iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: 7 big upgrades expected at Apple's ‘Awe Dropping’ event

Apple's iPhone 17 series just a couple of weeks away from debut with the Cueprtino based tech giant already annoucing its hardware launch of the year would be called “Awe Dropping”, would be held on 9 September. Just like every year, the spotlight at this year's iPhone launch will be on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which is all set to replace its prececessor as the best iPhone money can buy. But how much of an upgrage will the new iPhone have? Let's find out all about rumored upgrades we have for the iPhone 17 Pro Max. 

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: Top 7 upgrades

1) Largest battery on an iPhone: 

The iPhone 17 Pro Max could have the biggest battery that one has seen on an iPhone so far with the new device is expected to house a 5,000mAh setup, up from 4,676 mAh battery on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The increase in battery size could also lead to the phone getting a bit thicker, going from 8.25mm to 8.75mm. 

2) New Selfie camera: 

All new iPhone 17 series devices are expected to get a 24MP selfie shooter, up from the 12MP lens on the previous lineup. The new lens while offering improved image quality is also said to allow for up to 2x more cropping without causing a loss in quality. 

3) Triple 48MP lens:

Apple is expecte to upgrade the telephoto sensor on the iPhone 17 Pro Max from the 12MP lens on its predecessor to a 48MP lens. This change would mean that the new Pro series iPhones would be the first get a triple 48MP camera setup. 

The new 48MP lens is tipped to come with 3.5x optical zoom instead of the 5x optical zoom on the current iPhones that could theoretically make it better for portrait shots. 

The new iPhone 17 Pro models are also expected to come with support for 8k video recording, a major upgrade from 4K recording support on the iPhone 16 Pro lineup. 

4) Fiery orange is the flavour of the month:

Apple could be leaving behind its history of having muted colour options for the iPhone 17 series with the addition of a new fiery orange colour option with the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. Apart from that, the phones are expected to come in black, gray, silver, and a dark blue sheens. 

This could mark the biggest design shift in Pro series iPhones in years and the company is also planning to eliminate the use Titanium on the premium iPhones in favour of a Glass Alumnium finish. 

6) Display:

The new iPhone model is expected to feature a 6.8 inch ProMotion 120Hz display as last year. However, there are some leaks about Apple using a scratch resistance, anti-reflective display coating on the phone but that may be pushed on to the iphone 18 series next year. 

There are also rumors of Apple working on reducing the size of Dynamic Island on the iPhone 17 Pro lineup that could lead to a more immersive viewing experience on the new devices.

7) Bigger processing power: 

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is epected to run on the new A19 Pro chipset based on the 3nm process that is likely to result in marginal gains in performance and efficiency compared to the last generation. The phone is also expected to come with 12GB of RAM, up form 8GB on the 16 Pro Max. 

The upgraded RAM is expected to help power Apple Intelligence features in iOS 26 more smoothly while also helping with multi-tasking. 

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is also expectd to get a vapor cooling champor for improved heat dissipation and to prevent throttling during high performance tasks.