Sticking With My iPhone 15 Pro Max (for now)

After trying the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro, I’m keeping what I have.

This isn’t a post about me not upgrading or saying that I’m done upgrading to fight against materialism. I’m deciding to keep the iPhone 15 Pro Max because it’s the phone I’ve chosen to use, and I found that the other two iPhones I tried out weren’t for me.

The iPhone Air and the 17 Pro aren’t bad phones; they just didn’t provide what the 15 Pro Max currently offers — a large 6.7-inch screen. It’s literally as simple as that. I want a larger phone now, and even at 6.5 inches, the iPhone Air just wasn’t enough.

I think I want to try the iPhone 17 Pro Max since it has an even larger 6.9-inch screen. Plus, it supposedly handles heat better, which my iPhone 15 Pro Max struggles with a lot. I’ve mentioned this before, but not only does my 15 Pro Max get hot, the screen dims all the time — and it’s very frustrating.

Unfortunately for me, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is unavailable everywhere right now, so even if I wanted to try it, I can’t. I know Apple refreshes its inventory early in the morning, so I may try to reserve one in the next few days to see if I can pick it up and give it a try — but I’m in no rush.

After using the iPhone 15 Pro Max for literally over a year now, it’s probably the longest I’ve kept a phone in a while, and it continues to give me everything I need, even when trying out the shiny new offerings. The iPhone Air almost convinced me to replace the 15 Pro Max, but it just didn’t provide enough of what I wanted — mainly the larger screen.

Granted, 6.5 inches compared to 6.7 inches isn’t a big difference at all. If I didn’t have the 15 Pro Max to compare it to, the size difference probably wouldn’t have bothered me. There were other things that made me feel the Air was a step down, including the camera.

I realized after using the Air for a week that I use the Ultrawide and Telephoto cameras a lot. I know many people say that, and I’ve often wondered if it’s really true — but after using the iPhone Air on a trip to Apple Hill with my family and at other family or friend events where I usually take a lot of pictures, the camera limitations became very clear.

The selfie camera is awesome, and I love that I could fit more of my family or friends in a photo without having to awkwardly hold my hand sideways. But other than the front-facing camera, the single camera on the back just wasn’t enough. The pictures overall looked great, but I really appreciate the extra options I get with my iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The cameras on the iPhone 17 Pro are really great though, and if it weren’t for the smaller screen — again, why I should try the 17 Pro Max — I felt the compromises almost disappeared. Being able to zoom in at 8x was amazing. I was able to take pictures of my kids at the playground without running closer or relying on digital zoom to capture them going down the slide or climbing something.

So the iPhone 17 Pro Max might be the phone for me, but since my 15 Pro Max still has 4x zoom, an Ultrawide camera, and a slightly smaller but still large screen, I’m in no hurry to replace it.

I thought after using the Pixel 9a that I’d want to stick with smaller screens — and maybe it’s an Android versus iOS thing when it comes to UI — but after going back to the iPhone, I definitely prefer using iOS on a device that’s 6.5 inches or larger.

Another reason I’m loving the larger screen lately is that I’ve been experimenting with reading books on my iPhone more. I have a matte (non-glass) screen protector on my 15 Pro Max and have been reading books at night in the Apple Books app with a MagSafe PopSocket on the back. It’s not the best reading experience, but it’s super convenient and has been working out nicely so far.

I like my Kindle Voyage running KOReader, but sometimes I feel like, even though the physical capacitive buttons are nice, I’m turning the pages too often. Maybe I read faster, but even with the font size set to the smallest my eyes can handle, I feel like I’m constantly turning pages on the small 6-inch screen.

You’d think this would be worse on my iPhone — and you could argue that maybe I turn pages just as often — but since I can comfortably hold my phone for long periods, swiping (sometimes in bed when I shouldn’t) just feels more natural for some reason.

I’ve also been disappointed with the battery life on the Voyage. It’s an old device, and I’m not blaming the Kindle since it still does well for its age, but after a full overnight charge and a full day of reading, it sometimes drops down to around 45–50%, which isn’t great. Since my phone is always charged because I’m constantly topping it up at work, I always know that if I want to read, it’ll be ready.

I may try out a Boox Palma 2 to see if that satisfies my needs — then maybe I could go back to a smaller iPhone. But for now, I’m really happy with the 15 Pro Max, so I’m not eager to replace it. The new iPhones are great, and I’m sure the 17 Pro Max will be everything I’ve ever wanted, but for now, my 15 Pro Max still makes me happy — and that’s all that matters.