iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. iPhone Air: Table of Contents
Apple has shaken up its iPhone lineup in 2025 with the iPhone Air, a sleek, ultra-thin flagship that takes on Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge (review). At the same time, there’s the iPhone 17 Pro Max, the ultimate flagship featuring top-tier hardware, cameras, and battery. But which one should you buy? In this comparison, we’ll break down the key differences between the two smartphones. So, without any further ado, let’s get started.
Also Read: No AI, No Problem? Why Apple Skipped Intelligence at the iPhone 17 Launch
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. iPhone Air: Tech Specs
| Specification | iPhone 17 Pro Max | iPhone Air |
| Dimensions | 163.4 x 78.0 x 8.75 mm | 156.2 x 74.7 x 5.64 |
| Weight | 231 grams | 165 grams |
| Colors | Silver, Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue | Cloud White, Light Gold, Sky Blue |
| IP Rating | IP68 (6 meters for up to 30 minutes) | IP68 (6 meters for up to 30 minutes) |
| Display | 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR OLED screen, ProMotion supported | 6.5-inch Super Retina XDR OLED screen, limited to 60Hz refresh rate |
| Processor | A19 Pro (3 nm), six-core GPU | A19 Pro (3nm), five-core GPU |
| RAM | 12 GB | 12 GB |
| Software | iOS 26 (~5 year OS updates) | iOS 26 (~5 year OS updates) |
| Camera | Rear: 48MP + 48MP + 48MP Front: 18MP Center Stage | Rear: 48MP wide Front: 18MP Center Stage |
| Battery Capacity | 4832 mAh (up to 37 hours video playback) | 3149 mAh (up to 27 hours video playback) |
| Charging Speed | 40W wired, 25W MagSafe/Qi2 | 20W wired, 20W MagSafe |
| Starting Price | US: $1,199 / India: Rs. 1,49,990 | US: $999 / India: Rs. 1,19,999 |
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. iPhone Air: Design
Dimensions & Weight
- iPhone 17 Pro Max: 163.4 x 78.0 x 8.75; 231 grams
- iPhone Air: 156.2 x 74.7 x 5.64; 165 grams
The entire idea behind the iPhone Air was to create a phone that doesn’t feel like a conventional, brick-style phone in your hand, and Apple has achieved exactly that. The iPhone Air offers a distinctly unique in-hand feel, something our brains are not accustomed to, whereas the iPhone 17 Pro Max feels like a standard big-screen handset.
Materials
After introducing the trend of titanium frames in the Pro iPhones, Apple has reverted to using an aluminum unibody on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which offers significantly improved heat dissipation. While the top third of the phone’s back panel is aluminum, it is the central portion that features Ceramic Shield (to enable wireless charging).
The iPhone Air, on the other hand, uses a titanium frame, making it the only model in this year’s lineup to use titanium. The back panel is made of Ceramic Shield glass.
Design
On the front, both phones feature a Dynamic Island. However, that’s the only similarity between them. The iPhone 17 Pro Max features a large camera plateau module on the back panel, housing the triple camera setup on the left and the LiDAR sensor on the right. On the iPhone Air, Apple has opted for a Pixel-style horizontal camera visor, but it is positioned at the top of the back panel.
Colors
- iPhone 17 Pro Max: Silver, Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue
- iPhone Air: Space Black, Cloud White, Light Gold, Sky Blue
Water Resistance
Both the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the iPhone Air feature an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, rated to survive up to six meters of freshwater for 30 minutes.
Also Read: iPhone 17 Pro Max Price in India vs. Abroad: The Ultimate 2025 Savings Guide
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. iPhone Air: Display
The iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air rely on the same display technology: a Super Retina XDR OLED screen that supports a variable refresh rate (1-120Hz), can achieve a peak brightness of 3,000 nits outdoors (with one nit minimum brightness), and has a pixel density of 460 ppi. Those, along with features like always-on display, support for True Tone, and Wide color (P3) gamut, are common on both the iPhones.
The only difference that’s apparent on paper is that the iPhone 17 Pro Max features a 6.9-inch screen, which, in my opinion, isn’t well-suited for one-handed usage, while the iPhone Air sports a 6.5-inch screen, which might still be manageable for some users. Anyway, if you aren’t bothered by the screen size (and, of course, you aren’t looking for a compact phone), both phones offer an equally good display.
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. iPhone Air: Performance
Under the hood, both phones are powered by the same A19 Pro (3nm) processor. However, there’s a minor difference that might go unnoticed at first glance.
The A19 Pro on the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the chipset’s full-scale version with a six-core CPU, a six-core GPU (with neural accelerators and hardware-accelerated ray tracing), and a 16-core Neural Engine, paired with 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of NVMe storage. This year, the iPhone 17 Pro Max also gets a 2TB variant (and naturally, it’s the most expensive of them all).
However, the A19 Pro on the iPhone Air is a toned-down or binned version that features only five GPU cores. While this could result in slightly lower benchmark scores, it shouldn’t affect the iPhone’s day-to-day performance.
It’s worth mentioning here that the A19 Pro is currently the most powerful chip on any smartphone, but that might change with the arrival of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 or the Dimensity 9500 chipset later this year (we’ll have to wait and see).
What could make a difference, however, is the Apple-designed vapor chamber on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which improves the overall heat dissipation and sustained performance of the handset. With the powerful processor and the new management system in place, the iPhone 17 Pro Max offers up to 40% better sustained performance than the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The iPhone Air should also offer excellent raw performance, but not on par with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The difference should be evident while playing high-fidelity video games or editing and rendering 4K videos on the go.
Also Read: Apple’s A19 Pro Delivers MacBook Power — Is a Budget MacBook Next?
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. iPhone Air: Operating System
Apple is set to release the iOS 26 stable update for eligible iPhone users today, September 15, 2025. In India, the update is expected to arrive at 10:30 PM IST tonight. Both the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the iPhone Air will ship with iOS 26 pre-installed when they arrive in stores on September 19, 2025.
The new operating system centers on the Liquid Glass design language that Apple has developed, utilizing translucent visual layers stacked on top of each other, each with its own unique reflective and refractive qualities.
Beyond the new look, iOS 26 also offers numerous new features for system apps. For instance, the Phone app gets a visual overhaul with features like Call Screening and Hold Assist. The Messages app now lets you take group polls and supports Live Translation (so does Phone and FaceTime). In Apple Music, there’s a new AutoMix feature that plays songs like a DJ.
CarPlay, Apple’s in-car infotainment system, also gets a significant redesign. You also get spatial wallpaper and dynamic clock effects for the lock screen, an Adaptive Power Mode to prolong your iPhone’s battery life, and the new Preview app that lets you edit PDFs and images. Moreover, iOS 26 is one of the most significant operating system updates from Apple in a while, and that shows.
Also Read: iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 16: Incremental Changes or Worthwhile Upgrade?
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. iPhone Air: Optics
| iPhone 17 Pro Max | iPhone Air | |
| Primary Camera | 48 MP (f/1.6, 1/1.28″, sensor-shift OIS) | 48 MP (f/1.6, 1/1.56″, sensor-shift OIS) |
| Secondary Camera | 48 MP (f/2.8, 1/2.55″, 3D sensor‑shift OIS) 4x optical zoom | – |
| Ultrawide Camera | 48 MP (f/2.2, 120˚, 1/2.55″) with PDAF | – |
| Front Camera | 18 MP (f/1.9, PDAF, OIS) Center Stage | 18 MP (f/1.9, PDAF, OIS) Center Stage |
As you can see in the table above, the iPhone 17 Pro Max features a triple camera setup on the back panel, which allows you to capture pictures and videos from multiple perspectives, including ultrawide, macro, 4x optical zoom, 8x lossless zoom, and up to 40x digital zoom. The iPhone Air, on the other hand, features a 48MP primary camera, offering 2x optical-quality zoom and up to 10x digital zoom.
When it comes to video recording, there are several things that the iPhone Air can’t manage, but the iPhone 17 Pro Max can. They include Cinematic Mode (4K Dolby Vision at 30 fps), Spatial video (1080p at 30 fps), ProRes video (4K at 120 fps with external recording), ProRes RAW, Apple Log 2, Genlock support, macro video recording, and digital zoom up to 15x.
The iPhone Air, on the other hand, gets features like Dual Capture (4K Dolby Vision at 30 fps), QuickTake video (4K Dolby Vision 60 fps), and the new 18MP Center Stage selfie camera that unlocks an entirely new selfie experience (all these features are also available on the iPhone 17 Pro Max).
So, if you require the Pro video features, you’d have to go with the iPhone 17 Pro Max (or the Pro variant, for that matter). The iPhone Air, conversely, is leaps and bounds behind the Pro models in this regard.
Also Read: The iPhone Air Indeed Features a Single Speaker
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. iPhone Air: Battery Life & Charging Rate
The iPhone 17 Pro Max is rated to provide up to 37 hours of video playback, the highest of any iPhone. Further, the phone can charge up to 50% in 20 minutes with a 40W adapter or higher (wired) and up to 50% in 30 minutes via MagSafe charger paired with a 30W or higher adapter.
The iPhone Air, in contrast, only offers up to 27 hours of video playback on a single charge. You can extend the phone’s battery life with the MagSafe Battery (up to 40 hours), but it will cost you another Rs. 11,900. With the inferior battery life, the phone also supports slower charging (up to 50% in 30 minutes via wired or MagSafe).
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. iPhone Air: Connectivity
There are plenty of connectivity-related differences between the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the iPhone Air.
For instance, the Pro Max supports sub-6 GHz and mmWave 5G connectivity (with a Qualcomm modem), while the Air is only compatible with sub-6 GHz networks (as it features the new in-house C1X 5G modem). Furthermore, the more expensive iPhone features a USB 3 Type-C port (capable of up to 10 Gb/s), while the iPhone Air is equipped with a USB 2 port (limited to 480 Mbps).
While the Pro Max provides dual-frequency GPS (which is more accurate), the Air sticks with standard GPS. More importantly, the iPhone Air is eSIM-only in India, whereas the Pro Max allows you to use at least one nano SIM. Although both phones feature the ultra-wideband chip and NFC, only the Pro Max offers satellite connectivity.
Both iPhones feature the new N1 wireless networking chip, which supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.2, and Thread networking technology.
Also Read: Apple N1 Chip & C1X Modem: Desperation Or A Step In The Right Direction?
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. iPhone Air: Price & Conclusion
Both iPhones are currently up for pre-order. They’ll hit stores starting September 19, 2025.
iPhone 17 Pro Max Price
The iPhone 17 Pro Max is the best iPhone money can buy. It offers better performance, all the pro-grade video recording features, a battery that lasts longer between charges, and supports faster charging as well. If you’re a content creator or a creative professional, you should definitely go with the iPhone 17 Pro Max as your primary device.
- iPhone 17 Pro Max (256GB): Rs. 1,49,900
- iPhone 17 Pro Max (512GB): Rs. 1,69,900
- iPhone 17 Pro Max (1TB): Rs. 1,89,900
- iPhone 17 Pro Max (2TB): Rs. 2,29,900
iPhone Air Price
In 2025, the iPhone Air positions itself as a premium lifestyle product that offers the familiar user interface of iOS and all the related features (including connectivity with other Apple devices) in a new, sleek form factor. While it could be an ideal secondary device for users who already own an iPhone 16 Pro Max, or an Android flagship for that matter, the conscious decision of choosing form over function doesn’t make it an ideal primary device.
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