Apple’s iPhone 17 models have been out for a week now, so we thought we’d do a longer-term review of the flagship iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max now that we’ve been able to spend more time with them.

MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera has a Silver ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ and a Cosmic Orange ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max, and despite a lot of concern over scratches and the state of ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ models in Apple Stores, they remain in pristine condition with caseless home use. iPhones may be scratching in stores, but that appears to be less common in daily use at this point.

Apple used Ceramic Shield 2 for the front of the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ models, and made some big claims about its scratch resistance. So far, the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌’s display is holding up. Dan’s been testing the display with keys, coins, and other common pocket items, but there isn’t a single scratch. With past iPhones, sticking a key in your pocket was a sure way to cause damage.

The display is supposed to have an anti-reflective layer, but it’s hard to notice a difference compared to the iPhone 16 Pro. It’s definitely a subtle change and not a major selling point.

Dan has already seen major improvements with the updated vapor chamber cooling system and aluminum frame for thermal management. Unlike the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro models, the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ models barely get warm.

There’s been time for more substantial battery life testing a week in, and both the 17 Pro and Pro Max have impressive gains. The 17 Pro Max in particular can last for hours longer than the 16 Pro Max, but it’s definitely heavier and thicker than before.

The front camera is a major improvement in terms of quality, and selfies look much better than before. The option to take a wider-angle landscape selfie is great for group shots. As for the new Telephoto lens that supports up to 8x optical zoom, as long as you have solid lighting, your 8x shots will look great. Low-light performance isn’t as solid, but the 4x lens still performs well in poorer lighting.

If you’re still on the fence about upgrading from an older phone to one of the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ models, it’s potentially worth it. The thermal changes make a huge difference, Apple’s claims about scratch resistance seem to be true, and battery life will be night and day. If you already have an ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌, let us know what you think of it in the comments below.

iFixit today disassembled the iPhone 17 Pro for one of its teardown videos, showing the device’s internal components, like the new vapor chamber cooling system that distributes heat from the A19 Pro chip throughout the aluminum frame.

The iPhone 17 Pro‘s battery is attached to a battery tray, and the battery tray is connected to the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌’s aluminum frame with Torx Plus screws. iFixit says that if Apple sells replacement batteries in the tray, there won’t be any adhesive to deal with when doing a battery swap.

The battery tray is on top of the A19 Pro chip, and the chip includes the vapor chamber cooling system. Heat from the chip is directed to the vapor chamber, which spreads it throughout the unibody aluminum frame. iFixit used a thermal camera to compare the iPhone 16 Pro Max to the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max. The ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro Max would get to 37.8 degrees Celsius and experience throttling, while the 17 Pro Max stayed cooler at 34.8 degrees Celsius, resulting in no throttling.

iFixit found that Apple’s cooling system uses a lattice between two plates to distribute water throughout the vapor chamber. The water next to the A19 Pro chip boils and turns to steam, then the steam collects on the other side and cools down, condensing back into droplets that are sent back through the lattice structure.

iFixit conducted a scratch test on the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌’s aluminum frame, and found the camera plateau to be an area that’s prone to scratching. The site spoke with David Niebuhr, a mechanical engineering professor at Cal Poly. Niebuhr said that the damage is called “spalling.” The sharp, flat edge of the camera plateau doesn’t allow for the anodized finish to adhere as well, so the color can rub off when exposed to hard objects like keys.

The ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ models have a less repairable design than the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro models because Apple did away with the dual-entry design that made repairs possible from either the back or the front of the device. It’s only possible to repair the wireless charging assembly or replace the back glass from the back of the iPhone, and replacing the battery, a camera module, or the USB-C port requires removing the ‌iPhone‌’s display.

The battery tray that’s only held in with screws makes the battery easier to replace once you get to it, plus the battery is encased in metal, which makes it safer. Replacing the USB-C port requires removing 22 screws, a process that iFixit found tedious.

Considering all of the changes, iFixit says that the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ is slightly less repairable than the iPhone Air, but Apple is providing day-one repair manuals and Apple’s engineers appear to have taken repairability into account when designing the device, so it earned a repairability score of 7 out of 10.

Make sure to watch iFixit’s full video to get a better look at the vapor chamber cooling system and the scratching experiments.

Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year.

As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:

• iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display
• iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch display

Given the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and longer battery life. Nothing new.

It has been rumored that the Pro Max model will go one step further this year, though.

In March, it was rumored that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will be approximately 5% thicker than the iPhone 16 Pro Max, likely in order to accommodate a larger battery. This would result in the iPhone 17 Pro Max having even longer battery life compared to the iPhone 17 Pro, which is not expected to be any thicker than the iPhone 16 Pro.

It was recently rumored that the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s battery capacity will reach the 5,000 mAh mark, up from 4,676 mAh for the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

The thickness rumor originated from Ice Universe, an account with more than 1.5 million followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The account has previously shared accurate information about future Apple products.

In some years, the Pro Max gets some camera features before the Pro, but that is not expected to be the case this year. Both the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to be equipped with a trio of 48-megapixel rear cameras, along with an upgraded 24-megapixel front camera. No camera differences have been rumored yet.

It was initially rumored that the iPhone 17 Pro Max might have a smaller Dynamic Island compared to the iPhone 17 Pro and earlier models, but it was later reported that such a change might not be happening until next year. Even if it does happen this year, one source said the smaller Dynamic Island would be on all iPhone 17 models.

All in all, the iPhone 17 Pro Max might be pretty similar to the iPhone 17 Pro, beyond its larger screen and even bigger lead in battery life.