I have used every Pro Max model since 2021. The headline data points (weight, battery, chip score, screen size, price) tell a tighter story than the marketing each year tries to.

Headline trajectory

Five generations. Five chip jumps. One material change (steel to titanium with the 15 Pro Max). One USB transition (Lightning to USB-C with the 15 line). One real weight cut (the 17 Pro Max).

```table::specs ```

The most striking thing in this table is the price column. Apple held the £1,199 starting line for four straight years[^2]. In a period of currency volatility, supplier cost increases, and the introduction of more expensive titanium chassis material, that is unusual.

CPU performance

The single-core benchmark trend is steeper than people give it credit for[^1]. The A19 Pro is 2.18 times the score of the A15 Bionic. Single-core matters for app responsiveness, snappy UI, and the inference latency of on-device LLMs.

```chart::benchmark ```

The A18 to A19 gain (3401 to 3782) is smaller than the previous year-over-year jumps. This is consistent with TSMC's 2nm process being a less aggressive node-shrink than originally planned[^3]; the leakage characteristics required adjusting transistor density downward in the final design.

Weight, finally

I never minded the 240g of the 13 Pro Max. Most reviewers did. The titanium 15 Pro Max dropped to 221g, gained back six grams with the 16 Pro Max (mostly from the bigger 4685 mAh battery), then shed 13g for the 17 Pro Max.

```chart::weight ```

The 17 Pro Max is lighter than the 13 Pro Max by 26g, lighter than the 16 Pro Max by 13g. That kind of single-generation cut is unusual and felt every time you pick the phone up.

Camera evolution, briefly

I will not dwell on it. Camera generations are subjective; I trust [DXOMARK's testing](https://www.dxomark.com/category/mobile/) more than my own. The numbers there match my experience: each Pro Max moved the camera forward but the gap closed each year. The 13 to 14 jump (Photonic Engine, larger sensor) was material. The 16 to 17 jump (improved telephoto, new front camera) is small.

What the data does not say

iFixit teardowns[^4] show the internal layout has changed dramatically. The 13 Pro Max has the L-shaped battery wrapped around the camera module. The 17 Pro Max moves the logic board forward to free up battery volume despite the thinner chassis.

The thinness of the 17 Pro Max is partly fake: the camera plateau is taller, masking how thin the actual chassis is. With the camera plateau the 17 Pro Max is 9.6mm thick. Without it, the 7.4mm headline number.

What I would actually buy

If you have a 13 Pro Max in 2025: yes, upgrade. The single-core score doubles, the weight drops by 26g, the battery is similar, the screen is brighter, the camera is meaningfully better.

If you have a 15 or 16 Pro Max in 2025: not yet. The 17 brings real changes (thinness, weight, brightness) but you have a phone that will do everything you need for two more years easily.

If you have a 14 Pro Max in 2025: probably yes. Two-year-old hardware is starting to feel slow on Apple Intelligence features, even if it is fine on the core OS.

What about the iPhone 18 leaks?

Two reliable leaks, both from supply-chain sources, suggest the iPhone 18 Pro Max will:

1. Move to a vapour chamber for thermal management (currently a graphite spreader) 2. Add a 200mm telephoto periscope to replace the current 120mm equivalent 3. Possibly drop to 7.0mm thick (rumoured, not confirmed by trusted sources)

I would not skip the 17 Pro Max waiting for these unless your current phone is the 16 Pro Max already.

Where to verify these numbers

- [Geekbench Browser](https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks) for live single-core averages - [Apple's spec sheets](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/specs) for the official weight, dimensions, battery - [iFixit](https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iPhone) for teardowns showing internal architecture changes - [DXOMARK](https://www.dxomark.com/category/mobile/) for camera scoring under standardised conditions

Five years of iPhone Pro Max: 13 to 17, charted