iPhone 14 Plus Review: Big Whoop

Worth When Reviewed

$899

Greatest Costs Right this moment: iPhone 14 Plus

$899

Apple has ditched the mini model of the iPhone for this, the iPhone 14 Plus. It’s a bigger model of the common iPhone 14, which itself is virtually an iPhone 13 each in and out.

Hearsay has it Apple wasn’t pleased with the low gross sales figures of the iPhone 12 mini and 13 mini and has determined folks need the choice of a giant or greater display.

It means we now have two 6.1in iPhones (the 14 and 14 Professional) and two 6.7in fashions (the 14 Plus reviewed right here and the 14 Professional Max).

However on this scenario, the iPhone 14 Plus finally ends up worst off due to the options it misses out on and its worth. It’s solely $100/£150 cheaper than the iPhone 14 Professional, a cellphone with a excessive refresh price display, an always-on show, the Dynamic Island redesigned notch, a brand new 48Mp primary digital camera, a telephoto digital camera, and the most recent A16 chipset.

The iPhone 14 Plus has none of these options. It’s a giant iPhone 13. It’s a very good cellphone, nevertheless it’s the worst worth in 2022’s iPhone line-up.

Design & construct

Apple pressed Choose All on the iPhone 13 and copied and pasted it to make the iPhone 14. It then clicked and dragged one nook of the iPhone 14 and made it a bit greater. That’s the iPhone 14 Plus.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

It’s too massive, actually. The flat edges on a cellphone 7.8mm thick with a big display make this a pocket buster. I didn’t actually thoughts on days I used to be at residence, however as soon as I went out with a case on the factor, I spent all day wishing I had a smaller cellphone.

Regardless of the iterative design (it may very well be mistaken for 2020’s iPhone 12 from a distance) the Plus is a well-built piece of tech that’s surprisingly mild for its dimension at 203g. I just like the design regardless of its ageing, and the digital camera module is as small as they get for twin lenses as of late.

The cellphone has aluminium rails and a shiny glass again, however that cup is grippy and the starlight (white) color of my overview unit reveals barely any fingerprints. My favorite color is the Product Pink model.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

I nonetheless assume the common iPhone fashions of the final three years really feel nicer to carry and not using a case than the Professional fashions. The Professionals have shiny aspect rails that look soiled with fingerprints, and their metal development makes them pocket paperweights. If you would like the most important iPhone attainable this 12 months, the 14 Plus is an efficient decide in the event you additionally need it to be as mild as attainable.

That is nonetheless an enormous cellphone although and I struggled to ever use it with one hand. The acquainted notch is on the high of the display for Face ID and the front-facing digital camera, with the same old mute swap, quantity buttons, energy button, and Lightning port on the perimeters.

On US fashions of the cellphone there is no such thing as a SIM tray, with Apple forcing North People to go all-in on eSIM. That is very annoying. For the remainder of the world, the one SIM tray remains to be there.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Show & audio

The iPhone 14 Plus has a 60Hz show, which for the $899/£949/€1,169 asking worth is insulting. Each different smartphone available on the market that prices as a lot as this cellphone has both a 90Hz or extra possible 120Hz refresh price. This implies menus, apps, and textual content scrolls and appears smoother, with much less ghosting.

Apple nonetheless received’t put its 120Hz ProMotion show from its Professional fashions on the common iPhones, however 60Hz in 2022 on a display this huge appears dated. It is a premium cellphone and not using a key premium characteristic.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

It’s a very good OLED panel not less than, with good colors and viewing angles. It helps excessive dynamic vary (HDR) and has Apple’s glorious True Tone tech that adjusts the blue mild degree relying on the ambient lighting.

However you would have it so significantly better with the 120Hz iPhone 14 Professional, or the Google Pixel 7 Professional, a 120Hz cellphone with the identical dimension display because the 14 Plus. That Pixel additionally prices the identical or lower than the 14 Plus relying on the place you reside.

I additionally reviewed the smaller iPhone 14, and I most popular utilizing that cellphone every day for its extra pocketable dimension however I ended up appreciating the 14 Plus once I needed to blob and watch YouTube or learn books and articles at size. Apart from that for my private cellphone utilization, I choose a smaller gadget.

For those who spend plenty of time on Instagram and TikTok, or certainly make content material for these platforms, the 14 Plus’s additional display dimension might be a no brainer.

It’s additionally an excellent cellphone for audio as Apple’s audio system are nonetheless finest in school. Music has shocking depth, and for podcasts, gaming, and TV reveals the stereo audio system are greater than ok.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Specs & efficiency

The 14 Plus will carry out at a wonderful degree for completely anybody. It’s whip-fast, with the identical A15 chipset because the iPhone 13 Professional from 2021.

But it surely’s the primary time Apple has put a brand new chip, the A16, in its Professional telephones and left the common iPhone fashions with final 12 months’s. It’s almost unimaginable to inform the distinction, however it’s one other galling element contemplating the excessive worth of the 14 Plus and what you really get for the cash.

You possibly can see the slight dip in uncooked benchmark outcomes, each for the GFX Bench exams for body price because of the greater decision show in comparison with the iPhone 14, nevertheless it’s slightly odd the 14 Plus scores about 800 factors much less on the Geekbench 5 rating. This measures the CPU efficiency, and each telephones have the identical A15 chip.

Fortunately you don’t should learn into these outcomes an excessive amount of, and neither do I having used the iPhone 14 Plus for greater than every week as my primary cellphone. I didn’t as soon as should give up apps or restart it. Video games, multitasking, taking pictures and movies, mild photograph and video enhancing, recording music – this cellphone can do all of it.

I examined the 512GB mannequin however you can too get it with 128GB or 256GB. Apple doesn’t disclose how a lot RAM is in its telephones, however Geekbench reveals it to be 6GB, which is greater than sufficient right here.

Battery & charging

The most effective factor in regards to the iPhone 14 Plus is its battery life. Identical to RAM, Apple retains tight-lipped on its battery sizes nevertheless it appears as if the Plus has a 4323mAh cell. That is fairly giant and with Apple’s good iOS optimisation, the cellphone lasts for completely ages.

With regular use it is a two-day smartphone, simply. I solely as soon as dipped beneath 30% when utilizing the cellphone on at some point the place I used the digital camera, WhatsApp, and Google Maps extensively.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Together with the bigger show, the battery life is the one cause to choose the 14 Plus over the iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Professional. The 14 Plus outguns them each, and other than video playback, Apple claims the 14 Plus is the longest-lasting iPhone ever. I discovered that to be correct. I barely thought of charging the factor, and by no means as soon as acquired battery anxiousness.

It’s a disgrace it fees slowly in comparison with Android flagships. With a Lightning cable the Plus fees at as much as 20W with a appropriate charger in response to Apple (there’s solely a USB-C to Lightning cable within the field, no brick). In half-hour the cellphone charged to 45%, which may be very gradual in comparison with a cellphone just like the OnePlus 10T that may totally cost from useless in below half an hour.

The cellphone additionally has wi-fi charging through any Qi pad or Apple’s MagSafe customary at speeds of as much as 7.5W and 15W respectively.

Digital camera & video

The whole lot that I mentioned in regards to the digital camera and video capabilities of the iPhone 14 in my overview of that cellphone applies to the iPhone 14 Plus, as a result of they’ve precisely the identical digital camera system.

Which means you get a 12Mp primary f/1.5 lens with optical picture stabilisation (OIS) and a 12Mp ultra-wide f/2.4 lens with a 120-degree area of view – not the brand new 48Mp primary sensor discovered on the iPhone 14 Professional. There’s additionally a 12Mp selfie digital camera with autofocus, which is nice.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

The rear cameras are a tiny bit totally different to these on the iPhone 13 and are apparently the sensors used on the 13 Professional. Marginal positive factors are the secret. I took a number of comparability photographs with an iPhone 13 and this 14 Plus and will see no actual variations.

Photographs are slightly over-sharpened to the purpose of wanting hyperrealistic and I choose the contrasty, moody look of the Pixel 7. However it is a excellent digital camera setup, regardless of the dearth of an optical telephoto lens. You received’t need to do a lot zooming with digital zoom on the 14 Plus as issues quickly get shaky.

For those who’re coming from an iPhone 11 or older then you definitely’ll respect the brand new options which have accrued over time equivalent to improved portrait mode with lighting results, photographic types that allow you to tweak the distinction of nonetheless photographs, cinematic mode for moody blurring of video, and motion mode that does an excellent job of making stabilisation for movies.

I hate that Apple doesn’t allow you to take pictures in its ProRAW RAW file format on this cellphone, a characteristic this {hardware} and software program can simply deal with however one thing the corporate saves for the Professional line. For such succesful cameras to not be capable of take RAW photographs within the native digital camera app means many individuals should pony up more money for the Professional in the event that they need to use it as a digital camera in an expert setting. Less expensive telephones than this could shoot in RAW.

Software program & updates

Regardless of all my gripes with the 14 Plus I’ve to say I loved utilizing it and that’s largely right down to iOS. Apple’s software program makes the iPhone feel and appear nice, and there are many glorious options equivalent to Face ID, AirDrop for recordsdata between iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and the final really feel of a really properly optimised working system that works seamlessly.

Apple Pockets is a wonderful place to place your cost and loyalty playing cards, and although sure, Android had widgets first, iOS widgets are extra engaging and higher constructed. Together with the brand new customisable lock display replace for iOS 16, the 14 Plus feels suitably new.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

It is a crafty trick as a result of it truly is nothing new in any respect. When you have an older iPhone, replace it to iOS 16. It would really feel newer and also you won’t need to purchase a brand new cellphone.

I swap between iOS on Android relying on what I’m reviewing however I shortly settled into the 14 Plus’s giant display and utilizing the very nice Apple Books app to learn – a way more satisfying expertise on this dimension show in comparison with any smaller iPhone. It’s additionally nice for any text-heavy app for studying information or articles. I despise the phrase ‘content material consumption’, burn it down – however that is certainly a cellphone for studying and watching issues on.

It’s simply if you’re doing different issues like social media, texting, cellphone calls, or just making an attempt to carry the factor with one hand, it’s too massive.

Apple will possible assist the 14 Plus for 5 or 6 years of updates, which is industry-best ranges of assist and an excellent cause to purchase an iPhone.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Worth & availability

The iPhone 14 Plus prices from $899/£949/€1,169. You should purchase it instantly from Apple in all areas.

There’s no two methods about it, the iPhone 14 Plus is unhealthy worth in 2022. It prices the identical within the US and UK because the Pixel 7 Professional, which is a superior smartphone with the next refresh price show and much better cameras.

The iPhone 14 Professional is dearer than the 14 Plus at $999/£1,099/€1,329 however packs in a lot extra new stuff like a 120Hz display, the Dynamic Island notch, higher cameras, and a telephoto digital camera.

If you would like a large-screen iPhone, the 14 Plus is admittedly $200/£250/€310 cheaper than the 14 Professional Max, however in the event you can stretch to it the Professional Max is once more a extra totally featured improve with all of the ‘professional’ new issues.

An alternative choice is 2021’s iPhone 13 Professional Max, which can also be a greater cellphone than the 14 Plus. It’s price seeing in the event you can decide that up discounted reasonably than purchase the 14 Plus new.

Verdict

The iPhone 14 Plus is the odd one out in 2022’s iPhone vary regardless of having glorious battery life.

It’s an unwieldy dimension in comparison with the rather more pocketable iPhone 14, although the additional display and battery are enhancements that many will worth.

However the cellphone is mockingly unhealthy worth when it’s already so costly and you may pay slightly bit extra upfront or on contract and get the far-superior iPhone 14 Professional.

I’ve loved utilizing the iPhone 14 Plus for studying books, watching movies, and taking pictures. However I get to get pleasure from it with out having regretted paying for it. Whereas it isn’t a nasty cellphone by any means, within the context of the market it’s overpriced, and the iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Professional are higher buys for the cash saved and options gained respectively.

Except you need the biggest iPhone attainable and might’t stretch to the dearer iPhone 14 Professional Max, the 14 Plus is in no man’s land.

Specs

• 160.8 x 78.1 x 7.8mm
• 203g
• 6.7in Tremendous Retina XDR show (2778 x 1284)
• IP68 mud and water resistance
• A15 Bionic
• Most important 12Mp digital camera, f/1.5, sensor-shift OIS
• 120-degree 12Mp ultrawide, f/2.4
• 4K@60fps with Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR assist
• 12Mp f/1.9 front-facing digital camera with autofocus
• Bluetooth 5.0
• Wi-Fi 6 with 2xMIMO
• NFC
• Satellite tv for pc connectivity
• Automotive Crash detection