Apple’s flagship range of iPhones is coming this fall and a new report claims that one model, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, has a thicker body than the iPhone 16 Pro Max it will replace. Which could mean room for a bigger battery, it’s claimed—something that hasn’t been suggested before and is, of course, very good news.
The leak comes from a source with a solid reputation, Ice Universe. In a post on X, they claim that the next Pro Max will be 8.725mm thick, instead of the 8.25mm thickness of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. That’s just under 0.5mm bigger. I know, tiny, right? Except that could be slim enough to be unnoticeable in the hand, but thick enough to handle a bigger cell inside. Which could be a major upgrade.
The leak says that in other ways the measurements of the iPhone 17 Pro Max are identical to the current Pro Max—which is unsurprising, given that the current look only debuted a few months ago, and Apple rarely changes a design significantly on an annual basis.
That said, it’s possible the camera panel could change, if other reports are to be believed, and that the rear of the phone could be part-aluminum instead of almost all glass all over as it is now. Which could constitute a bigger design change.
In a separate post on Weibo, Ice Universe says, “The iPhone 17 Pro Max looks so strong, and the increase in the thickness of the body means that the battery must have increased.”
This is conjecture at this stage as there are other reasons Apple could adjust one dimension of an existing iPhone, but it’s definitely hopeful.
Mind you, the battery life on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is outstanding, and my daily usage almost never sees me end the day with less than 30% more left in the tank.
That said, nobody ever said, “My phone’s great, but the battery just lasts too long,” did they?
Since the same leaker also suggested that the expected super-slim iPhone, supposedly called iPhone 17 Air, will only measure 5.5mm from front to back but otherwise match the Pro Max’s dimensions, we can guess that the Air won’t match the Pro Max’s battery life, surely?
