Intro

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.

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

Design and Size

Some changes for the iPhone, business as usual for the Pixel 

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. 

Yet, the Pixel 10 Pro XL is heavier at 232 gr, and that should be noticeable over the iPhone’s 206 gr.

Display Differences

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.

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Performance and Software

A 3nm conflict in the making

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.

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. 

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.

Camera

Triple-camera champs

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. 

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.

Battery Life and Charging

Small moves, big results?

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!

Specs Comparison

Summary

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.