Apple iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Pro Max
83
out of 100
VS
93
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.5-inch Apple iPhone Air (with Apple A19 Pro) that was released on September 9, 2025, against the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max, which is powered by the same chip. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone Air
- Weighs 68 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
- The rear camera has a 4x optical zoom
- Comes with 1939 mAh larger battery capacity: 5088 vs 3149 mAh
- Shows 49% longer battery life (33:14 vs 22:15 hours)
- Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
- Stereo speakers
- Supports higher wattage charging (40W versus 30W)
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.5 inches | 6.9 inches |
| Resolution | 1260 x 2736 pixels | 1320 x 2868 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 460 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | Yes (1-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 3000 nits | 3000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1600 nits | 1600 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, Dolby Vision | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Ceramic Shield 2 | Ceramic Shield 2 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 88.9% | 91.6% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 99.8% | 99.9% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 240 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 1 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
iPhone 17 Pro Max
6.9″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 18.1 in2
iPhone Air
6.5″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 16.1 in2
~12% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 156.2 mm (6.15 inches) | 163.4 mm (6.43 inches) |
| Width | 74.7 mm (2.94 inches) | 78 mm (3.07 inches) |
| Thickness | 5.6 mm (0.22 inches) | 8.75 mm (0.34 inches) |
| Weight | 165 g (5.82 oz) | 233 g (8.22 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | - | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Gold, Blue | Silver, Blue, Orange |
| Fingerprint scanner | No | No |
| Repairability | Average (2.85/5) | Good (3.04/5) |
| Drop resistance | Very good (B) · 180 drops | Very good (B) · 180 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Apple A19 Pro | Apple A19 Pro |
| Max clock | 4260 MHz | 4260 MHz |
| CPU cores | 6 (2 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2.6 GHz: - 2 cores at 4.26 GHz: |
- 4 cores at 2.6 GHz: - 2 cores at 4.26 GHz: |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 3 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Apple Neural Engine | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | 5 core Apple GPU | 6 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 768 | 768 |
| GPU clock | 1620 MHz | 1620 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2488.3 GFLOPS | ~2488.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 37743 | 46450 |
| Single-core score | 4044 | 3940 |
| Multi-core score | 11101 | 10434 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 1060952 | 788283 |
| GPU | 645582 | 922741 |
| Memory | 312956 | 226010 |
| UX | 549219 | 653533 |
| Total score | 2568709 | 2590567 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | [14 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | - | 76% |
| Graphics test | - | 18 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2487 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | - | 42 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 47 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 42 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 36 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 10999 |
Recent User Tests
Apple iPhone Air
No benchmark results yet
Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-21 (Md.Imran Shafiq) | AnTuTu 11 | 2602137 |
| 📘 2026-07-31 (xon1005) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 4028 / 10579 |
| 📘 2026-06-15 (Domi) | AnTuTu 11 | 2427596 |
| 📘 2026-06-09 (Cristiano) | AnTuTu 11 | 2258714 |
| 📘 2026-05-29 (Joker) | AnTuTu 11 | 2433128 |
Memory
| RAM size | 12 GB | 12 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 256 GB |
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | iOS 26 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) | iOS 26 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) |
| OS size | 27 GB | 20 GB |
| OS updates | 7 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 7 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 3149 mAh | 5088 mAh |
| Max charge power | 30 W | 40 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (20 W) | Yes (25 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes | Yes |
| Bypass charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (57% in 30 min) | Yes (65% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:33 hr | 1:12 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1000 cycles | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 07:48 hr | 12:36 hr |
| Watching video | 17:33 hr | 22:25 hr |
| Gaming | 05:28 hr | 08:17 hr |
| Standby | 96 hr | 154 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#23rd place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 48 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8064 x 6048 | 8064 x 6048 |
| Zoom | Digital | Optical, 4x |
| Flash | Dual LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | - | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 48 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Telephoto: 48 MP 3) Ultrawide: 48 MP 4) Depth |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 48 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.6 | f/1.78 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 24 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX904 | Sony IMX903 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | - | 48 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.8 |
| Focal length | - | 100 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX973 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 0.7 micron |
| Stabilization | - | Optical |
| Image resolution | - | 48 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | - | 13 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX972 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 0.7 micron |
| Stabilization | - | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 165 | - |
| Zoom | 109 | - |
| Samples | Photo samples of Apple iPhone Air from DxOMark | - |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 18 megapixels | 18 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4896 x 3672 | 4896 x 3672 |
| Aperture | f/1.9 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 20 mm | 20 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX914 | Sony IMX914 |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | Yes | Yes |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | No | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Type of SIM card | eSIM | eSIM |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Mono | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | September 2025 | September 2025 |
| Release date | September 2025 | September 2025 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $999 | $1199 |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Not included |
Further details
Notes on iPhone 17 Pro Max:
- Battery is 5,088 mAh on the eSIM-only model (vs 4,832 mAh on the Nano SIM + eSIM version).
- The Chinese model alone includes dual Nano SIM slots and 15 W wireless charging.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 233
