Apple - iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Apple - iPhone 17 Air

These two are nearly even on the Mars Score (63 vs 64.1). The decision is not about overall quality — both clear the bar — it is about which specific trade-offs fit your use.

Pick the iPhone 15 Pro Max if your top frustration with your current device is running out of charge before the day ends — endurance is the lead spec here. The biggest gaps in its favor are battery capacity, wired charging, screen size. The single most decisive one: Battery capacity — 52.48% more. 4422 mAh vs 2900 mAh.

Pick the iPhone 17 Air if you push the hardware — gaming, on-device AI, heavy multitasking — and the extra compute headroom is worth the trade-offs. Its strongest claims are weight, antutu, promised os updates. The single most decisive one: Weight — 75.00 g less. 146 vs 221.

Both ship with comparable ram, main camera, refresh rate, so those specs do not separate the two — focus on the differences below.

Bottom line: there is no wrong answer here — match the spec advantages to how you actually use the product. The Mars Score parity says both are well-rounded; the differences are about trade-offs, not quality.