The iPhone 6 Plus made waves in 2014 as Apple’s first ever phablet. It was also significant as it had noticeably better screen and camera hardware than its smaller sibling, the iPhone 6.
But, carrying a £619 starting price, it was prohibitively expensive. However, since Apple unveiled its follow on iPhone 6S Plus, the 2014 phablet’s starting price has dropped.
You can now pick up the iPhone 6 Plus for £539. While it’s still far from cheap, the price is still a marked drop when you compare it to the iPhone 6S Plus, which will set you back £619.
Add to this the fact it’s been upgraded to Apple’s shiny new iOS 9 operating system, and the iPhone 6 Plus is still a fairly compelling smartphone.
We’re working of an updated iPhone 6 Plus with iOS 9 review. Make sure to check back for the update to find out if the iPhone 6 Plus is an iOS-flavoured bargain.
What is the iPhone 6 Plus?
People want bigger phones, all that extra screen opens up a raft of new possibilities. Don’t believe me? Check out the excellent Samsung Galaxy Note 4 that has seen plenty of success.
It took Apple a while, but it finally got there. In typical Cupertino fashion it’s entered the phablet arena with an almighty splash.
A big iPhone makes a lot of sense when combined with the Apple Watch. With that adorning your wrist the idea is you won’t need to pull the iPhone 6 Plus out of your pocket or bag all the time. And it does work that way to a small degree, but you’ll still find yourself clamouring for a bigger screen whenever you want to do anything even remotely taxing.
The iPhone 6 Plus is really just a super-sized iPhone 6, at least that’s exactly what it looks like. There’s a more to it than that when you dig a little deeper, though. The big differentiator is that that huge 5.5-inch screen, but some other changes make it a very different proposition to it’s little sibling.
This is a phone that displays all Apple’s key trademarks. Great screen, superb quality fit and finish and one of the best point-and-click cameras you can find on a phone. Unlike other iPhones it also has excellent stamina – you can get two days of use out of the iPhone 6 Plus if you’re careful.
Yes it has a lot of top features, but there’s no escaping how big it is. It will feel enormous to iPhone 5S owners who will initially baulk at its heft, but anyone concerned by its size shouldn’t write it off. It really doesn’t take very long to get used to it.
Watch our iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus video
iPhone 6 Plus: Design
The iPhone 6 Plus is massive compared to some other 5.5-inch phones like the LG G3 or LG G4. LG worked hard to make those phones as compact as possible and achieved something of a miracle. It’s a lot smaller than the 6 Plus in everything barring slimness.
Apple, on the other hand, has duplicated the exact same design as the iPhone 6, and it doesn’t work quite as well with the larger size.
SEE ALSO: Best Phablets 2015
What makes it tricky to handle are the large top and bottom bezels. They’re big and they make the phone taller than it should be, something that could have been a deal-breaker had Apple not made the 6 Plus fashionably slim at just 7.1mm. It also comes with a typically accomplished quality design. The glass and aluminium back merge seamlessly together and the iPhone 6 Plus feels great in your hand.
It’s well balanced and light enough too at just 172g. You’ll happily hold it for hours and that screen is perfect for browsing the internet or watching movies on the hoof.
SEE ALSO: iPhone 6 vs Galaxy S6
Its size means getting to the more inaccessible sections of the screen with one hand can be a struggle and can result in some strained digits. Apple has thought of this issue and has added a feature to the iPhone 6 Plus that brings the top of the screen closer to your thumb.
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Tap the home button twice and the active area of the screen drops, giving you access to icons, address an
iPhone 6 Plus: Screen
iPhone 6 Plus: Screen
Apple is often accused of being behind the times when it comes to screen resolutions. The iPhone 6 Plus comes with the highest resolution display ever on an Apple phone. It’s a full HD screen – 1920 x 1080 – with 401 pixels per inch ( ppi) . Apple calls it Retina HD but in pure number terms it falls behind of the best Android phones. Both the LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 come with QHD screens, which means a resolution of 2560 x 1440 and 534ppi / 515ppi respectively.
That sounds like a big difference, but it isn’t really. You don’t notice the extra pixels much. The Korean phones are sharper than the iPhone 6 Plus but you’ll have to zoom into text or pictures to notice any difference. In most other respects the iPhone 6 Plus has them beaten. The screen is bright and copes brilliantly in bright sunlight.
Colours are supremely accurate – they remain perfect at every angle and it has the best contrast and black level of any LCD-screened phone. It can’t compare with the perfect blacks that the AMOLED display on the Note 4 can muster, but the natural colours make up for it.
Screen experts DisplayMate also rate the screen on the iPhone 6 Plus, calling it the “best performing Smartphone LCD display that we have ever tested”. This is a very special screen indeed and you’ll love using the extra real estate to play games or watch videos. The extra space means that the iPhone 6 Plus comes with a bigger and better speaker than the one on the iPhone 6. It is louder but more importantly it also comes with more depth and low end. It’s still mono, but you’ll happily watch your favourite Netflix series.
One issue that is more apparent with the speaker on the 6 Plus is that the grille is at the bottom right where your index finger is when holding it in landscape mode. The iPhone 6 is narrow enough to allow your finger to curve and not muffle the speaker, but this is more problematic on the iPhone 6 Plus. Considering the size of the top and bottom bezels it’s a shame that Apple didn’t choose to place front facing stereo speakers like the ones found on the HTC One M8.
iPhone 6 Plus: Connectivity
It’s been a while coming but the big news is that the iPhone 6 Plus has NFC ( Near Field Communication) . It’s limited to Apple Pay so you won’t be able to use it to pair with other NFC enabled devices you might have around the home, like wireless speakers, but Apple Pay has a huge amount of potential.
In other respects the 6 Plus has everything you’d expect from a top-of-the-range phone. You get Bluetooth 4.0, AirDrop ( Apple’s feature that lets you easily share content from your phone with other Apple devices) and Wi-Fi 802.11ac. That’s a lot faster than the Wi-Fi on the iPhone 5S although you will need an 802.11ac capable router to take advantage of this.
The iPhone 6 Plus also comes with a comprehensive 4G/LTE chip that covers 20 bands supports speeds up to 150Mbps. This means that it should work well on 4G networks around the world – a useful fact if you’re planning on importing one or you travel widely.