Apple iPhone 14 Plus evaluate: a giant deal

This is the brand new iPhone that most individuals need. It’s not the iPhone with the neat new show options or a high-resolution digital camera. It’s the iPhone with a giant show and a battery that goes for days.

That’s actually all it’s good to find out about it, truthfully. If you’d reasonably have an iPhone with the very best battery life than an iPhone with the very latest options, then the iPhone 14 Plus is the one for you.

The 14 Plus is the big-screen model of the usual iPhone 14. This yr, reasonably than going iPhone Mini / iPhone Big, Apple went iPhone Big / iPhone Bigger. It shares almost all the identical options however affords a 6.7-inch display screen in comparison with the usual 14’s 6.1-inch show. It additionally claims the perfect battery lifetime of any iPhone — formally, Apple calls it “all-day battery life,” however in my expertise, you may get way more than that.

Oh, and there’s another distinct distinction: the Plus begins at $899, whereas the common 14 begins at $799. That makes it the least costly 6.7-inch iPhone launched but, nevertheless it’s nonetheless removed from low cost.

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What the iPhone 14 Plus doesn’t embrace are the brand new show options on the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. That’s the shape-shifting notch known as Dynamic Island that shows system standing indicators and an always-on show that exhibits a dim model of your wallpaper even when the display screen is locked. They’re helpful options, however they’re extra of an indication of what’s to return for the iPhone than must-haves. Instead, the 14 Plus gives the type of quality-of-life upgrades that lots of people need from a brand new cellphone proper now.

The 14 Plus’ show includes a barely larger 2778 x 1284 decision than the 14’s, so though it’s a lot larger, it maintains roughly the identical pixels-per-inch (458ppi in comparison with 460ppi on the 14). That means pictures look simply as sharp on this display screen — they’re simply, you understand, larger, and you’ll see extra emails or components of a webpage earlier than it’s good to begin scrolling.

There’s no ProMovement, super-smooth scrolling 120Hz refresh fee right here, which is a disgrace. Apple’s nonetheless reserving that for the Pro fashions, lengthy after quick refresh charges have turn into the norm for Android telephones on the similar value. It’s not one thing you’ll miss in case you’re coming from a cellphone with the identical normal 60Hz refresh fee, however I did discover it after I switched from the 14 Pro — perhaps much more so as a result of the display screen is so large. On the opposite hand, the decrease refresh fee is much less power-intensive and doubtless contributes to the 14 Plus’ wonderful battery efficiency. I feel that’s a tradeoff most individuals will fortunately stay with.

This might be an apparent level, however the feeling of getting extra visible house whereas utilizing this cellphone — particularly in comparison with a 6.1-inch mannequin — is actual. More textual content suits onto its display screen, and video games and movies are a bit of extra immersive. But it additionally very a lot handles like a giant cellphone. It’s an actual wrestle to make use of it one-handed, even with the iOS 16’s “reachability” UI controls. Lots of individuals get together with a giant cellphone simply tremendous, however the 6.1-inch 14 and 14 Pro really feel way more comfy in my hand.

It could also be large, however the 14 Plus is lighter than I anticipated it to be. It weighs 7.16 ounces (203g), or simply about an oz (28g) greater than the iPhone 14 — and rather less than the 6.1-inch 14 Pro. Its gentle weight was one thing I appreciated each time it got here clattering out of the pocket of my joggers as a result of this cellphone doesn’t actually slot in any pants pocket I personal. In use, it makes the 14 Plus really feel a bit of simpler to deal with than the Pro Max iPhones.

The display screen is that this cellphone’s large draw, however the further actual property lends itself to the 14 Plus’ different killer function: battery for days. MacRumors reports that there’s certainly a a lot larger cell within the 14 Plus than in the usual 14 — on par with the battery within the 14 Pro Max. But as a result of the 14 Plus doesn’t have all of these fancy, new, power-hungry show options, it manages to eke out higher battery efficiency.

Apple’s declare of the “best battery life in an iPhone” isn’t an exaggeration. Typically, a day of average use with about two hours of screen-on time and loads of time away from Wi-Fi solely drained the battery by about 25 % in my expertise. I even managed to get three days of use on a single cost. Reader, I can’t bear in mind the final time I used an iPhone that comfortably made it by way of a number of days of use.

Not everybody ought to count on multiday efficiency. With heavier use like prolonged durations of gaming or video streaming, two days feels extra cheap, and that may imply pushing into the one digits by the tip of day two. My two hours of screen-on time isn’t a complete lot, however I didn’t take it straightforward on the 14 Plus by any means. Throughout every day, I used some navigation, related to 5G reasonably than Wi-Fi as usually as I might, and recorded some quick video clips. And on the finish of day-after-day, I felt like I ought to have pushed the cellphone’s remaining battery share a lot decrease than I had. Color me impressed.

In each different approach, utilizing the iPhone 14 Plus seems like utilizing the iPhone 14, which seems like utilizing the iPhone 13. Performance is snappy, and the A15 Bionic chipset recycled from final yr’s 13 Pro retains up with absolutely anything you may throw at it. There’s no bodily SIM tray, as on the remainder of the 14 collection, so be ready to get acquainted with eSIM.

There are a few new emergency options included on the 14 Plus (additionally out there on different 14 and 14 Pro fashions): Crash Detection and Emergency SOS by way of Satellite. Crash Detection makes use of a number of cellphone sensors and inputs to mechanically detect once you’ve been in a automotive accident and name emergency providers. We haven’t examined it, however early critiques are blended. On the one hand, it might sometimes work too well. On the opposite, it appears to depend on numerous alerts to point that you simply’re truly in a shifting automotive, which might cause it to miss some crashes if, for instance, you haven’t been driving for very lengthy earlier than an accident.

Satellite SOS is a function that’s coming in November and helps relay a message to emergency providers once you’re out of mobile vary. It may cost further down the road, however for the primary two years, it’s included free with the iPhone 14 Plus. Even in case you don’t find yourself needing it, you’ll doubtless be capable to strive it out to see the way it works.

The 14 Plus contains the exact same cameras because the 14, which implies a 12-megapixel f/1.5 major digital camera with sensor-shift stabilization, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and a 12-megapixel selfie digital camera with autofocus. There’s no high-res, 48-megapixel sensor right here (or the great 2x crop for Portrait Mode that comes with it), however the 14 Plus does acquire the advantages of Apple’s up to date picture processing known as Photonic Engine.

What that boils all the way down to is healthier low-light efficiency, particularly from the ultrawide and selfie cam, though the {hardware} isn’t precisely new or particular. You can learn a bit of extra in-depth evaluation in my iPhone 14 evaluate, however the quick model is that this can be a excellent digital camera system — not solely price upgrading for, nevertheless it’ll be a pleasing replace in case you’re coming from an iPhone 11 or older.

When I reviewed the iPhone 14, I couldn’t discover a compelling motive to choose it over the iPhone 13. The 14 Pro, perhaps, in order for you the most recent and best options. But the usual 14’s enhancements over the 13 are so minor that most individuals can be higher off residing with out them and saving a bit of cash.

The iPhone 14 Plus, however, truly does make an argument for spending a bit of extra. Its $899 price ticket is nothing to sneeze at, nevertheless it’s decrease than the iPhone 14 Pro’s beginning value of $999 — and decrease nonetheless than the $1,099 you’d must pay for the 6.7-inch 14 Pro Max. For $899, you get a major increase in battery life, it doesn’t matter what iPhone you’re upgrading from. And a cellphone with good battery life now stands a greater probability of offering wholesome battery life a number of years down the road when it inevitably degrades. Given that Apple will doubtless help the 14 Plus with a minimum of 5 years of software program updates, this machine might actually go the gap.

There’s the display screen, too, and as we realized from the iPhone Mini Experiment, folks don’t need small telephones. Big screens allow you to see extra and scroll much less — the truth that the cellphone isn’t actually pocketable or usable with one hand doesn’t appear to hassle most individuals. This isn’t the greatest large cellphone display screen Apple affords, nevertheless it’s nonetheless excellent.

If it’s time for an improve and also you’ve been eyeing the massive iPhone, however you’d reasonably get the perfect battery life potential than the very newest options, then the iPhone 14 Plus is for you. It is an iPhone with a extremely large display screen and nice battery life for beneath $1,000. That’s a mix of options that lots of people will discover interesting, and the 14 Plus delivers on its guarantees.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge