Redmi Note 17 Pro Max lasts three days without a charge; iPhone 17 Pro Max impresses but feels too big after a year

In Android Authority's benchmark tests, the Note 17 Pro Max finished on top in every battery category. The phone has a 10,000mAh cell, roughly twice the capacity of Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra and more than 2,500mAh above the OnePlus 15. It recorded 27.5 hours of continuous web browsing, against 11.5 hours for the second-place Galaxy S26 Ultra. It lasted 15.8 hours in the camera app, where the Galaxy A56 5G was second at 6.7 hours. The Redmi's lead was smaller in the outlet's Zoom test, which the writer attributed to the combination of screen, speakers, chipset and connectivity.

The review writer used the European version, which has a 9,210mAh battery instead of the 10,000mAh cell. The phone came off the charger on a Friday afternoon and still had about 20 percent left at midday Monday after use that included WhatsApp, Reddit and web browsing and several hours of YouTube. The review said even heavier use, with GPS, video calls or demanding games, would probably still produce around two days of endurance.

To refill the battery, Redmi supports 100W wired charging. Android Authority measured a bit over 80 minutes for a full charge and confirmed the company's claim that 20 minutes provides enough for a day. The phone could only sustain 100W for a few seconds before dropping below 30W, and the site argued 65W would have been more practical. Redmi's durability claims include IP68, IP69 and IP69K ingress protection, certification for 72 hours in two meters of water, and SGS certification for drops from three meters onto smooth granite. The warranty still does not cover liquid damage.

The outside is functional. Redmi uses a plastic frame and back, and the review notes that a plastic back is less likely to shatter after a fall. At about 229 grams, the Note 17 Pro Max is noticeably heavier than the Redmi Note 15 Pro Plus, Samsung Galaxy A57 5G and OnePlus 15, but it remains under 9mm thick. Performance is less ambitious: the Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 chipset with 8GB of RAM sounds like a step down from the Note 15 Pro Plus, and its Geekbench 6 single-core score was barely ahead of the $500 Moto G Stylus 2026 and well behind the Pixel 10a.

The SSPai essay approaches large phones from the other direction. The author, who had used an iPhone 13 mini for four years and considered anything below 70mm wide comfortable, bought the 17 Pro Max on a whim. The author wrote that after a year the phone faded into everyday use: no more interface glitches, overheating cameras or keyboard lag, and the ProMotion screen felt like the most visible upgrade. Battery life removed the habit of carrying power banks; daily battery use settled at about 65 percent, and after 321 days and 234 charge cycles the phone still reported 100 percent battery health. The camera also drew praise, with the advertised optical-quality zoom producing acceptable images up to an equivalent 200mm.

What the author disliked was also physical. The Pro Max is 78mm wide and weighs 233g; with a case, the width passes 80mm. One-handed mode only reached the top half of the screen, and swiping up from the bottom required shifting the hand. The phone could land on the author's face when it fell in bed, and holding the phone in landscape tended to put hands over the speaker openings. The dedicated camera button was easy to trigger accidentally and did not make one-handed camera work easier.

The essay ends without a clean verdict on whether the author would buy a Pro Max again. It says the author now finds 6.3-inch phones and small foldables a little compact, and could probably accept a phone slightly wider than 70mm if it did not need a case. But the stated ideal remains a large screen that is comfortable to hold, and the author is unsure when such a device will appear.