In the event you’re available in the market for a brand new iPhone, an iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional vs iPhone 17 Professional Max comparability is simply what you could assist you determine between these premium flagships. So which of those is the very best iPhone for you? There are some key similarities — just like the entrance digital camera, A19 Professional chip and Apple Intelligence options — however some fairly large variations, too.
As you may see in our iPhone Air hands-on assessment, this new machine is all about portability. It is tremendous skinny at simply 5.6mm but packs a reasonably large 6.5-inch show and a strong A19 Professional chip in a brilliant svelte design that is constructed robust with titanium. In the meantime, our iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max hands-on assessment reveals an absolute beast, with a triple 48MP digital camera system and the most important batteries ever in an iPhone (at the very least within the Professional Max mannequin). This is the important thing iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional vs iPhone 17 Professional Max variations you could know.
Swipe to scroll horizontallyiPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional Max: Specs in contrast
iPhone Air
iPhone 17 Professional
iPhone 17 Professional Max
Beginning worth
$999 / £999 / AU$1,799
$1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,999
$1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,199
Show
6.5 inches
6.3 inches
6.9 inches
CPU
A19 Professional (5-core GPU)
A19 Professional (6-core GPU)
A19 Professional (6-core GPU)
Storage
256GB, 512GB, 1TB
256GB, 512GB, 1TB
256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB
Rear cameras
48MP essential
48MP essential, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 4x telephoto
48MP essential, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 4x telephoto
Entrance digital camera
18MP
18MP
18MP
Colours
Sky Blue, Area Black, Cloud White, Gentle Gold
Silver, Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue
Silver, Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue
Battery life (rated)
27 hours video
33 hours video
39 hours video
Dimension
6.2 x 2.9 x 0.22 inches (156.2 x 74.7 x 5.64 mm)
5.9 x 2.8 x 0.34-inches (150 x 71.9 x 8.75mm)
6.4 x 3.0 x 0.34-inches (163.4 x 78 x 8.75mm)
Weight
5.82 ounces (165 grams)
7.27 ounces (206 grams)
8.22 ounces (233 grams)
iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional Max: Pricing
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The iPhone Air begins at $999 for 256GB of storage. That is $100 greater than the earlier iPhone 16 Plus however however $100 lower than the $1,099 iPhone 17 Professional and $200 lower than the iPhone 17 Professional Max. Try our iPhone 17 pre-order offers web page for the bottom worth on all of those new iPhones.
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So at the very least on paper, the iPhone Air is the very best worth. But it surely actually comes right down to what you’re on the lookout for in your subsequent telephone. The iPhone Air remains to be very a lot a premium handset and also you’re paying for its sheer portability. The iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max are the extra versatile units, particularly when it comes to their cameras.
iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional Max: Design and colours
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The iPhone Air is so skinny and lightweight that it is exhausting to consider when it is in your hand. It is simply 5.6mm thick and a brilliant mild 5.82 ounces. Evaluate that to eight.75mm for the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max, which weigh a hefty 7.27 and eight.22 ounces, respectively.
I am telling you which you could simply slip the iPhone Air in your entrance pocket and virtually overlook that it is there. The iPhone 17 Professional Max for me is a again pocket affair. And the iPhone 17 Professional is compact sufficient to go in your entrance pocket, although you may discover the majority.
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The iPhone Air sports activities a titanium body that is designed to be fairly sturdy, whereas the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max go for aluminum unibody designs. Apple ditched titanium on the Execs for aluminum partially to assist dissipate warmth higher.
All three of those iPhones have a Cearmic Defend 2 entrance with 3x higher scratch resistance and a Ceramic Defend Again to guard towards drops.
The iPhone Air has 4 colour choices. Take your decide from Sky Blue, Area Black, Cloud White, Gentle Gold. However I would argue the iPhone 17 Professional sequence is having extra enjoyable with its Cosmic Orange possibility, which is joined by Silver and Deep Blue.
iPhone 17 Professional Max HANDS ON: Lastly! – YouTube
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iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional: Shows
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The iPhone Air’s 6.5-inch show is correct in between the iPhone 17 Professional and iPhone 17 Professional Max. The common Professional sports activities a 6.3-inch display, and the Professional Max is a large 6.9 inches.
Personally, I discover the iPhone 17 Professional too small, however there’s heaps of people that choose a smaller display.
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The shows on these three telephones are fairly comparable in any other case. All of them function OLED panels with always-on show performance and ProMotion refresh charges that go from 1 to 120Hz. And all three shows stand up to three,000 nits of peak brightness. The largest distinction is absolutely dimension.
iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional Max: Cameras
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That is the place you may see the most important iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max variations. The iPhone Air sports activities a single rear 48MP digital camera. Sure, it provides the equal of a 2x optical zoom by cropping in for 12MP close-ups, however you aren’t getting an ultrawide shooter (which additionally means no macro mode) or a real telephoto lens.
The iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max are armed with three 48MP cameras. So that you get a essential huge digital camera, ultrawide shooter and 4x telephoto lens that may produce 8x optical high quality pictures by way of cropping that come out as 12MP. The digital zoom on the iPhone Air is 10x and the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max go all the best way as much as 40x.
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The excellent news is that the iPhone Air’s entrance Heart Stage digital camera is simply as succesful because the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max. You get an 18MP shooter with a square-shapred sensor that is sensible sufficient to change between portrait and panorama mode on the fly primarily based on how many individuals are within the body.
By way of video, the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max ship extra options. As an illustration, the iPhone Air would not provide Cinematic mode or ProRes recording as much as 4K and 120fps.
True inventive execs will recognize the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max’s unique help for options like ProRes Uncooked, Apple Log 2 video recording and Genlock.
iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional Max: Efficiency
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On paper, the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Professional sequence ought to provide comparable efficiency, as they each function the superior A19 Professional chip. However there is a notable distinction.
Whereas each the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Professional sequence sport a 6-core CPU, the iPhone Air will get a 5-core GPU. That compares to a 6-core GPU for the A19 Professional that powers the Professional and Professional Max. So it is best to anticipate higher gameplay on the Execs.
The iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max also needs to provide you with higher sustained efficiency due to Apple’s new vapor chamber cooling system. This allows you to get pleasure from intense video games and sort out different duties for longer with out your telephone overheating or slowing down.
iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional Max: Battery life and charging
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Apple says the iPhone Air is able to delivering “all-day battery life.” That is thanks partially to a design that places a number of elements within the so-called plateau (the digital camera bump to you and me), leaving room for a big battery. However the iPhone Air realizes efficiencies in different methods, together with Apple’s C1X modem and a brand new N1 chip that mixes that Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread radios.
The iPhone Air is rated for 27 hours of video playback, which is similar as final 12 months’s iPhone 16 Professional. Nonetheless, the iPhone 17 Professional is rated for 33 hours, and the iPhone 17 Professional Max provides a whopping 39 hours. Apple will promote you a MagSafe battery for the again of the iPhone Air for $99 that may get you as much as 40 hours of juice, however to me that defeats the aim of the design.
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We’ll must see how these telephones do within the Tom’s Information Battery Check to see which may make our greatest telephone battery life record.
So what about charging? The iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max each help 40W charging, which may get you to 50% in simply 20 mintues. However the iPhone Air can solely do this in half-hour with a 20W adapter.
Equally, the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max provide quicker wi-fi charging at 25W, in comparison with 20W for the iPhone Air.
iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional Max: Backside line
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In the event you’re on the fence between the iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max, this is your cheat sheet. The iPhone Air is the telephone to get if you’d like the thinnest and lightest attainable iPhone whereas nonetheless having fun with Professional-level efficiency on the go. It is also probably the most reasonably priced possibility between the three telephones.
Alternatively, I would go for the iPhone 17 Professional and iPhone 17 Professional Max in case you choose to have a extra versatile digital camera system with an ultrawide lens and telephoto zoom. And it is best to go Professional if you’d like longer battery life together with higher sustained efficiency, due to that vapor chamber cooling.
Keep tuned for our full evaluations of all of those telephones with remaining check outcomes. We’ll be updating this comparability that will help you determine.
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