NIX // THE ORANGE ONE STAYS: Why I’m Not Upgrading My iPhone 17 Pro Max

Apple has made a better iPhone.

I just don't particularly want it.

And that, for somebody who likes technology rather more than is probably sensible, feels quite significant.

My current phone is the iPhone 17 Pro Max in Cosmic Orange.

Not silver.

Not black.

Not a tasteful shade designed to disappear quietly into a case.

Orange.

Properly orange.

The sort of iPhone Apple normally wouldn't dare make.

THE ANNUAL APPLE ITCH

Normally the new iPhone appears and the machinery starts.

New keynote. New cameras. New processor. New battery claim. Somebody on YouTube announces that smartphones have been completely reinvented because Apple has altered something by approximately four millimetres.

And inevitably I start looking.

I like technology. New technology especially.

Probably slightly too much.

But this time something strange has happened.

I looked at the replacement for my 17 Pro Max and instead of thinking, I need that, I found myself looking back at the orange phone already in my hand.

And thinking...

Why?

THE 17 PRO MAX IS ALREADY RIDICULOUS

This is perhaps the problem smartphone manufacturers have created for themselves.

Their best phones are now incredibly good.

My iPhone 17 Pro Max has a huge 6.9-inch ProMotion display, the A19 Pro chip, serious cooling, enormous processing power and a camera system that would have seemed completely absurd in a phone only a few years ago.

In normal use it is instantaneous.

Apps open.

Photos process.

Video edits.

Maps fly around.

Everything feels effortless.

I am nowhere remotely close to discovering the performance limit of this phone.

So replacing it simply because another processor exists would be a bit like changing a perfectly good Aston Martin because the new one reaches Tesco three seconds quicker.

THE CAMERA IS WHAT REALLY MATTERS

This is the bit I care about.

I take a ridiculous number of photographs.

Drones, road trips, Vanilla, landscapes, nights away, strange skies, pub stops, days out, little things I want to remember and all the bits in between.

And the iPhone has one massive advantage over every other camera I own.

It is always in my pocket.

The 17 Pro Max gives me three 48-megapixel rear cameras covering main, ultra-wide and telephoto duties, plus Apple's long telephoto option that lets me reach much further than I reasonably expect from something this thin.

It shoots excellent stills.

It shoots superb video.

It handles low light brilliantly.

It can record professional formats if I want to get geeky.

But most importantly, I can see something, pull the phone out and capture it before the moment disappears.

Campervan stop.

Roadside view.

Weird sky.

Dog doing something ridiculous.

Drone launch.

Quick clip for NIX.

Reach into pocket.

Done.

VIDEO // IPHONE 17 PRO MAX

There are plenty of proper hands-on looks at the orange 17 Pro Max too:

▶ Play film

YES, THE NEW ONE IS BETTER

And this is where I think some upgrade arguments go wrong.

I don't need to pretend the newer phone is rubbish in order to justify keeping this one.

It isn't rubbish.

Of course it's better.

Apple has improved the processor, camera system, battery life and plenty of the clever stuff underneath.

That's what a newer flagship should do.

I'd enjoy playing with the new camera.

I'd enjoy testing the extra battery life.

I'd enjoy finding out what the latest chip can do.

But there is an important difference between:

"I'd enjoy playing with that."

and:

"My current phone can no longer do what I need."

The first one costs money.

The second one actually justifies spending it.

I'm very firmly in the first camp.

THE BATTERY ISN'T A PROBLEM

Battery improvements are always welcome.

But the battery in my 17 Pro Max is already one of those things I barely think about.

And that's important.

Once a piece of technology stops creating a problem, improving that particular thing further starts giving rapidly diminishing returns.

I don't spend the day searching for plugs.

I don't turn everything off.

I don't nurse the screen brightness.

The phone just gets on with it.

So yes, another phone may last longer.

But my existing phone isn't exactly standing in the corner coughing and asking for a charger.

AND THEN THERE'S THE ORANGE

This might sound daft.

It isn't.

Phones have spent years becoming increasingly anonymous slabs of grey, black, silver and slightly different grey.

Cosmic Orange has character.

You notice it.

It feels different.

And it fits the NIX world rather suspiciously well.

Orange on Vanilla.

Orange throughout NIX.

Orange phone.

Completely accidental coordination, obviously.

Probably.

I still look at this phone and like the way it looks.

That's actually rarer than specifications would suggest.

VIDEO // THE ORANGE ONE

And yes, people were quite excited about this colour when it arrived:

▶ Play film

A PHONE HAS FINALLY BECOME GOOD ENOUGH

That's really the story.

Apple hasn't failed to tempt me because the newer iPhone isn't good enough.

Apple has almost done the opposite.

It made the 17 Pro Max so good that replacing it after one generation feels faintly ridiculous.

The screen is excellent.

The camera is excellent.

The video is excellent.

The battery is excellent.

Performance is comical.

USB-C is here.

MagSafe works.

AirDrop works.

CarPlay works.

It talks happily to my MacBook, iPad, Apple Watch and everything else Apple has quietly persuaded me to surround myself with.

So what exactly would I be fixing?

THE MOST EXPENSIVE FEATURE IS NOVELTY

This is probably where I've changed.

For years, buying the newest flagship was partly about capability and partly about having the newest thing.

I still love new technology.

Very much.

Possibly an irresponsible amount.

But I am increasingly interested in technology that genuinely earns its place.

The solar setup in Vanilla earns its place.

The battery monitoring earns its place.

Drones earn their place because they let me create images I physically couldn't capture otherwise.

A new phone now needs to do more than replace a brilliant phone with another brilliant phone.

WHAT WOULD ACTUALLY MAKE ME UPGRADE?

Eventually something will.

A genuinely transformative camera system.

A major change in design.

Battery technology that changes how the phone is used.

Satellite connectivity becoming substantially more useful.

A photographic feature I genuinely cannot recreate with the hardware I already have.

Or, knowing me, Apple will release another completely outrageous orange one.

At which point all previous sensible arguments may collapse immediately.

THE VERDICT

THE NEW IPHONE MAY BE BETTER.

MY IPHONE 17 PRO MAX IS ALREADY GOOD ENOUGH.

And "good enough" sounds like faint praise until the thing being described is this good.

So the Cosmic Orange 17 Pro Max stays.

Another year of photos.

Another year of road trips.

Another year of Vanilla adventures.

Another ridiculous quantity of screenshots I'll completely forget to delete.

No trade-in box.

No frantic pre-order.

No annual migration ceremony.

Just the orange one.

Still ridiculously powerful.

Still slightly outrageous.

And staying firmly in my pocket.

NIX // TECHNOLOGY // OCTOBER 2026