iPhone 17 Pro Max vs. Google Pixel 10 Pro XL: I compared both phones, and it’s a close one

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It seems like yesterday after I sat in a Brooklyn warehouse to look at Jimmy Fallon introduce the Google Pixel 10 collection to the world. Since then, Apple has joined the fray with the brand new iPhone 17, and now I’ve obtained a couple of too many new handsets on my thoughts.

Between what Apple and Google introduced, the iPhone 17 Professional Max and Google Pixel 10 Professional XL stand out as the very best of the very best. They’re the fashions that tech lovers drool about, followers wait in strains for, and journalists like me itch to check earlier than the year-end awards are due.

Additionally: Apple Occasions dwell updates: iPhone 17, iPhone Air, AirPods Professional 3, and reactions to new wearables

When you’re deciding on which of the 2 telephones to purchase, I’ve laid out the most important variations under, primarily based on specs, hands-on expertise, and years of testing each iPhone and Pixel telephones.

Specs

You can purchase the iPhone 17 Professional Max if…

1. You are a video (and selfie) aficionado

The iPhone 17 Professional Max acquired a number of digicam upgrades this 12 months, however the two that I would wish to deal with are the ProRes Uncooked video assist and the 18MP Heart Stage entrance sensor.

With the previous, videographers can document content material whereas bypassing all the standard, automated picture processing, like adapting colours and sharpness. The result’s footage that is friendlier to edit, might be matched to the tone that you simply’re after, and, maybe most significantly, seems extra in step with content material captured by different cameras.

Additionally: Apple iPhone 17 Professional Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely: I in contrast each, and this is the winner

Apple has additionally upgraded the entrance digicam, which may now take photographs and movies with a wider discipline of view. It is achieved this by choosing a square-shaped sensor versus an oblong one, permitting the iPhone to crop in or out (learn: take photographs in panorama or portrait orientation) with out requiring you to rotate the system.

2. You understand how to make a cellphone flip scorching

Whether or not you are a hardcore cell gamer or steadily multitasking, the iPhone 17 Professional Max is arguably the better-performing handset of the 2. An enormous purpose for the hole is the brand new A19 Professional chip, which Apple claims affords a 40% enchancment in sustained efficiency in comparison with the iPhone 16 Professional. (Remember the fact that after we examined final 12 months’s mannequin, the efficiency was already spectacular.)

Apple has additionally launched a brand new vapor chamber cooling system for the iPhone, which leverages a liquid-filled again panel for warmth dissipation. I am anticipating this to maintain the iPhone operating at peak efficiency for longer whereas decreasing the toll intense workloads would often have on the system’s battery life.

3. You want 2TB of storage in your cellphone 

We now dwell in a actuality the place you should buy a $2,000 iPhone from the Apple retailer, because of the brand new 2TB configuration for the iPhone 17 Professional Max. For content material creators, picture buffs, and folk who merely obtain extra apps and recordsdata than wanted, there’s now an iPhone geared for you.

Additionally: You may preorder Apple’s new units this week: iPhone 17, Watch 11, AirPods Professional 3 and extra

Comparatively, the Google Pixel 10 Professional XL maxes out at 1TB of inner storage. That is nonetheless lots for many customers, however these with excessive calls for ought to gravitate towards the iPhone.

You can purchase the Google Pixel 10 Professional XL if…

1. You need AI options that promise and ship 

There isn’t any denying that the AI options on iPhones are remedial in comparison with what’s on the Pixel. It has been an uphill battle for Apple because the starting, and the hole has solely gotten wider with the launch of the Pixel 10 Professional.

Additionally: I changed my Samsung S25 Extremely with the Pixel 10 Professional XL for weeks – and do not remorse it

Google’s newest AI methods embody generative picture modifying through textual content and a Magic Cue ticker that populates messages, notes, and even cellphone calls with related info (akin to flight info, restaurant bookings, and extra). 

I’ve discovered Google’s newest AI options delicate, uninvasive, and extremely practical, a mixture that many others, together with Apple, are nonetheless making an attempt to match.

2. You need probably the most forgiving digicam in the marketplace

Whereas the iPhone 17 Professional Max will get my decide for taking pictures movies, the Google Pixel 10 Professional XL, with its triple lens setup and bounty of computational touch-ups, makes it probably the most forgiving digicam cellphone proper now.

One characteristic that is impressed me probably the most this 12 months is Professional Res Zoom, which makes use of generative AI to appropriate noise and distortion if you’re taking footage of distant topics. Meaning pictures of buildings and skyscrapers, statues, and even signage that is far-off seem extra in focus. 

Additionally: The secrets and techniques that make Pixel 10 Professional the world’s smartest cellphone digicam – from inside Google

You can too activate Auto Greatest Take, which mechanically picks out the very best facial expressions of topics and morphs them right into a single picture — successfully eradicating any probability of imperfections.

3. You resonate extra with Materials 3 Expressive

This 12 months, Google and Apple’s approaches to software program and person interface design diverged considerably. Google centered on unified colours, pure actions, and distinctive visible cues, whereas Apple’s design language emphasised translucency and reflections.

Apple’s Liquid Glass idea for iOS 26, which makes the UI components transfer like water droplets on a glass panel, is good in principle. Nonetheless, many iPhone beta customers have identified an absence of distinction and discernment.

In distinction, Google’s Materials 3 Expressive theming has been well-received by Pixel customers. It permits for personalizing units with out being distracting.

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