Apple iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 14 Plus: Is it upgrade time?

It’s an breathtaking twelvemonth for Apple’s iPhone 16 lineup, and that’s not simply because of nan upcoming Apple Intelligence features. After 2 years of enduring comparatively uninspired updates, fans of Apple’s modular iPhone and iPhone Plus models yet person a brace of iPhones that consciousness for illustration much than “also-rans” compared to Apple’s flagship iPhone Pro lineup.

While nan modular iPhone 16 models whitethorn not person gotten each nan upgrades we hoped for, Apple is nary longer arbitrarily reserving its champion chips and personification interface features for its flagship Pro series. In summation to nan Dynamic Island and Action button, nan iPhone 16 Plus gets nan aforesaid Camera Control characteristic that Apple introduced successful nan iPhone 16 Pro, a powerful caller A-series chip, and immoderate unsocial creation changes that are wholly its own.

That gives nan iPhone 16 Plus a important leap complete past year’s model, which already delivered important camera improvements complete nan 2022 iPhone 14 Plus. The Apple silicon wrong is 3 generations up of that of nan iPhone 14 Plus, and nan remainder of nan hardware rolls successful 2 years of Pro-exclusive features. In an different twist, Apple is still trading nan iPhone 14 Plus, but is that older exemplary still worthy buying, aliases moreover hanging onto if you already person one? Let’s return a look.

iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 14 Plus: specs

iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 14 Plus: design

Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends

The iPhone 16 Plus echoes nan 2 erstwhile iPhone generations successful being an upscaled type of nan modular model. Besides a larger surface and extended artillery life, nan iPhone 16 Plus has nan aforesaid specs arsenic nan iPhone 16, arsenic was nan lawsuit pinch nan iPhone 14 Plus and nan iPhone 14.

That intends it gets each nan aforesaid upgrades and creation changes arsenic nan 6.1-inch iPhone, though location are immoderate subtle improvements connected nan Plus models that don’t needfully use to its smaller sibling. The astir important of these comes down to weight and balance. At 6.7 inches, nan iPhone Plus shape facet is people much awkward successful nan hand, but nan iPhone 14 Plus was peculiarly so. As we mentioned successful our reappraisal of past year’s iPhone 15 Plus, thing felt disconnected astir nan ergonomics of Apple’s original 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus, which became moreover much evident erstwhile handling its successor.

The iPhone 16 Plus maintains nan aforesaid “comfortable and velvety” consciousness that we liked astir nan iPhone 15 Plus, acknowledgment to amended weight distribution and nan curved edges. If you shied distant from nan iPhone 14 Plus chiefly because it was cumbersome to hold, we’d promote you to find an iPhone 16 Plus to effort out, arsenic it feels importantly amended successful hand.

Apple iPhone 15 Plus Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The iPhone 16 Plus builds connected past year’s iPhone 15 Plus by adopting nan aforesaid color-infused matte glass, but Apple has besides improved nan infusion process to nutrient much vibrant colors than nan washed-out pastels of 2023. The ultramarine, teal, and pinkish iPhone 16 Plus models are richer and much saturated than astir iPhone 14 Plus finishes, isolated from for nan vibrant Product Red, which is sadly still unavailable connected this year’s models. It’s nan 2nd twelvemonth we’ve missed nan special-edition reddish iPhone, a colour that’s been a staple successful nan lineup since it was introduced successful a mid-cycle iPhone 7 update successful 2017. Apple hasn’t commented connected its omission, but it leaves america wondering if it’s faced challenges producing nan correct shadiness of reddish done its caller color-infusion process.

Beyond colors and ergonomics, nan iPhone 16 Plus gets a caller camera layout that returns to nan tandem statement of nan iPhone 12 era and nan pill-shaped bump of nan iPhone XS. This gives it an elegant and classier look, which sets it isolated from Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro Max. Putting nan aforesaid quadrate camera bump connected each 4 iPhone models each twelvemonth made nan modular ones consciousness for illustration they were missing a camera. That’s nary longer nan lawsuit pinch this caller creation — nan cameras connected nan iPhone 16 Plus person a much intentional creation that makes them look complete successful their ain right.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The iPhone 16 Plus replaces nan venerable ring/silent move pinch nan Action fastener introduced connected past year’s iPhone 15 Pro models, and it besides gains a caller Camera Control button. We’ll talk astir Camera Control later, but from a creation perspective, it’s nan astir important alteration to nan full iPhone 16 lineup this year, and it was a pleasant astonishment to spot that Apple didn’t reserve it solely for nan iPhone 16 Pro models.

In position of durability, nan iPhone 16 Plus has nan aforesaid IP68 certification that’s been nan norm for respective years now. It’s rated for immersion successful sixwwwwwwdw meters of h2o for up to 30 minutes. And nan newer Ceramic Shield solid promises improved protection against drops and impacts. However, we deliberation nan amended weight equilibrium is an moreover much important betterment here, arsenic it intends you’re little apt to fumble your iPhone and driblet it successful nan first place.

iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 14 Plus: display

Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends

Like nan modular model, Apple gave nan iPhone 16 Plus a 60Hz refresh rate, moreover arsenic its Android rivals connection faster screens connected much much affordable phones. As we wrote successful our review, scrolling done apps astatine that refresh complaint is not nan astir comfortable acquisition for everyone because a blur shows up while scrolling, but it does look amended than it did connected nan iPhone 14.

The iPhone 16 Plus has a awesome show pinch vibrant colors, HDR support, and a crisp 460 pixel-per-inch (ppi) density. However, that’s array stakes for a smartphone successful this value range, and thing present stands retired against likewise priced competitors — aliases moreover past year’s iPhone 15 Plus. If you’re coming from an iPhone 14 Plus, you’ll spot immoderate betterment successful brightness, arsenic it tin now scope 1,000 nits of emblematic brightness and 1,600 nits of HDR, an summation of 200 and 400 nits, respectively. It besides offers 2,000 nits of highest outdoor brightness and tin dim arsenic debased arsenic 1 nit for usage successful a darker room.

Last year’s modular iPhone 15 models adopted nan Dynamic Island that debuted connected nan iPhone 14 Pro, and that continues pinch nan iPhone 16 Plus. That doesn’t make immoderate quality successful quality, but it does make amended usage of nan area astatine nan apical of nan surface and offers immoderate nosy personification interface tricks you won’t get pinch nan notch.

iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 14 Plus: capacity and battery

Joe Maring / Digital Trends

While Apple’s caller creation gives this year’s modular iPhone models an artistic that makes them erstwhile again consciousness for illustration a afloat portion of nan family, nan astir important area wherever Apple has brought nan iPhone 16 Plus up to par is successful performance.

No longer will a modular iPhone exemplary request to limp on pinch past year’s silicon while nan iPhone Pro models move connected to bigger and amended things. The iPhone 16 Plus marks a return to nan iPhone 13 era erstwhile each 4 iPhone models sewage much aliases little nan aforesaid A-series chips. This year, that’s nan latest A18 chip.

While nan iPhone 16 Pro models get a somewhat amended A18 Pro, nan differences betwixt nan 2 are subtle capable to beryllium irrelevant during mundane use. The A18 Pro has 1 further GPU core, which was besides nan lawsuit pinch nan A15 chips utilized successful nan iPhone 13 Pro models 3 years ago.

That gives nan iPhone 16 Plus a monolithic leap successful capacity complete moreover past year’s iPhone 15 Plus, which intends it’s an bid of magnitude faster than nan iPhone 14 Plus. Apple didn’t supply immoderate nonstop comparisons pinch that model, but it did opportunity that nan iPhone 16 models are 30% faster than nan iPhone 15 and 60% faster than nan iPhone 12, while nan five-core GPU offers a 40% betterment complete past year’s exemplary and doubly nan capacity of nan iPhone 12. Those are patient improvements, nary matter really you portion it.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Still, nan iPhone 14 Plus was nary slouch for mundane use, truthful we’re dealing pinch nan rule of diminishing returns here. Where nan iPhone 16 Plus’ A18 spot will make a existent quality is successful gaming and artificial intelligence features. Apple is people touting nan caller spot arsenic fresh for its Apple Intelligence suite that is now disposable successful iOS 18.1, but it’s besides prepared to handle AAA console games for illustration Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Resident Evil Village, acknowledgment to nan aforesaid hardware-accelerated ray tracing that Apple brought to nan iPhone 15 Pro models past year.

However, moreover if you’re not a gamer aliases AI fan, nan A18 spot has nan advantage of being much power-efficient, which should construe to longer artillery life. One logic to opt for nan larger Plus exemplary is simply a bigger battery, and nan iPhone 16 Plus delivers connected that front. Combined pinch a somewhat larger battery, nan caller A18 spot promises to present up to 4 hours of further video streaming compared to nan iPhone 14 Plus.

This besides intends you won’t request to complaint rather arsenic often, which is good. Apple hasn’t accrued its wired charging speeds complete anterior models — you’re still looking astatine 35 minutes to scope 50% and astir 2 hours for a afloat top-up. Or, if you’re lucky, a 50% complaint successful 30 minutes erstwhile utilizing a 20W charger. However, nan bully news is that wireless charging speeds person accrued to lucifer nan wired speeds, provided you opt for Apple’s caller 25-watt MagSafe charger. Standard Qi and Qi2 chargers will still only present 7.5W and 15W, respectively, arsenic will Apple’s original MagSafe chargers that nan institution has sold for nan past 4 years.

iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 14 Plus: cameras

Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends

Apple seems to beryllium settling into a two-year rhythm of large camera updates, astatine slightest for its modular iPhone models. The iPhone 16 Plus doesn’t summation overmuch complete past year’s iPhone 15 lineup, but if you’re coming from an iPhone 14 Plus, nan cumulative improvements are worthy nan jump.

The superior sensor is now 48-megapixels versus 12MP connected nan iPhone 14 Plus. That not only provides higher-quality shots, but besides introduces a 2x virtual zoom wherever nan halfway pixels are utilized to create a 12MP optical-quality shot. This first came to nan iPhone 14 Pro 2 years ago, but nan modular iPhone 14 models were near retired of that party. This intends you efficaciously get a telephoto lens thrown into nan mix. While 2x images are 12MP, modular 1x images tin beryllium saved successful either 24MP aliases 48MP formats.

That’s why Apple is now utilizing nan sanction “Fusion Camera” to picture it connected nan iPhone 16 lineup, though that’s conscionable a caller trading sanction for nan exertion introduced successful past year’s iPhone 15 models. The ultrawide camera connected nan iPhone 16 Plus has nan aforesaid 12MP solution arsenic that of nan iPhone 14 Plus, but it gets a larger f/2.2 aperture for 2.6x amended lowlight performance, positive autofocus capabilities.

Apple iPhone 14 Plus Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Thanks to nan summation of autofocus, it’s besides imaginable to seizure macro photos connected nan iPhone 16 Plus. That’s been a Pro-exclusive characteristic since it was introduced connected nan iPhone 13 Pro 3 years ago, truthful it’s bully to spot it travel to nan modular models. The caller tandem camera statement besides allows for spatial photograph and video recording.

As usual, Apple has immoderate computational photography features that spell beyond nan earthy camera hardware specs, pinch nan A18 spot powering a caller procreation of Photographic Styles that spell good beyond nan basics. A full of 15 unsocial styles now usage instrumentality learning to facet successful tegument tone, color, highlights, and shadows successful existent clip for much earthy results. And nan champion portion is that you don’t request to perpetrate to a Photographic Style erstwhile you return nan image — you tin alteration them up later erstwhile editing your photos. They’re a nosy caller characteristic that opens up a full caller world of imaginative possibilities.

iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 14 Plus: package and updates

Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends

The iPhone 16 Plus ships pinch iOS 18 retired of nan box. However, nan iPhone 14 Plus tin besides beryllium updated to iOS 18, and it’s a exemplary that’s caller capable to support each of nan latest iOS 18 features.

The only important differences astatine this constituent are nan evident things that require hardware features that nan iPhone 14 Plus doesn’t have, specified arsenic nan Action button, Camera Control, and Dynamic Island. However, nan iPhone 16 Plus gets different limb up pinch Apple Intelligence, which comes pinch nan iOS 18.1 update.

Apple Intelligence is simply a suite of AI features constricted to nan iPhone 15 Pro and later models. In nan first stage, these are mostly penning tools, summaries of notifications, and a caller Clean Up characteristic successful Photos akin to Google’s Magic Eraser. Later iOS 18 constituent releases will adhd AI image generation, integration pinch ChatGPT, and a boost to Siri’s intelligence. Siri already has a different personification interface connected nan iPhone 16 Plus compared to older models, though that’s chiefly cosmetic for now. It will besides beryllium a fewer months earlier Apple Intelligence is disposable successful dialects different than U.S. English; non-English languages aren’t expected to beryllium supported until adjacent year.

Unlike immoderate of its Android rivals, Apple doesn’t supply circumstantial timelines for iOS updates, but since nan iPhone 14 Plus shipped pinch iOS 16 successful 2022, it’s apt to driblet disconnected nan update database sooner than nan brand-new iPhone 16 Plus. It should get astatine slightest 3 much years, though nan 2021-era A15 spot whitethorn yet exclude it from newer features successful early iOS releases.

iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 14 Plus: typical features

The Camera Control button Joe Maring / Digital Trends

While Apple Intelligence will yet group nan iPhone 16 Plus isolated from its predecessors, nan iPhone 16 Plus offers 1 nosy caller actual characteristic you tin bask correct retired of nan box: nan Camera Control button.

This is what Apple calls nan caller fastener connected nan little right-hand broadside of its latest iPhone 16 models. As nan sanction suggests, it activates nan camera, but it does overmuch much than that.

Pressing it erstwhile will unfastened a camera app, aft which you tin usage it arsenic a accepted shutter fastener to return pictures. However, it’s besides capacitive and touch-sensitive, truthful it tin beryllium utilized to set galore different settings connected nan fly, specified arsenic exposure, zoom, depth, and more. It moreover lets you quickly swipe done nan caller Photographic Styles.

You whitethorn besides announcement we said that it opens “a” camera app, not needfully “the” camera app. That’s because Apple is letting third-party developers return advantage of nan Camera Control, truthful you tin usage it to trigger your camera app of choice, arsenic agelong arsenic nan developer has updated their app to support it. Developers tin besides take what nan Camera Control does erstwhile wrong their apps. This fastener already useful good and is simply a batch of nosy successful Apple’s first-party Camera app, and we can’t hold to spot what different apps do pinch it.

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In summation to nan different upcoming Apple Intelligence features, Apple will later this twelvemonth merchandise an iPhone 16-exclusive Visual Intelligence characteristic that will scan real-world objects Google Lens-style erstwhile you clasp down nan Camera Control.

While they’re not wholly new, nan Dynamic Island and Action fastener besides group nan iPhone 16 Plus isolated from nan iPhone 14 Plus. The Dynamic Island is much than simply a replacement for nan notch; it besides supports caller personification interface (UI) elements for illustration Live Activities and a caller power for nan built-in flashlight. The Action fastener replaces nan ring/silent switch, and while it performs nan aforesaid usability retired of nan box, it tin beryllium customized to trigger astir thing other you tin deliberation of, acknowledgment to its support for Apple’s Shortcuts app.

iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 14 Plus: value and availability

The iPhone 16 Plus tin beryllium purchased straight from Apple and astir different awesome retailers and carriers. The guidelines 128GB exemplary costs $899, nan aforesaid value erstwhile Plus models launched at. The accustomed 256GB aliases 512GB capacities are disposable for $999 and $1,199, respectively.

This year, Apple amazed america by leaving some nan iPhone 14 and nan iPhone 14 Plus connected nan market; successful nan past, it’s kept trading only nan modular 6.1-inch versions of its two-year-old models. That intends you tin prime up an iPhone 14 Plus straight from Apple starting astatine $699 for nan 128GB model, $799 for 256GB, aliases $999 for nan largest 512GB capacity.

iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 14 Plus: Should you upgrade?

Joe Maring / Digital Trends

If you’re a instrumentality of larger phones and don’t want to walk a bundle connected Apple’s flagship Pro Max, nan iPhone 16 Plus is simply a worthwhile acquisition this year. It’s nan first twelvemonth since 2021 that Apple’s modular models don’t consciousness for illustration second-class citizens adjacent to nan Pro models, which makes them a amended bargain than ever.

Unlike nan iPhone 14 Plus, which already felt aged erstwhile it debuted 2 years ago, nan iPhone 16 Plus tin clasp its ain against Apple’s astir costly flagships. It has a near-identical processor, nan aforesaid Camera Control and Action buttons, and will support nan latest Apple Intelligence features. This makes nan move from an iPhone 14 Plus to an iPhone 16 Plus consciousness for illustration astatine slightest a three-year leap.

If caller rumors are accurate, this could besides beryllium Apple’s past Plus model. Several reports person suggested that it’s astir to spell nan measurement of nan iPhone mini, arsenic nan modular 6.7-inch iPhones haven’t been large sellers. While nan iPhone 16 Plus will apt beryllium astir for astatine slightest 2 much years, likelihood are against an iPhone 17 Plus appearing adjacent year. If nan iPhone Plus is your preferred model, that whitethorn beryllium an inducement to upgrade to nan iPhone 16 Plus now alternatively of waiting to spot what adjacent twelvemonth brings.