Apple has typically reserved its biggest and best smartphone experiences for the iPhone Pro Max line. In particular, if you want the largest display and the longest battery life of any iPhone, you usually have to pony up for Apple's top-shelf device. That changes this year with the introduction of the Apple iPhone 14 Plus ($899), a new handset in the iPhone lineup that brings you the big-screen experience at a slightly lower price. While we believe the iPhone 14 Pro Max ($1,099) and its powerful new features are worth the extra money (as well as our Editors' Choice award), the iPhone 14 Plus is a respectable alternative with only a few drawbacks at a more budget-friendly price.
Different, But the Same
Apple sort of pulled a 180 with the iPhone 14 Plus. Over the last few years, the iPhone lineup has included a vanilla model, a miniature version of the vanilla model, and then the Pro and Pro Max models. This year, Apple nixed the mini, likely due to poor sales, in favor of the Plus, a larger variant of the vanilla iPhone 14 ($799) in the same way the Pro Max is a bigger version of the Pro ($999). Before now, the only way to get the largest iPhone was to go with the Pro Max. The 14 Plus gives big-iPhone lovers a more affordable option.
Hands On With the Apple iPhone 14 Lineup
The iPhone 14 Plus measures 6.33 by 3.07 by 0.31 inches and weighs in at 7.16 ounces. It's noticeably bigger than the iPhone 14 (5.78 by 2.82 by 0.31 inches, 6.07 ounces), but just about even with the iPhone 14 Pro Max in terms of dimensions (6.33 by 3.05 by 0.31 inches) if not weight (8.47 ounces). Competing devices in this category include the Google Pixel 6 Pro (6.45 by 2.99 by 0.35 inches) and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (6.43 by 3.07 by 0.35 inches).
Despite being a wholly new iPhone, the 14 Plus shares every bit of its design with existing family members. Apple's hardware is the best in the business. The company's Ceramic Shield protects the display and is fitted into an aluminum frame that is flat along the side edges. Similar phones from Google and Samsung rely on Corning Gorilla Glass Victus for protection. The iPhone 14 Plus meets the IP68 rating for protection from dust and water. It can handle submersion or a running faucet should you happen to muck it up. You can pick from Blue, Midnight, Purple, (Product) Red, or Starlight, the same colors available for the smaller iPhone 14. Apple sent us the Purple model, and we must say that it's the most subtle version of purple we've ever seen—most of the time the phone comes across as white. According to iFixit, the iPhone 14 Plus is more repairable than the Pro range thanks to a new interior design and removable rear panel.
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Operating an iPhone is simple thanks to the plain arrangement of controls. The combo power/screen lock button is perched on the right edge, while the volume buttons and ringer switch are on the left. The dated, proprietary Lightning port is centered on the bottom, in between round drilled holes for the mic and bottom-firing speaker. Now that the EU has officially mandated that devices adopt USB-C by 2024, it's likely that next year's iPhone will move to the more common connector for charging.
The entire range of US iPhone 14 models lacks a physical SIM card tray, including the 14 Plus. US buyers will need to activate the embedded eSIM via their carrier of choice and use software to move service from phone to phone. International buyers will still be able to grab an iPhone 14 Plus with a physical SIM card.
Last, with no fingerprint reader, you need to rely on Apple's Face ID to secure the phone, which is swift most of the time. Only the iPhone SE ($429) retains a physical fingerprint reader.
A Big Screen on a Budget
Okay, maybe spending $899 on an iPhone 14 Plus doesn't necessarily count as a "budget" purchase, but the 6.7-inch screen of the 14 Plus matches the size of the 14 Pro Max screen for $200 less.
The Super Retina XDR OLED packs in 2,778 by 1,284 pixels, for a density of 458ppi. It offers a two-million-to-one contrast ratio with 800 nits brightness (typical) and 1,200 nits peak (HDR). It's incredibly sharp and bright, with excellent color and tone. I had no trouble at all seeing the screen outside during the day.
As with the smaller iPhone 14, the screen's refresh rate is stuck at 60Hz. The 14 Pro and Pro Max offer variable refresh rates that run from 1Hz to conserve power to 120Hz for extra-smooth performance. More importantly, plenty of competing Android devices in this price range (including the Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G and Moto Edge) have adopted screens at 90Hz, 120Hz, and even 144Hz. Apple should have used faster screens for the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, though we know it had to leave room for differentiation from the Pro models somewhere.
As it stands, one of the biggest differences between the standard and Pro lines is the Dynamic Island. Namely, the iPhone 14 Plus doesn't have the Dynamic Island at the top of its display while the Pros do. The Dynamic Island displays enriched notifications and controls for select live activities, such as listening to music or running a timer. Instead, the 14 Plus carries over the unsightly notch that houses the Face ID and TrueDepth camera module. Nearly every other phone in the market has moved away from the notch, and it's past time Apple does the same.
Finally, the iPhone 14 Plus lacks the always-on display (AOD) of the Pro models. The AOD, a feature that's been available to Android devices for years, allows Pro owners to view the time, date, weather, and other information when their iPhone is at rest.
So in summary, while the iPhone 14 Plus display offers the same real estate and resolution of the Pro Max, it lacks the faster refresh rate, Dynamic Island, and always-on display.
A Better Battery
One of the iPhone mini's great failings is battery life. You can only cram so much lithium ion into such a small chassis and that means the tiniest iPhone is limited when compared with its larger stablemates. In fact, we recommended the standard iPhone 13 over the mini for this reason alone. Now, the situation is flipped.
The iPhone 14, with its 3,227mAh battery, did well in our rundown test, lasting 15 hours 30 minutes, or about 30 minutes longer than the iPhone 13. The iPhone 14 Plus has a 4,325mAh battery that pushes through much longer. It tallied 18 hours and 30 minutes, or just 30 minutes shy of the 14 Pro Max's 19-hour marathon. (Our battery test involves streaming YouTube over Wi-Fi with the display brightness set to the maximum.) In this same test, the Pixel 6 lasted for 23 hours, and the Galaxy S22 ran for just nine hours.
The bottom line here is that the 14 Plus offers about three hours more up time than the standard iPhone 14, which could be the deciding factor for some buyers.
Wired charging speeds are limited to 20W with an appropriate charger. It took the 14 Plus 35 minutes to reach a 50% charge and about 90 minutes to recharge fully. Google's and Samsung's flagships charge only slightly faster, though some devices, such as the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G, can recharge fully in as little as 35 minutes using proprietary charging tech.
Wireless charging is held to a maximum rate of 15W with a MagSafe-compatible wireless charger or just 7.5W with a typical Qi wireless charger. The MagSafe charger needs more than two hours to fully recharge the 14 Plus battery.
Carryover Computing Power
The iPhone 14 Plus employs last year's A15 Bionic processor rather than the newer A16 Bionic found in the 14 Pro and Pro Max. The A16 drops from a 5nm process to a 4nm process and has one billion more transistors, along with a faster GPU and other gains. The A15, meanwhile, is the same chip used by the iPhone 13 Pro, which means it has six CPU cores, five GPU cores, and 16 Neural Engine cores. The phone has 6GB of updated LPDDR5 RAM. As you might expect, benchmark results are statistically identical between the 14 and 14 Plus.
The 14 Plus reached 1,745 and 4,866 for the Geekbench 5 single- and multi-core tests, respectively, where the iPhone 14 hit 1,753 and 4,734 and the iPhone 13 hit 1,721 and 4,629. The Pro and Pro Max put up better scores on the same test (1,874 and 5,445, respectively), but that's not surprising. The Google Pixel 6 and its in-house Tensor processor scored much lower on Geekbench 5 at 1,021 and 2,813, while the Samsung Galaxy S22 and its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 delivered 1,232 and 3,433.
Results across other benchmarks include 3,026 for 3DMark, 945 for Geekbench ML, 51fps for GFXBench Aztec Ruins, and 976.5 on the web BaseMark test.
With 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of available storage, you'll have more than enough room on the iPhone 14 Plus for all your apps and media. There's no expandable storage.
The phone doesn't run quite as fast as the Pro or Pro Max, but it doesn't need to. It still outshines the entirety of the Android universe in day-to-day smoothness, speed, and performance—including on heavy-duty games such as Genshin Impact.
Putting the Plus in Wireless Performance
Each of the iPhone 14 devices includes an updated and powerful set of radios that set a high bar for competing Android phones.
On the cellular front, the 14 Plus supports a wide range of 5G bands and is compatible with the 5G networks of most US providers. We tested the device on AT&T's network and experienced reliable connections throughout the duration of our time with it. On speed tests, the 14 Plus maxed out at 78Mbps for downloads and 17Mbps for uploads, which equals what we saw when testing an AT&T model of the 14 Pro Max in the same location. More importantly, those are the same numbers PCMag calculated are the national average for 5G performance on AT&T's network in its Best Mobile Networks report.
When it comes to Wi-Fi, the 14 Plus reached maximum download speeds of 664Mbps over a Wi-Fi 6 network with uploads hitting 263Mbps. At the network's edge, the phone managed to hold on with a speed of 3.51Mbps, matching the marks of other phones tested in the same spot.
The Bluetooth 5.3 radio gives the iPhone 14 Plus a leg up on some competing phones, as it allows the handset to use less power and maintain more consistent connections with devices such as wireless headphones. Further, the iPhone supports AAC, Apple Lossless, FLAC, and Spatial audio.
Combining the earpiece speaker with the bottom-firing speaker creates stereo sound, though the bottom speaker delivers a bit more oomph. Music and other media sounds good at normal listening volumes. The Knife's "Silent Shout," our bass test track, sounded punchy and clean. Dialing the volume all the way up, though, leads to distortion that impacts sound quality.
Test voice calls made over AT&T's network were clean and free of hissing or background noise. The earpiece offers plenty of volume to hear calls in a variety of locales.
The 14 Plus carries over the new Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via satellite features to assist in accidents and incidents.
Crash detection uses upgraded sensors and signal processing to determine if the phone (and, presumably, its owner) is involved in a car crash. When it does, the 14 Plus will automatically call first responders and predetermined emergency contacts to provide your location.
The Emergency SOS via satellite tool takes advantage of specialized internal antennas to patch through to Globalstar satellites. When it makes a connection, which can only happen when and where cellular and Wi-Fi coverage is completely unavailable, it will allow for simple communications for conveying basics such as location. Apple will launch this service in November.
Capable Cameras That Lack Zoom
The 14 Plus has the exact same camera arrangement as the iPhone 14, which means there are two cameras: one standard and one ultrawide. There's no telephoto camera for optically zooming in on subjects—that's a feature you have to pay Pro prices (or buy a competing Android phone) to get. You can, however, zoom digitally.
The phone's primary camera has a 12MP sensor (26mm equivalent), and opens the aperture to f/1.5, a slight improvement over the iPhone 13, that lets more light reach the sensor. The ultrawide camera also has a 12MP sensor (13mm equivalent) at f/2.2, with a horizon-scanning 120-degree field of view. This is carried over from the iPhone 13. Apple's Photonic Engine, new for the 14 line this year, examines every pixel in the ISP before rendering the final picture.
Typical daytime photos look good. They feature sharp focus, accurate color, and plenty of contrast. I didn't see any white balance issues, though some of the images are oversharpened—something we've witnessed across the iPhone 14 family.
Indoor photos taken under fluorescent lights are as good as you're going to get for such environments.
The nighttime shots I snagged look good for the most part, but more noise is evident than in photos from the other iPhone 14 cameras.
As for selfies, the iPhone 14 Plus includes the same improved TrueDepth camera found on the other iPhone 14 models. It has a 12MP sensor at f/1.9 and autofocus. I was pleased with the selfies I took, which were clean and accurate. For some buyers, this may be the most important improvement to the iPhone 14's cameras.
Action mode is the latest tool in Apple's arsenal of video features. This mode crops video from 4K to 2.8K and adds stabilization along the way to clean up your action videos without forcing you to use a tricky gimbal. It works very well. The iPhone 14 Plus has one of the finest video cameras available at this price point.
Photography is a subjective art, with beauty often lying in the eye of the beholder. Some people may prefer the photographic looks created by Google's Pixel phones or Samsung's Galaxy devices, but there's no question the iPhone 14 Plus gives you an easy-to-use camera that consistently works well.
Apple Goes Big on a (Relative) Budget and Succeeds
There are a lot of factors to weigh when considering the iPhone 14 family. There's a clear line separating the standard iPhone 14 and 14 Plus from the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. The latter two include higher refresh rates, lose the notch in favor of the Dynamic Island, and add always-on displays for more visible notifications. Moreover, they upgrade to the A16 Bionic processor and tout a telephoto lens for sharper close-up photos and videos. We think these features are generally worth the $200 premium separating the tiers, but the 14 and 14 Plus are more than enough device if you're upgrading from an iPhone 11 or 12. Further, the iPhone 14 Plus, with its longer-lasting battery and roomier display, is a clear step up from the standard iPhone 14. Many buyers choose the phone with the biggest screen they can afford, and the iPhone 14 Plus is here to fill that need.
Apple's iPhone 14 Plus gets you a large display and similarly long battery life to the iPhone Pro Max for two hundred dollars less.
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