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It looks like yesterday after I sat in a Brooklyn warehouse to observe Jimmy Fallon introduce the Google Pixel 10 sequence to the world. Since then, Apple has joined the fray with the brand new iPhone 17, and now I’ve acquired just a few 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 perfect of the perfect. They’re the fashions that tech lovers drool about, followers wait in traces for, and journalists like me itch to match 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
Should you’re deciding on which of the 2 telephones to purchase, I’ve laid out the largest variations beneath, based mostly on specs, hands-on expertise, and years of testing each iPhone and Pixel telephones.
Specs
| Apple iPhone 17 Professional Max | Google Pixel 10 Professional XL | |
| Show | 6.9″ AMOLED with 120Hz, 3000 nits peak | 6.8″ QHD AMOLED 120Hz, 3300 nits peak |
| Weight | 233 grams | 232 grams |
| Processor | Apple A19 Professional | Google Tensor G5 |
| Dimensions | 78 x 163.4 x 8.75mm | 76.6 x 162.8 x 8.5mm |
| Storage | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| Battery | N/A | 5,080mAh |
| Digital camera | 48MP Fusion / 48MP Extremely Large / 48MP telephoto / 18MP entrance | 50MP vast / 48MP telephoto (5x) / 48MP ultrawide / 42MP entrance |
| Value | $1,199 | $1,199 |
You can purchase the iPhone 17 Professional Max if…
1. You are a video (and selfie) aficionado
The iPhone 17 Professional Max obtained 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 same old, automated picture processing, like adapting colours and sharpness. The result’s footage that is friendlier to edit, could be matched to the tone that you just’re after, and, maybe most significantly, seems extra according to 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 might now take pictures and movies with a wider area 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 pictures in panorama or portrait orientation) with out requiring you to rotate the machine.
2. You know the way to make a cellphone flip scorching
Whether or not you are a hardcore cellular gamer or ceaselessly multitasking, the iPhone 17 Professional Max is arguably the better-performing handset of the 2. An enormous motive 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. (Understand that once 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 lowering the toll intense workloads would normally have on the machine’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, photograph buffs, and people who merely obtain extra apps and recordsdata than wanted, there’s now an iPhone geared for you.
Additionally: You’ll be able to 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 inside storage. That is nonetheless a lot 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 is no 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 for the reason that 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 enhancing through textual content and a Magic Cue ticker that populates messages, notes, and even cellphone calls with related info (comparable to flight info, restaurant bookings, and extra).
I’ve discovered Google’s newest AI options refined, uninvasive, and extremely purposeful, a mix that many others, together with Apple, are nonetheless attempting to match.
2. You need probably the most forgiving digicam in the marketplace
Whereas the iPhone 17 Professional Max will get my choose 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 whenever you’re taking footage of distant topics. Which means photographs 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 may also activate Auto Finest Take, which robotically picks out the perfect facial expressions of topics and morphs them right into a single photograph — 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 targeted 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 parts transfer like water droplets on a glass panel, is good in concept. Nonetheless, many iPhone beta customers have identified a scarcity 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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