Having an uncomplicated relationship with a phone has become tough. Where’s no-frills spring, a season of easy banter, admiration and uncomplicated love? It’s right there in the form of the iPhone 14 Plus, which is like waking up to the smell of dark roast coffee but it also comes with the promise of an indulgent buttery croissant on the side.
This is the phone that will be the upgrade for most this year. There’s nothing to hate about it — great design, build, battery life, colours… all the high-quality stuff Apple is known for.
Even without telephoto, the digital zoom on the iPhone 14 Plus doesn’t falter
A big, gorgeous display
If you want a phone that works and will last you for years without major compromises, this is it. And if you want a phone that satisfies the photographer in you, choose the iPhone 14 Pro (or Pro Max). It’s as simple as that.
I recently took the iPhone 14 Plus on a week-long work trip and here’s the deal, I had to charge the phone only four times (finished the week with more than 40 per cent battery remaining) and that too because Google Maps was used heavily and also the camera to record videos. Since battery life needs to be seen alongside display and processor, more about the feature later on.
The display is obviously one of the big reasons to buy this phone. At 6.7 inches, it’s all about content consumption. Now you have an alternative to the Pro Max variety that has sold very well the last couple of years. In case you yearn for the Mini, the previous model is still available and it’s as powerful today as it was last year.
Indoor lighting is usually poor but the iPhone 14 Plus shines under all conditions
The Plus variety has great brightness, offering 800 nits (1,200 nits peak brightness — HDR), besides stunning colours and contrasts. This is an OLED display, so you get whiter whites and darker blacks. The display is comparable to the Pro models and is more than enough for what you will be doing on this phone. It is also big enough for video content. So if you want to consume any streaming service, you have a massive display here. Equally important is the gaming market here. You have so much space for UI elements and you can easily interact with controls. Frankly, the display is enough to make you buy this phone.
You may wonder if the absence of 120Hz refresh rate makes a difference. Frankly, no. If you are coming from an iPhone 11 or an iPhone 12, you won’t feel the difference or need. If you just want a bigger screen and never had 120Hz, this is fine. Those upgrading from iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max, will obviously go for the iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, which has ProMotion. The screen is so well optimised that one doesn’t feel the absence.
Captured during golden hour, the colours have been reproduced correctly
Generous processing power
The processor that keeps things alive is A15 Bionic chip. Yes, it’s the chip we also saw last year but remember this is the processor that powers the iPhone 13 Pro, which remains faster than any phone in the market (only behind the iPhone 14 Pro). There is an extra GPU core, which means graphical horsepower for gaming is massive. You get six-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores, five-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine. Basically a device that will easily see you through five years.
iOS 16 is buttery smooth and you get an excellent experience. We are getting to a point where chip improvements are so far ahead that you don’t need to upgrade every year.
More light and details get captured on the new phone
Apple’s camera magic
The camera module is perfect this year. The main camera has a bigger sensor and a wider aperture and let’s more light in. It captures more light, giving way to cleaner images, brighter colours and way better low-light photographs. With the front camera you get a big leg up. You get auto-focus, which means you can take selfies without having to worry about focus or hold up objects in front of you and see the focus getting set.
There is no telephoto and most people don’t need it. For example, my wife uses an older iPhone and she doesn’t care about telephoto at all. For her, the phone should be able to take crisp snaps even without Pro features. And that’s what you get. You even get the amazing 4K Cinematic mode. This is a solid HDR performance and there is ultra-wide. The main lens is the best in the industry and that’s what you get.
There is zero lag while taking photos and we didn’t experience missed frames
Should you buy it?
Overall, the chassis is bigger and thus a bigger battery. Whatever you do, you will have way more battery life than on the iPhone 13. You get power sipping efficiency with the Bionic A15. So, getting almost two days out of the phone is easy if you have moderate screen-on time, otherwise at least a day and a half. You should be able to enjoy nine to nine and a half hours of screen-on time.
Plus, it has the notch. There are users who still want the notch and not the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro. Further, the phone feels substantially lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max which has the same size. Many people don’t like carrying heavy phones in the pocket.
What the iPhone 14 Plus does is make benchmarks less important. There used to be a time when specs had major bumps, like HDR performance, better gameplay. Now companies are developing their own silicon, designed to accelerate certain features they think it’s important. You should pick a phone based on your needs. If you want amazing battery life, this is your phone. Once you start using the iPhone 14 Plus it will be impossible to go back to any other phone, thanks to battery and display performance.
At a glance
Device: iPhone 14 Plus
Price: Upwards of Rs 89,900
High notes
- Main camera is stunning
- Bigger chassis means way more battery life
- No compromises on the display
- Weighs less than the iPhone 14 Pro Max
- Familiarity comes in the form of the Notch
Muffled note
- 120Hz refresh rate would have looked good on paper