iPhone 18 Pro Max vs. 17 Pro Max: Major Leap or Conservative Update?

When annual smartphone upgrades come up, Apple has always faced a major challenge: how to make an already mature product more appealing? At first glance, the iPhone 18 Pro Max may seem like just an "S"-style update, a smartphone whose design is not fundamentally different from its predecessor, the iPhone 17 Pro Max. But when we look under the hood of this device, we find hardware changes

When it comes to annual smartphone upgrades, Apple has always faced a big challenge: How can it make an already mature product more attractive? At first glance,...

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When it comes to annual smartphone upgrades, Apple has always faced a big challenge: How can it make an already mature product more attractive? At first glance, the iPhone 18 Pro Max may seem like just an "S" update; A smartphone whose appearance is not fundamentally different from its previous generation, the iPhone 17 Pro Max. But when we penetrate under the shell of this device, we encounter changes in hardware, thermal engineering and optical systems that may have marked one of the biggest technological leaps of Apple in recent years. In this script and comprehensive review, we are going to put our magnifying glass on all parts of these two technology giants without any hype and with a completely critical eye to see if upgrading to iPhone 18 Pro Max is really worth paying double money or not?

At first glance, the design language of the iPhone 18 Pro Max is not significantly different from the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Apple has remained faithful to the same familiar form factor with titanium edges and a prominent camera module. However, the changes lie in the details. One of the most attractive changes is the return of a "True Black" color to Pro models. Unlike the dark colors of the past years, which always had an aura of gray or navy, this black color is extremely deep and pure. Another important point is the complete coordination of the color of the back glass with the frame of the device, which has given the iPhone 18 Pro Max a great visual integrity.

However, the main criticism in the design section is the lack of innovation in the overall form of the device. While competitors are developing foldable phones or radical designs, Apple is sticking to a four-year-old design. But on the front, Apple has finally addressed one of the biggest complaints from users: the Dynamic Island is now noticeably narrower and smaller. This change makes the user's visual experience much more immersive and watching videos or playing games on this giant screen is less disturbed by the notch on the top of the screen.

The display has always been Apple's strong point. iPhone 17 Pro Max was previously launched with a fantastic panel with high brightness and accurate colors. In the iPhone 18 Pro Max, the intrinsic quality of the panel hasn't changed dramatically, but there is one critical difference in its performance under pressure, which is related to the new cooling system. On the iPhone 17 Pro Max, one of the biggest problems was that after a few minutes of heavy gaming, the screen dimmed due to high heat generation (Screen Dimming). In the 20-minute stress tests, the iPhone 18 Pro Max showed that thanks to the new heat dissipation system, the stability of the display's brightness is much higher, and the user no longer faces a sudden blackout of the screen in the middle of a gaming competition.

Unfortunately, Apple has not taken any steps forward in terms of audio system and speakers. Detailed sound tests show that the iPhone 18 Pro Max speakers have exactly the same performance as the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Sound separation, bass and volume are completely the same. Although the sound quality of iPhones has always been at the highest level of the market, it was expected that in the new generation we would see the improvement of audio drivers to better support spatial audio without headphones, but this did not happen.

اینجا دقیقاً همان جایی است که آیفون ۱۸ پرو مکس تمام رقبای اندرویدی و حتی نسل گذشته خود را با بی‌رحمی کنار می‌زند. پردازنده A20 Pro یک شاهکار مهندسی است. برای درک این جهش، باید به اعداد و ارقام نگاه کنیم. در بنچمارک Geekbench 7 (که با تمرکز بر هوش مصنوعی و عملکرد چند هسته‌ای به‌روز شده است)، پردازنده A19 Pro در آیفون ۱۷ پرو مکس به فرکانس ۴.۲۶ گیگاهرتز می‌رسید. اما A20 Pro این مرز را شکسته و به فرکانس خیره‌کننده ۴.۹۲ گیگاهرتز دست یافته است. این بزرگترین افزایش سرعت کلاک در پردازنده‌های اپل در چند سال اخیر محسوب می‌شود.

The processing results are stunning. The A20 Pro's single-core score crosses the 4000 mark, which represents a 25% jump over the iPhone 17 Pro Max. In the multi-core section, a score of over 11,000 was recorded, which is 29% faster than the previous generation. To understand the enormity of these numbers, you need to know that we're now talking about processing power that's on par with the M2 and M3 desktop processors in Apple's MacBooks, but all that power packed into a pocketable device!

In the graphics processing unit (GPU), Apple has increased the number of cores from 6 to 7. The result? An incredible 48% jump in graphics performance over the iPhone 17 Pro Max. This graphics score is actually faster than the M4 processor in the MacBook Pro and the base M5 in the MacBook Air. This level of graphics power means running console games at the highest settings without any frame drops.

Additionally, we notice a big change in internal memory speed tests with the Psmark app. The read speed in both phones is about 3400 MB/s, but the write speed in iPhone 18 Pro Max has increased from 2100 to 3600 MB/s. This means storing spatial 4K ProRes videos or installing bulky applications at speeds equivalent to the fastest MacBook Pro SSD drives.

One of the most hidden but crucial hardware changes is the redesign of the RAM architecture in the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Apple has migrated from 64-bit bus to 96-bit bus for the first time since the release of the first iPhone. This physical change has caused the bandwidth of the graphics processor to reach 66.5 GB/s in the iPhone 17 Pro Max to 111.8 GB/s in the 18 Pro Max; That means a 68% jump in bandwidth.

Why is this important? The answer is two words: "artificial intelligence". Running large language models (LLM) on-device requires huge bandwidth. Apple has also increased the number of Neural Engine cores from 16 to 32 cores. In the Quen 2.5 artificial intelligence model execution tests (3 billion parameter version), the iPhone 18 Pro Max was able to generate 55.4 tokens per second, while this number was only 33.5 tokens for the 17 Pro Max. This means that the performance of Apple's artificial intelligence (Apple Intelligence) is 65% faster in this phone. The Siri voice assistant now processes complex commands in a fraction of a second without the need for an internet connection.

The biggest weakness of the iPhone 17 Pro Max was the inability to maintain high performance (Sustained Performance) in the long run. High heat caused the processor to quickly suffer from throttling. In the iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple has solved this problem with a Vapor Chamber cooling system whose area has tripled. Also, Apple has used WMCM packaging, where the chip has direct contact with the vapor chamber.

In the 20-minute 3D Mark stress test, the images from the thermal camera revealed some interesting facts. The iPhone 17 Pro Max concentrated all the heat in one spot (creating a hot spot or Sunspot), which prevented the chip from cooling. But in the iPhone 18 Pro Max, the heat is spread evenly throughout the body of the device. It might feel a little warmer in the hand, but that's exactly what the engineers wanted: successful heat transfer from the processor to the outside.

The result of this thermal engineering is stunning. Performance stability on the iPhone 18 Pro Max is 51% better than the 17 Pro Max (even more than the 40% claimed by Apple itself). The crazy thing is that the iPhone 18 Pro Max's weakest score at the end of 20 minutes of heavy testing was only 100 points lower than the iPhone 17 Pro Max's highest score in the coolest possible mode! In gaming tests such as the Steel Nomad Light (43% faster) and the Solar Bay Extreme ray tracing test (59% faster), this stability is very evident.

Despite the more powerful processor and brighter display, charging is always a concern. But the iPhone 18 Pro Max is equipped with a gigantic 5567 mAh battery. The combination of this massive battery with the optimizations of the A20 Pro chip has brought the charging of this phone to a level that challenges even Android phones with 7000 mAh batteries in comprehensive tests.

But there has been a revolutionary change in charging speed. The new cooling system has allowed Apple to increase the charging speed from the peak of 40 watts in the previous generation to the peak of 60 watts in the iPhone 18 Pro Max; It means 50% increase in power. This upgrade allows you to charge this huge battery from zero to 50% in just 15 minutes. Wireless charging is also optimized more than ever with new accessories like the Anker MagGo 2 Pro (which has a built-in cooling fan) and keeps the battery temperature below 36°C, which is critical for long-term battery health.

In the communication sector, we see a contradiction and a strange decision by Apple. Both phones support Wi-Fi 7 and their speeds are exactly the same when connecting to 6GHz routers. But a disappointing thing has happened in the 5G modem department.

While the iPhone 18 Pro (smaller model) is equipped with Apple's exclusive and new C2 modem, which has a much higher upload speed and lower energy consumption, Apple has decided to use the same Qualcomm X80 modem in the iPhone 18 Pro Max, which was used exactly in the iPhone 17 Pro Max! This is a setback, or at least a big let down for buyers of the "Pro Max" version. Paying more for the top model, but getting an older modem than the smaller model, is a criticism of Apple's policies this generation.

Although the selfie, telephoto and ultra-wide cameras in the iPhone 18 Pro Max have not had any hardware changes compared to the 17 Pro Max (which is a criticism and larger sensors were expected to be used for these lenses), the main camera has undergone one of the most interesting changes in the history of the iPhone: Variable Aperture.

The main camera can now change its aperture mechanically from f/1.48 to f/4.0. This change comes with the addition of "Pro Controls" exclusively in the iPhone 18 Pro native camera app. Now you have a live histogram, white balance control, shutter speed, focus and of course direct control over the aperture blades on the screen. No need to use secondary apps like Final Cut Camera for manual settings.

In terms of the physics of light, this change has two huge advantages:

1. Night photography: With the aperture fully open at f/1.48, about 50% more light enters the sensor than the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Photos taken in the dark are now sharper, brighter and with much less noise.

2. Group photography and depth of field: In previous iPhones, large sensors caused unwanted blur in the background; So that in the group photos, the people who were standing a little behind were recorded blurry. The iPhone 18 Pro Max camera can now automatically close the aperture up to f/4 by detecting subjects. This increases the depth of field and captures everyone in the frame in perfect focus and sharp (exactly the technique professional photographers do with DSLR cameras).

In addition, the mechanical change of the aperture blades to f/1.8 causes the formation of star-effect Bokeh in the background. While in f/1.48 mode, the bokehs are completely round. This star effect is so beautiful and cinematic that it is predicted to become a big trend in social networks and photographers will be fascinated by this feature.

To answer this question, we must look at two different aspects. The iPhone 17 Pro Max was a great phone in its time with its titanium design and solid platform. But iPhone 18 Pro Max has brought the concept of "evolution" to its peak. In this generation, Apple has focused on solving all the engineering bottlenecks of the previous generation, instead of making unnecessary external changes.

The new vapor chamber cooling system has completely solved the problem of frequent overheating, the 96-bit RAM bandwidth has opened a wide road for heavy AI processing, and the 60W charging along with the 5567 mAh battery has eliminated the charging concern forever. On the camera side, variable aperture is a real tool for professional photographers to challenge their creativity.

If you are a user of iPhone 16 Pro Max or older models (such as Series 13, 12 or X), buying an iPhone 18 Pro Max is a killer upgrade that can easily work for you for the next 6 years without the slightest drop in performance.

But if you already have an iPhone 17 Pro Max, the decision is a little more difficult. Upgrading to 18 Pro Max is logically justified in only three cases:

1. Professional gamers and AI users: If you care about the stability of performance in heavy games, high frame rate and the response speed of AI on the device.

2. Professional photographers: If you need manual camera controls, true depth of field with variable aperture, and better night photography.

3. Battery heavy users: If you're constantly on the go and need super fast 60W charging and amazing battery life.

Otherwise, for everyday use and social networking, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is still a powerful beast. However, it cannot be hidden that Apple has engineered one of the most complete, perfect and powerful smartphones ever with the iPhone 18 Pro Max; A product whose appearance may not scream, but inside it is a complete revolution.

I have been writing professionally in the field of technology since 2016, and my main focus is on hardware, digital market and consumer products analysis. During these years, I have tried to move beyond the mere introduction of products, and with an analytical approach, I have examined market trends, brand strategy, and the real value of each product for the Iranian user. My interest in technology is not only limited to technical specifications; For me, every product is a story of engineering decisions, business competition and user experience. From covering news and developments in the industry to compiling buying guides and analyzing daily market prices, I try to provide accurate, up-to-date and practical information so that the audience can make a more informed decision. I believe that technology journalism is not just news transmission; Rather, it is the translation of the complex world of technology into a clear, understandable and reliable language for the audience.

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In my opinion, only cooking can justify the price of the Abphone, otherwise Android phones are better in every field, for example, they have 120 watt charging, they have amazing cameras that even eat lenses, the new models beat Apple's weak CPU in the benchmark, and they don't get involved in the deadly nervousness of installing software on Apple phones.