Apple iPhone 14 Plus review: Is bigger better?

(Pocket-lint) – Apple has four iPhones in its 2022 line up, comprising the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Yep, that’s right, there is no iPhone 14 mini this year.  The small and pocketable device has been replaced with a larger form factor, meaning the standard iPhone models now match the iPhone Pro models in terms of their size offerings. 

So what’s the plus-size standard iPhone like? Well it’s definitely big – and not as cute as the iPhone mini – but it certainly has its advantages, many of which make it an excellent choice. Here is our full review.

Our quick take

The Apple iPhone 14 Plus brings with it a new form factor for the standard iPhone and that’s exciting.

We loved the iPhone mini at Pocket-lint so we’re a little sad not to see one this year, but the iPhone 14 Plus is an brilliant option for those who want a bigger screen and bigger battery but don’t want to pay those Pro prices.  Unlike previous years, the standard iPhones aren’t as powerful as the Pro models and they lose out on a couple of features, like the Dynamic Island, Always On Display and better camera capabilities, but there’s still plenty on offer here. There’s a lovely large display, excellent battery performance, a solid camera experience and a great design that’s refreshingly lightweight for its size.

Bigger doesn’t always mean better but there’s a lot to love about the iPhone 14 Plus and if you think you want the smaller model, we urge you to reconsider. The iPhone 14 Plus’ large display, large form factor and large battery make it an excellent choice.

Apple iPhone 14 Plus review: Is bigger better?

Apple iPhone 14 Plus

4.5 stars – Pocket-lint recommended

For

  • Big and bold display
  • Solid design
  • Lightweight for size
  • Great battery
  • Great camera performance
  • Good performance overall

Against

  • Small chip upgrade over iPhone 13
  • No ProMotion
  • No Always-on Display

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Familiar, but larger design

  • 160.8 x 78.1 x 7.8mm, 203g
  • Aluminium, IP68
  • Blue, Purple, Midnight, Starlight, Product Red

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The Apple iPhone 14 Plus looks identical to the standard iPhone 14 but on a larger scale – much as the iPhone 14 Pro Max does compared to the iPhone 14 Pro. That larger scale makes the Plus pretty big but there is a solid and premium build quality here and we love the larger model a lot more than we expected to.

Aerospace aluminium is the material of choice for the frame compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s surgical-grade stainless steel frame, which makes the iPhone 14 Plus significantly lighter (nearly 40 grams or 1.31 ounces) than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

While the same is the case with the smaller model, it is much more noticeable in the larger model.  The iPhone 14 Plus has flat edges, like the iPhone 13. Those flat edges have been part of the iPhone’s design since the iPhone 12 – as well as earlier models like the iPhone 5 – and they make this larger size easier to hold than the iPhone 8’s rounded edges would have done.

On the left edge, there’s the silence toggle and volume buttons, along with the SIM tray for all markets except the US.

Here, there is no SIM tray thanks to the move to eSIM only. The right edge meanwhile, sees the power button. At the bottom, speakers are positioned either side of the Lightning charging port, while there’s also a speaker at the top of the display above the notch. 

Unlike the iPhone 14 Pro Max and its move to Apple’s Dynamic Island, the iPhone 14 Plus retains the notch we have seen since the iPhone X, though it is slightly smaller now than in 2017. That therefore means that while the larger form factor is new here – and lovely we might add – the design is familiar to the iPhone 13.

On the rear, you’ll find a glass panel with a glossy finish that loves a fingerprint – like the iPhone 13 – while in the top left corner, there’s the prominent square camera housing. This housing has seamless edges that flow into the rest of the rear and there are two lenses, positioned diagonally – again like the iPhone 13.

The iPhone 14 Plus comes in five colour options, comprising Blue, Purple, Midnight, Starlight and Product Red. The Product Red is bright and bold, while the Purple is very light, though definitely our favourite. It has a nice subtlety about it.

We were a fan of the Blue too though, while Starlight and Midnight are good for those who want a more understated device.

Bigger display

  • 6.7-inch, 2778 x 1284 pixels, 458ppi
  • 60Hz, OLED
  • 1200nits

The Apple iPhone 14 Plus has a 6.7-inch display and that’s really the story for this device as it’s the same size you’ll find on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but you aren’t paying Pro prices here. It makes the larger display iPhone more accessible for those that don’t want all the bells and whistles offered by the Pro model.

The resolution for the iPhone 14 Plus is 2778 x 1284 pixels, which results in a very similar pixel density to the iPhone 14 at 458ppi. It’s an OLED panel so those blacks are very black, while colours are rich and vibrant with plenty of pop.

There’s plenty of brightness too with a peak brightness of 1200nits. It’s not quite as impressive as the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s display when outside – where there is a peak brightness of 2000nits – but it’s still a very impressive display indeed. The usual Apple display features are on board here too like True Tone, Haptic Touch and support for HDR, though the iPhone 14 Plus doesn’t bring the company’s ProMotion technology.

It supports a standard refresh rates of 60Hz rather than offering the 1Hz to 120Hz refresh rate offered by the iPhone 14 Pro.

Having moved from the iPhone 14 Pro Max to the iPhone 14 Plus, we did notice a very small amount of lag in scrolling speeds compared to the Pro device. It’s not a deal-breaker though, and you likely wouldn’t notice it unless you had used the iPhone 14 Pro Max, or 13 Pro Max model very recently. Sadly, the iPhone 14 Plus also doesn’t have an Always On Display like its Pro sibling and this is one feature we missed quite a lot compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

It means that while you can still take advantage of the new Lock Screen customisation options offered by iOS 16 – more on that in a minute – certain information won’t remain on the screen when it is off. Again though, if you haven’t experienced the Always On Display, you can’t miss what you never had, right?

Hardware and specs

  • A15 Bionic, 5-core GPU
  • 5G connectivity, satellite connectivity
  • 128GB, 256GB, 512GB storage 
  • Up to 26 hours battery

The Apple iPhone 14 Plus doesn’t see a processor upgrade like the iPhone 14 Pro Max. The A15 Bionic chip is under the hood, like the iPhone 13, though it opts for the iPhone 13 Pro‘s chip, with a 5-core GPU instead of the 4-core GPU.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing as the iPhone 14 Plus performs very well, but it does mean the iPhone 14 Pro Max is the more powerful big device rather than being on par with the iPhone 14 Plus.

Overall though, the standard iPhone 14 Plus is more than capable, handling multiple tasks with ease and it had no issues with games like Call of Duty Mobile either. It’s not quite as speedy as its Pro sibling but unless you are running the two devices side-by-side, you are unlikely to notice and the iPhone 14 Plus will be more than adequate. There’s 5G connectivity, like all iPhones have offered since the iPhone 12 models launched in 2020.

The iPhone 14 Plus also offers satellite connectivity too though – with the ability to send a text to emergency services using satellite if you are somewhere without signal. This function is only available in the US and Canada, however, and you only get coverage for 2 years.

Storage options for the iPhone 14 Max start at 128GB and hit 512GB, and as with all iPhones, there is no microSD support for storage expansion. As we said above, on US models there’s no SIM tray, so you’ll have to use eSIM only.

That’s likely not a problem for domestic US carriers, but you won’t have the option of buying a cheap nano SIM if you travel and those who want to switch phones regularly might find it more fiddly. Phones outside the US still offer nano SIM, however.  There are a number of advantages to a larger device and one of those is battery life, which is especially the case with the iPhone 14 Plus.

Now, the iPhone 14 Plus has a battery promise of up to 26 hours, which is three less than the iPhone 14 Pro Max on paper, but more than the iPhone 14 and certainly more than what an iPhone 14 mini would have offered had it existed. In our experience though, the iPhone 14 Plus performs better than the iPhone 14 Pro Max. 

It will see you through the day without an issue and likely into the next morning, unless you are out all night and using it continuously for photos. Taking it off charge at 7AM, we got to the end of a day with well over 35 per cent left and that’s with emails from multiple accounts coming through, WhatsApp, video calls and extensive use of the camera for testing.

It’s the best performer of the four iPhone 14 models and a solid device in this department.

Upgraded camera

  • Dual rear camera (12MP + 12MP)
  • Photonic Engine
  • Upgraded front camera (12MP, autofocus)

The Apple iPhone 14 Plus’ camera capabilities are the same as the iPhone 14 and therefore a slight step down from the iPhone 14 Pro. There’s a dual lens system on the back, comprised of a main camera and an ultrawide camera so you miss out on the telephoto offered by the iPhone 14 Pro Max. It also doesn’t get the upgrade to a higher resolution sensor.

The main camera on the iPhone 14 Plus sees an upgrade compared to what was offered on the iPhone 13 though, opting for the same as the iPhone 13 Pro instead.

That means you’ll find a 12-megapixel sensor with an f/1.5 aperture over f/1.6 aperture, along with a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor with f/1.8 aperture. There’s also something called the Photonic Engine, which is present across all four iPhone 14 models, helping with low light shots. It’s basically an image processing system.

Overall, the iPhone 14 Plus delivers some great results from its dual rear camera offering. In good lighting conditions, you’ll get detailed shots with decent – and accurate – colour balance. The iPhone 14 Pro Max offers a little more detail, and you get the benefit of the optical zoom and Macro shooting, but on the whole the iPhone 14 Plus has a solid camera performance.

It also allows you to just point and shoot and get a decent result, and there’s plenty to be said for that.

Pocket-lint

In low light, the iPhone 14 Plus performs well here too. Images are processed faster than the iPhone 13 and the overall results are fractionally better too. There is an argument to consider the iPhone 13 Pro Max over the iPhone 14 Plus to give you the benefit of the telephoto lens and extra features, but the iPhone 14 Plus is a great performer overall.

In terms of features, there’s sensor-shift stabilisation on board, along with plenty of features including Photographic Styles and Cinematic Video – both of which launched with the iPhone 13 models – Night mode and Portrait mode with Depth Focus. There are also a couple of new features on board, including Action Mode and 4K at 24fps and 30fps on Cinematic Video.

On the front, the iPhone 14 Plus has a upgraded 12-megapixel sensor. Autofocus is now on board the selfie camera, along with a wider f/1.9 aperture compared to f/2.2, which allows for better low-light shots and better selfies overall compared to the iPhone 13.

Software

The Apple iPhone 14 Plus runs on iOS 16, which brings with it a slew of new features, most notably the changes to the Lock Screen.

You can read all about iOS 16 in our separate feature, but the Lock Screen changes mean more customisation. As the iPhone 14 Plus doesn’t offer the Always On Display, it doesn’t take full advantage of the Lock Screen changes but it still allows for a fresh look.

There are also changes to Messages, Mail and Photos, as well as further enhancements of features like Focus.  Of course, iOS 16 isn’t exclusive to the iPhone 14 Plus so you’ll get much of the same user experience across all iPhones from the 8 and later.

However, there are a couple of features exclusive to the iPhone 14 models, not just in camera department, but also Car Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via satellite.

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To recap

Bigger doesn’t always mean better but there’s a lot to love about the iPhone 14 Plus and if you think you want the smaller model, we urge you to reconsider. The iPhone 14 Plus’ large display, large form factor and large battery make it a truly excellent choice. Writing by Britta O’Boyle.

Editing by Verity Burns.

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