iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Pixel 10 Pro XL: Main differences

Apple just held its iPhone 17 event and yes, the huge camera bar redesign is real. Whether it's for thermal management reasons, or whether it's just to appear different — we can't know for sure just yet. But that camera bar — which Apple calls camera plateau — sure looks familiar.

Oh yeah, the Pixel phones have had one since the Pixel 6. Now, the Pixel 10 Pro XL has a pill-shaped horizontal module there, but it's just hard not to draw comparisons, especially since there isn't anthing else like that on the market. Meaning — a horizontal camera bar that reaches across from one end of the phone to the other.

But phones are more than just looks. Apple has a new A19 Pro chip, while Google finally has a fully home-designed Tensor G5. Apple announced a camera upgrade, but Google hasn't been twiddling its thumbs, too! And AI... let's not talk about the uncomfortable stuff just yet.

iPhone 17 Pro: pre-order for as low as $0.00/mo.

$0 /mo

$30 ⁵⁵

$31 off (100%)

The powerful iPhone 17 Pro is finally here! You can already pre-order the new Pro with an upgraded design and a brilliant display for as low as $0.00/mo. at Verizon. You must set up a new line on an Unlimited Ultimate plan and trade in a device to take advantage.

Pre-order at Verizon

iPhone 17 Pro Max: pre-order for $2.77/mo.

$2 ⁷⁷ /mo

$33 ³³

$31 off (92%)

The impressive iPhone 17 Pro Max is available for pre-order at Verizon. Right now, you can save up to $1,100 on the premium device when you activate a new line and trade in an eligible device. The promo is only available with an Unlimited Ultimate plan.

Pre-order at Verizon

Pixel 10 Pro XL at Amazon

The Pixel 10 Pro XL brings improved performance, more AI tricks, and a fantastic camera setup. The handset also packs a superior 6.8-inch OLED display. You can now buy it at Amazon without discounts.

Buy at Amazon

With all the heavy hitters now announced and clearly out there, which one's looking like a winner?

The back of the iPhone has a new twist. Instead of a full glass slab, the iPhone 17 Pro models now use window of Ceramic Shield on the rear. But there's now more metal back there, too — supposedly because the thermal management has been rethought and redone. The point is for heat to dissipate in spots of the aluminum frame that you won't be holding. Oh yes, aluminum — the titanium experiment is done. Apple didn't say why, only praised aluminum for being better at heat dissipation.

On the front, the iPhone 17 Pro Max introduces Ceramic Shield 2 — Apple’s next-generation display glass. According to the company, it’s three times more scratch resistant than the original Ceramic Shield we’ve had since the iPhone 12 (with a minor revision in the iPhone 16, but no proper generational numeral there). There’s also a new seven-layer anti-glare coating, which should make outdoor visibility noticeably better. Or so we hope. It’s one of those upgrades that’s easy to overlook on paper, but could make a big difference in daily use, at least that's what it did with the Galaxy S24 Ultra and S25 Ultra.

In the other corner, the Pixel 10 Pro XL is scoring a familiar design language, one that doesn't stray away from the design chops of previous Pixels and looks immediately familiar to anyone who has used or seen a Pixel device in the past few years.

We have a flat aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 up front and in the rear, and the oversized camera strip. No extra fluff, just the core basics that all Pixel phones have delivered for a long time.

Size-wise, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is very slightly thicker, with a projected thickness of 8.75 mm, while the Pixel 10 Pro XL measures at around 8.5 mm, but it will be challenging to notice this minor difference in real life, that's for sure. 

The iPhone will continue to be the device with a more varied button lineup. The Action Button and the Camera Controls key are still here, unchanged, while the Pixel 10 Pro XL has no fun extra buttons apart from the standard volume/power button combo.

The Pixel 10 Pro XL is available in Moonstone, Obsidian, Porcelain, and Jade colors. Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is coming in a surprisingly limited selection – Silver, Deep Blue, and Cosmic Orange. No black, not even Space Gray!

 

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is back at it with a 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR screen with thin bezels, 1-120 Hz ProMotion refresh rate and a higher peak brightness of 3,000 nits. Apple also talked about a new 7-layer anti-reflection coating that's applied over that Ceramic Shield 2 glass, which sounds like it will be a very good upgrade to viewability.

The Pixel 10 Pro XL, on the other hand, boasts a slightly smaller 6.8-inch Super Actua OLED display, with 1-120 Hz refresh rate. The highlight here is the peak brightness, 10% higher than the previous Pixel 9 Pro XL and capable of reaching 3,300 nits of peak brightness, which is an astonishing result! 

The Dynamic Island cutout on the iPhone's display is still there, intact and in full size despite what rumors said. It houses the Face ID sensors, as well as the selfie camera, and will still be either an eye sore or nothing to worry about — depending on which side of that particular fence you are.

In terms of biometrics, the Pixel 10 Pro XL continues Google's affair with ultrasonic fingerprint scanners, which deliver quick and accurate biometrics. Google also offers face unlock via selfie camera, but get this — it employs AI to enhance the security of what is otherwise considered a not-so-secure unlock method. In fact, it cleared safety checks to the point where Google's face unlock is usable within banking apps.

Apple's iPhone 17 Pro Max is the third device to employ a 3nm chipset. The A19 Pro chip will surely increase the upper limits of mobile performance, just as most of its predecessors have — hang tight until we get to run it through the ringer of benchmarks! We expect nothing short of superb raw performance, as well as even better efficiency than before.

We are still concerned about thermal management. Previous A-class processors were hitting excellent scores... for a bit, before the inevitable throttle. And Apple knows this, which is why it talked up a new vapor cooling chamber that's supposed to take care of the cooling.

Significant changes have finally come to the Pixel 10 Pro XL as well. It's equipped with the Tensor G5 chip, the first 3nm Tensor chip made by TSMC and also the first truly custom one. It was poised to spell the end of underperforming Tensor chips. It didn't exactly do that — while it did boost performance, raw benchmark scores still didn't come close to the Snapdragon 8 Elite or Apple A18 Pro. That said, it definitely pumps out enough to drive the Pixel's performance to be steady, snappy, and fast.

In terms of memory and storage, which also add up to the performance, the iPhone 17 Pro Max supposedly has 12 GB of RAM. We are still going off rumors here, as Apple doesn't officially announce RAM or battery capacity on stage. So, hang tight until analysis and teardowns start hitting.

The reason could be trivial: more headroom is needed to ensure the smooth on-device Apple Intelligence processing for years to come. Apple might want to ensure that the phone will run its AI processes smoothly for as long as it's supported. The iPhone 17 Pro Max comes in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB versions, and now a new 2TB one. 

Apple was very modest with the AI announcements around the iPhone 17 — probably not willing to give the Internet any more ammo for the meme gun. What's new here is Live Translate within voice calls, Messages, and FaceTime. And, if using a pair of AirPods Pro, you can have live translation in real-life conversations, too.

The Pixel 10 Pro XL, on the other hand, features 16GB of RAM, and while most of Google's AI processing is done in the cloud, having more of the vital hardware component has never hurt anybody. The flagship Pixel is also available in either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB versions. 

The Pixel 10 Pro XL arrives with Android 16 and will be supported for seven years. The highlight of Android 16 is the Material 3 Expressive redesign that will likely get released in early September (possibly coinciding with the Pixel 10 launch) and will freshen up the aesthetics of the OS.

New here is the Magic Cue feature which is a proactive agent that intelligently suggests relevant actions based on your unique data. For example, if someone messages you about a lunch reservation, Magic Cue will scour your Gmail for reservation confirmation emails and automatically recommend a relevant answer right there in the thread, acting as your virtual butler agent of sorts.

The iPhone will continue to use a 48MP main camera and a 48MP ultrawide, just like the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but the tetraprism zoom camera is also getting a 48MP upgrade. In fact, all three are now "Fusion" cameras, with Fusion being Apple's fancy way of saying it uses sensor crop-in to achieve "lossless zoom". We will now get a total of 7 steps of this lossless magnification on the zoom wheel — 13, 24, 28, 35, 48, 100, and 200 mm. Plus macro on the ultra-wide, too.

The selfie camera also got an upgrade, with a square-shaped sensor. The reason for this is that you can now take horizontal selfies by holding the phone upwards. In fact, Apple calls it Center Stage camera, as you can change the framing with a touch of a button, or let the AI follow, zoom, and crop around your face. It's also used to upgrade the stabilization for selfie videos or video calls.

Meanwhile, the Pixel 10 Pro XL has scored a camera setup that's mostly similar to the Pixel 9 Pro XL. 

It boasts a 50MP main camera, a 48MP ultrawide, a 48MP periscope with 5X zoom, and a high-res 42MP front-facing camera. The highlight here is the periscope camera, however, which has scored the ability to zoom up to 100X thanks to an upgraded Pro Res Zoom. This brings the Pixel on par with most high-end Android flagship phones, like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and others.  

Another cool new feature with the Pixel camera is a built-in Camera Coach, which does exactly what it says on the tin. The feature will provide visual nudges and guidance on how to improve every shot you take, leveling up your camera game.

On the other hand, Apple has put more upgrades into low light performance and photo details. We'll see how that pans out as we test it.

The Pixel 10 Pro XL arrives with a massive 5,200 mAh battery, some 200 mAh larger than its predecessor, and actually the largest one ever fitted on a Pixel phone. Sorry, Pixel 9a, your record was merely a fleeting moment, quickly grasped by a faster and more premium flagship, as it should be!

Another surprising development here is the charging speeds. The Pixel 10 Pro XL supports 45W wired and 25W Qi2.2 wireless charging, making it the fastest charging Pixel phone so far. 

Apple also upgraded charging speeds — surprise surprise. Now taking a 40 W plug, the iPhone 17 Pro Max should get 50% of power for 20 minutes of charging, as per Apple numbers. Unfortunately, we do not have exact battery capacity information just yet. So, we just have to assume it's somewhere north of 4,700 mAh for now.

Both phones also have magnetic rings on their backs to accomodate MagSafe or Pixelsnap accessories. Those are fancy names for their own products, in reality both phones will also charge with typical Qi2 chargers — Apple unlocked the patent for the magnets for the Qi standard to make use of it. Enjoy a plethora of 3rd party accessories!

Here's how the iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Pixel 10 Pro XL specs compare in terms of specs.

So, both of these phones are official, though the iPhone 17 Pro Max isn't shipping just yet. With all the info, marketing materials, and specs sheets available, we can tell it's going to be an interesting upgrade. Things we are looking forward to — testing the new thermals to see sustained performance numbers, testing out the camera system, and checking out the new anti-glare coating.

The Pixels are already out and we have the Pixel 10 Pro XL in our hands. We can attest that it's a snappy, fast, and enjoyable phone even if it feels a bit too much like "yesteryear's Pixel". It definitely has its work cut out for itself if it wants to rival the iPhone. But, in fairness, Google's Gemini and AI features are pulling forward, so that may give it a leg up?