With the iPhone 17 Pro Max, Apple finally has a handset that can compete with Android on pure specs
In the current rivalry between iPhone and Android, one thing that Android fans have always been able to point out raw specifications – of course, Apple phones tend to gain with regard to the performance of the chipset, but in most other fields – at least with regard to figures – the best Android phones have the advantage.
We are talking about things like RAM, battery capacity, camera specifications and cooling rates. But with the iPhone 17 series – and in particular the iPhone 17 Pro Max – Apple seems to have finally caught up.
The whole iPhone 17 line Finally At 120 Hz cooling rates, removing one of the criticisms that it was easy to level in the past, but the iPhone 17 Pro Max can correspond to Android regarding RAM, the battery and the zoom of the camera.
A boost of 4 GB
For RAM, Apple never reveals figures, but MacRumors has discovered how each model A via the latest version of the Apple XCode 26 developer tool, and you get 12 GB here (and in the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air).
This represents 8 GB in the iPhone 16 Pro series, and just match the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – in most regions at least, although a few countries get a configuration with 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage.
However, on what note, Apple goes beyond most Android phones in terms of storage, because the iPhone 17 Pro Max comes up to 2 TB.
Back on the RAM, and the iPhone 17 Pro series can also correspond to most configurations of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and certain configurations of the OnePlus 13, as you can see in the graph below.
| Header cell – column 0 |
iPhone 17 pro max |
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra |
Google Pixel 10 Pro XL |
OnePlus 13 |
Samsung Galaxy Z Pln 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Display: |
6.9 inches, 120 Hz |
6.9 inches, 120 Hz |
6.8 inches, 120 Hz |
6.82 inches, 120 Hz |
8.0 inches, 120 Hz and 6.5 inches, 120 Hz |
|
Chipset: |
A19 Pro |
Snapdragon 8 Elite |
Tensor G5 |
Snapdragon 8 Elite |
Snapdragon 8 Elite |
|
RAM: |
12 GB |
12 GB |
16 GB |
12 GB / 16 GB |
12 GB / 16 GB |
|
Rear cameras: |
48MP wide, 48MP Ultra-Wide, 48MP Telephoto (4x optical zoom up to 8x optical quality) |
200MP wide, 50 MP Ultra-Wide, 50MP Telephoto (5x optical zoom and up to 10x optical quality), 10MP telephoto (3x zoom) |
50 MP wide, 48 MP Ultra-Wide, 48MP Teleury (5x Optical Zoom and up to 10x optical quality) |
50 MP wide, 50 MP Ultra-Wide, 50 MP Telephoto (3x optical zoom) |
200MP wide, 12MP Ultra-Wide, 10MP Telephoto (3x Optical Zoom) |
|
Front cameras: |
18 MP |
12MP |
42MP |
32MP |
10MP, 10MP |
|
Storage: |
256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 to |
256 GB, 512 GB, 1 to |
256 GB, 512 GB, 1 to |
256 GB, 512 GB |
256 GB, 512 GB, 1 to |
|
Battery: |
5 088MAH / 4 832MAH |
5,000 mAh |
5,200mAh |
6,000 mAh |
4,400mAh |
Among the best Android phones, probably the only ones that he cannot quite match are the Google Pixel 10 Pro and the Google Pixel 10 Pro – which are both delivered with 16 GB of RAM in all configurations, but these also have a much lower chipset and less storage, completing to 1 TB.
A larger battery and better zoom
Then there is the capacity of the battery of the iPhone 17 Pro Max. While 5,000MAH has been a fairly standard capacity for large Android phones for years, Apple has stubbornly remained under this figure. But more, the iPhone 17 pro max reaching 5,088mAh – against 4,685mAh in the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Now there is a slight warning here in that only the ESIM version only of the iPhone 17 Pro Max has this large battery, with other versions with a 4,832mAh. But with all the models sold in the United States being the ESIM version only, it is still a lot of iPhones with a battery of more than 5,000 mAh.
This is compared again well in Android. As you can see in the graph above, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has a smaller 5,000 mAh battery, just like the 4,400mAh Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, and although the 5,200mAh Google Pixel 10 Pro and the 6000mAh OnePlus 13 massif have been beaten, at least in the conversation now.
Finally, there are iPhone 17 pro and pro Max cameras, and in particular the 48MP telephoto lens. This has many more megapixels than the 12MP option of the IPHIP 16 Pro series, and these additional megapixels also allow a longer distance zoom, with the iPhone 17 pro series capable of 4x optical zoom to 48 MP or 8x Optical quality zoom at 12MP, where the iPhone 16 Pro series is at the top of 5x without losing quality.
This again puts these phones largely in accordance with the best Android rivals – the Galaxy S25 Ultra can make 3x and 5x optical zoom, plus the 10x optical quality via a sensor culture (similar to the way Apple reaches the 8x zoom here). The Pixel 10 Pro XL can do in the same way, and the OnePlus 13 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 can manage a single 3X zoom.
Thus, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is still not the longest range here, but it is not further away, and it has beaten Android rivals.
The specifications do not tell the whole story
Of course, there are still areas with room for improvement, because Android fans will probably be quick to emphasize – as indicated, these specifications of the iPhone 17 Pro Max could now correspond to some of the best Android phones, but they are still beaten in some cases, and Apple could certainly work on load speeds.
But the difference in most areas now between this and any upper Android combined is negligible – at least on paper.
In practice, Apple has already led in certain regions, with for example Pro Max phones that tend to have a better battery life than most Android handsets despite smaller batteries – we therefore expect large things from the large battery of the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
On the other hand, nothing guarantees that the modifications made to the cameras, the quantities of RAM and other aspects of the iPhone 17 series will lead to substantial improvements in practice.
So there are certainly a lot of debates and competition between these iPhones and the best Android phones, he – let’s hope it will not turn as much in a discussion, including a greater number.
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