Apple iPhone 14 Plus review: Is bigger always better?

Let’s discuss dimension. We spend half our time being informed that it issues (automobiles, financial institution accounts, and many others.). There are complete states based mostly on how a lot it issues — howdy, Texas. Then, we spend the remainder of our time being informed that possibly dimension isn’t as essential, it’s extra about how you employ what you could have. We had a fairly clear thought of which facet Apple fell on for some time, however issues are completely different now. Small is out, and enormous is in. As a substitute of an iPhone 14 Mini, we get this, the Apple iPhone 14 Plus.

An enormous battery and a giant show. That’s it. That’s about all of the iPhone 14 Plus inherited from its 6.7-inch sibling, the iPhone 14 Professional Max. In any other case, this seems like an iPhone 14 that Apple locked within the gymnasium. I can solely assume that it wasn’t allowed to return out till it was as tall and huge because the top-of-the-line flagship. Don’t fear, it’s no thicker than every other iPhone, and the cameras aren’t as obtrusive as those on the Professional fashions.

Its twin rear cameras — each 12MP — are plucked straight from the iPhone 14, together with the satin aluminum body and colourful candy-like finishes. Certain, the iPhone 14 Plus has a show to rival the scale of the iPhone 14 Professional Max, nevertheless it has rather more in frequent with its simplified sibling. The 60Hz refresh price, 1,200 nits of peak brightness, and sharp Full HD+ decision assist to set the tone as clues that you just’re not on the high of Apple’s lineup. The great previous notch remains to be kicking round, a continuing reminder that you just didn’t splurge for the brand new Dynamic Island.

The whole lot is true the place you’d count on it to be as you make your means across the body — the ability button is on the suitable, the amount rocker and mute swap are on the left, and the Lightning port holds down the underside edge. It’s all there, effectively, apart from the SIM tray on US fashions. The iPhone 14 Plus sticks with the brand new eSIM-only method, as a substitute turning the house the place the SIM slot would have been into nothing, actually. It additionally retains the IP68 ranking for water and mud resistance, in case you’re headed for an journey.

The iPhone 14 traits proceed underneath the hood, with 6GB of RAM throughout all fashions, as much as 512GB of onboard storage, and 2021’s A15 Bionic chipset to maintain the lights on. You could possibly most likely hop into our Apple iPhone 14 evaluate and get the gist of the way it runs, at the very least till you get to 1 space: the battery. The ~4,300mAh cell is as massive as you’ll discover on any iPhone, matching the iPhone 14 Professional Max virtually precisely. It matches its siblings by way of charging, too, with modest wired charges and MagSafe for 15W wi-fi speeds.

Regardless of the top-end dimension, the iPhone 14 Plus is surprisingly gentle. Apple’s choice to stay with an aluminum body implies that this behemoth weighs lower than the smaller, stainless steel-framed iPhone 14 Professional. It doesn’t really feel almost as top-heavy as some Android choices, however there’s sufficient presence to really feel snug within the hand.

You could possibly most likely accuse the Apple design crew of coasting with the iPhone 14 Plus. It doesn’t rock the boat, and it doesn’t break the mould, nevertheless it doesn’t must. The 60Hz refresh price is fairly weak for 2022, and the notch remains to be ugly, however utilizing the iPhone 14 Plus is a sport of tradeoffs. The massive show and large battery plucked from the iPhone 14 Professional Max are sufficient of a reminder that generally, dimension actually does matter.

We frequently affiliate massive telephones with energy and productiveness. There’s little doubt that’s the place Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Extremely and Google’s Pixel 7 Professional land. Nevertheless, Apple already has an choice for the power-hungry crowd. The iPhone 14 Professional Max fills the productiveness position, and it left me questioning why one other massive iPhone must exist — at the very least for some time.

Finally, I spotted that, no, this isn’t the telephone for the ability consumer. It’s not the telephone for the pill consumer, both. As a substitute, the iPhone 14 Plus is a telephone that exists to be your go-to system — a handset for if you wish to journey gentle however nonetheless get pleasure from the advantages of a bigger smartphone display screen. When you’re a commuter, you most likely wouldn’t sit on a subway with a full-sized iPad, however you may not give a 6.7-inch smartphone a second thought. The iPhone 14 Plus manages to be simply massive sufficient so that you can sustain with Home of the Dragon, nevertheless it’s sufficiently small that you just don’t really feel misplaced doing so in public.

Even if you happen to don’t commute, the battery life on the iPhone 14 Plus is perhaps sufficient to sway you. It’s merely glorious. The sizeable 4,300mAh cell, mixed with power-sipping options just like the 60Hz show, stretched past a full day of use throughout my testing and got here comfortably near a second day. It didn’t appear to matter a lot what I used to be as much as, both. I spent some days streaming video, others on social media, and much more days between Spotify and GPS navigation. I hardly ever achieved lower than a day and a half of juice, and that’s solely after I actually pushed the iPhone 14 Plus.

If there’s one downside to Apple’s beast of a battery, it’s the charging. As talked about above, the iPhone 14 Plus doesn’t actually carry any improvements to the desk, sticking with the identical 20W wired price we’ve come to know and grumble about. It in the end suffers in the identical means because the iPhone 14 Professional Max, taking virtually 90 minutes to fill after zooming to 50% within the first half hour. You could possibly jump over to MagSafe wi-fi charging as a substitute, nevertheless it’s barely slower at 15W, and it causes the iPhone 14 Plus to warmth up much more.

Apple’s two rear cameras don’t make huge leaps over their predecessors, however they once more fall again on the precept that dimension issues. The 12MP major and 12MP ultrawide sensors are slightly larger than the iPhone 13 collection, which implies barely higher low-light efficiency with out forcing post-processing to hold the load. Sadly, the telephoto lens remains to be a Professional-only choice, so general zoom is nothing to jot down house about. That mentioned, Apple’s ultrawide lens correction tech is among the many finest within the enterprise, maintaining distortion virtually nonexistent. I’ll skip the in-depth digicam breakdown since they’re the identical as these on the iPhone 14, however you’ll be able to head over to our evaluate to take a look at a full gallery and additional evaluation.

A few of Apple’s iOS 16 tweaks shine brightest on the bigger iPhones, too. Notifications now reside inside placing distance, eliminating the necessity to stretch to the highest of your display screen to reply a fast textual content message. There are additionally extra choices to customise your lock display screen than ever, with new clock kinds, colours, and widgets. It’s simple to swap for a brand new fashion with a easy swipe, and the depth impact is cool till you notice you could’t see what time it’s.

I just like the lock display screen widgets, which let me test fundamentals just like the climate with out unlocking my telephone, however I can’t assist considering they is perhaps the one characteristic to profit from Apple’s always-on show. You continue to must wake your display screen, which places you a swipe away from opening your telephone due to Face ID. It may not matter if you happen to’re checking in your health rings, however you’ll be able to glean much more from the climate app than from a easy widget.

So, is an even bigger iPhone actually a greater one? Effectively, selecting an iPhone in 2022 is sort of like enjoying a sport of would you quite. In order for you the smallest, most inexpensive new flagship iPhone, your selection is straightforward — get the bottom iPhone 14. It’s barely an improve over the still-available and extra inexpensive iPhone 13, however if you happen to’re uneasy about stepping again a technology, it’s nonetheless a strong decide. Nevertheless, if you wish to transcend that, you could have a selection. Would you quite have dimension? Or would you quite have high-end specs? One choice results in the iPhone 14 Plus, and the opposite to the iPhone 14 Professional. When you completely, positively cannot decide, there’s additionally the iPhone 14 Professional Max and the premium price ticket that comes with it.

Left as much as me, I’d seize the iPhone 14 Professional. Sure, it’s an additional $100 (or $200 over the usual iPhone 14), however I’ve different large-screen fixes in my life. I’ll attain for my iPad after I wish to stream a present or a film, and I don’t have a day by day commute that I’ve to fret about. Given the choice, I’d a lot quite have the Dynamic Island, the upgraded A16 Bionic processor, and the 48MP important digicam.

For some, the scale and sheer battery lifetime of the iPhone 14 Plus is perhaps all that issues. The hefty battery, paired with modest {hardware}, means you could spend a day and a half and even two away from a charger — one thing that’s not an choice with many power-hungry telephones. Apple’s software program optimization and dedication to future updates stay second to none, so there’s little doubt that the iPhone 14 Plus can final lengthy into the longer term. All that’s left is to ask your self simply how a lot dimension issues to you.