iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Nothing Phone (3)

iPhone 17 Pro Max

The 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR display pushes peak brightness to 3,000 nits with ProMotion 120Hz, making it the most sunlight-readable phone on the market.

• 3,000-nit peak brightness is a major jump that makes the phone perfectly readable even in direct sunlight — the best outdoor display on any phone
• Display stays brighter for longer under sustained sunlight thanks to the vapor chamber thermal management
• Color accuracy and HDR performance remain class-leading with excellent DCI-P3 coverage

Nothing Phone (3)

A sharp 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED with 120Hz and up to 2,000 nits peak brightness delivers a smooth, vibrant viewing experience.

• The LTPO OLED panel is bright, responsive, and color-accurate — a significant improvement over the Phone (2) display
• Peak brightness of 2,000 nits is good but falls behind Samsung and Apple flagships hitting 3,000 nits

iPhone 17 Pro Max

The triple 48MP camera system delivers refined computational photography with improved low-light performance, though hardware changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

• All three rear cameras now use 48MP sensors, providing consistently high detail across ultrawide, main, and telephoto shots
• Low-light photography takes a meaningful step forward with cleaner noise handling and better night sky detail
• Video recording remains the gold standard — no Android phone comes close to the ProRes and LOG workflow quality
• Compared to the 16 Pro Max, the camera hardware upgrades feel incremental — the differences are often only visible in side-by-side comparisons

Nothing Phone (3)

The triple camera system co-developed with Samsung is a major upgrade, though processing still trails the best in challenging conditions.

• The 50MP main camera produces detailed, well-exposed shots in good light that compete with phones costing $200 more
• Telephoto lens addition brings welcome versatility with clean 3x optical zoom results
• Night mode and low-light processing lag behind Google and Samsung — images lack the computational magic of Pixel phones
• Video stabilization and dynamic range are adequate but noticeably behind iPhone and Galaxy flagships in side-by-side tests

iPhone 17 Pro Max

The A19 Pro chip combined with vapor chamber cooling delivers best-in-class sustained performance with 40% better thermal management than the previous generation.

• A19 Pro benchmarks show a meaningful single-core leap and the best sustained performance of any smartphone tested — no throttling even under prolonged loads
• Gaming performance with vapor chamber cooling is noticeably smoother, with more consistent frame rates in demanding titles
• On-device AI processing through Apple Intelligence is fast and responsive, with live transcription and summarization working seamlessly

Nothing Phone (3)

Snapdragon 8 Elite puts the Nothing Phone (3) in the same performance tier as Samsung Galaxy S25 and OnePlus 13.

• Snapdragon 8 Elite provides genuinely flagship-level performance — gaming, multitasking, and app launches are all top-tier
• Nothing OS 3 is lightweight enough to let the hardware shine, with smooth animations and minimal background resource consumption
• Thermals are well managed with the aluminum frame acting as a heat sink, keeping sustained performance respectable

iPhone 17 Pro Max

The iPhone 17 Pro Max delivers the best battery life of any iPhone ever, lasting 17+ hours in web browsing tests. 40W wired charging is a welcome improvement but still trails Android competitors.

• Lasted 17 hours and 54 minutes in the web browsing test — the longest battery life ever recorded in an iPhone, beating the 16 Pro Max by over an hour
• Moderate users can easily achieve 1.5 to 2 days between charges with mixed usage
• 40W fast charging reaches 50% in under 30 minutes — a significant jump from the 27W of previous models, but still slower than 80W+ Android competitors
• No charger included in the box means you need to buy a compatible brick separately to get the maximum charging speed

Nothing Phone (3)

A 5,500mAh battery provides solid full-day endurance with 45W wired and 15W wireless charging.

• Battery comfortably lasts a full day of heavy use with the 5,500mAh cell and efficient Snapdragon 8 Elite
• 45W wired charging reaches 50% in about 25 minutes and full charge in under an hour
• 15W wireless charging is included — a feature missing from the OnePlus 13R at a similar price

iPhone 17 Pro Max

iOS 26 brings Visual Intelligence, enhanced Siri with on-device AI, and deep Apple Intelligence integration, though some promised features arrived late after launch.

• Apple Intelligence features including writing tools, notification summaries, and image generation are well integrated and genuinely useful
• Visual Intelligence through the camera is impressive for real-time translation, object identification, and contextual search
• Some iOS 26 features feel unfinished at launch, with Apple promising additional capabilities in subsequent updates

Nothing Phone (3)

Nothing OS 3 offers a clean, near-stock Android experience with distinctive monochrome widgets and Glyph integration.

• Nothing OS 3 is refreshingly clean with thoughtful touches like monochrome widget themes and Glyph app integration
• Only 3 years of OS updates and 4 years of security patches — significantly less than Samsung and Google 7-year commitments