iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Which new iPhone to buy?

Big vs bigger: Which iPhone should you buy?

We've spent a couple of months with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus now and the differences between them become more apparent with time. Size is the obvious difference; the iPhone 6 fits neatly in your pocket or your palm where the iPhone 6 Plus stretches both.

But whether you like a big 5.5-inch screen or more average 4.7-inch one isn't the only aspect to consider. The iPhone 6 Plus trumps its little brother in a few key areas so if battery life, camera and screen resolution are key factors when deciding to buy a mobile phone then read on to find out whether you should fork out for Apple's biggest phone yet.

Watch our iPhone 6 vs 6 Plus video

iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Design

iPhone 6: Curved aluminium, gold or light/dark silver, 6.8mm thick, 129g
iPhone 6 Plus: Curved aluminium, gold or light/dark silver 7.1mm thick, 172g

Both phones look identical aside from the difference in size. In fact force the perspective a little and a curious onlooker won't be able to tell the difference at all. The iPhone 6 Plus is a whole 2cm taller, 1cm wider and 2mm thicker though. It may not sound like much, but in the world of smartphones it’s a big deal. Unless you have big hands or can stretch your fingers like Mr Fantastic you will struggle to hold and use the iPhone 6 Plus one handed on occasion. The one big problem? Reaching the far edges of the keyboard with your thumb is cramp-inducing.

As any Android user who has been using bigger phones for years will tell you, though, wrestle with the 6 Plus for a couple of weeks and the size issue diminishes. The more you use it the easier it is to handle. Still as a phone for a stand-up commuter the iPhone 6 is a better fit. It’s slim and narrow enough to be used with almost as much ease as the 4-inch iPhone 5S.

The design of both phones is beautiful. The toughed glass that covers the display curves as it reaches the edges and then blends almost seamlessly into the aluminium chassis, which feels cool and grippy enough. Even though it’s the exact same design, it works better on the smaller iPhone 6. You feel more in control when using it.

Add Apple’s leather case to the iPhone 6 Plus though and while it does make things a bit bigger, it feels a lot more manageable thanks to the excellent grip provided.

Both phones are well crafted, but the smaller size of the iPhone 6 means it’s more ergonomic. It wins the design round.
 
Winner: iPhone 6

iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Screen

iPhone 6: 4.7-inch 1334 x 750, “Retina HD” LCD
iPhone 6 Plus: 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LCD, optimisation in landscape

No bones about it, the iPhone 6 Plus has a much, much larger screen than the iPhone 6.

The bigger phone comes with a bigger screen – 5.5-inch compared to 4.7-inch – and the benefits this provides for surfing the web or consuming media are clear. You can happily whittle away the hours on a long haul flight watching your favourite downloaded shows or movies.

There’s also a difference when it comes to the resolution. The iPhone 6 Plus is full-HD and offers a 401PPI while the iPhone 6 is 1334 x 750 pixels, which amounts to 326PPI. The PPI refers to the pixels per inch, so the higher the number the sharper a display will be. The 6 Plus does have a sharper display but you won’t notice it too much unless you really like to get up close and personal with your phone.

What’s more important is that the iPhone 6 Plus’s screen is brighter which means it's slightly punchier overall . Will you care? Not that much – both are fine displays and the main difference you should consider is that extra screen real estate. In fact the extra size of the screen means that the 6 Plus has been optimised to be used in landscape mode as well as portrait – just like the iPad Mini 2.

Winner: iPhone 6 Plus

iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Camera

iPhone 6: 8MP camera, 1/3.06-inch sensor, true-tone flash,f/2.2 aperture dual-LED flash, phase detection
iPhone 6 Plus: 8MP camera, 1/3.06-inch sensor, true-tone flash,f/2.2 aperture dual-LED flash, phase detection, OIS

Both phones come with identical front facing cameras that do a good enough job taking selfies and video calling, particularly in lower light. They're not perfect though. Phones like the HTC Desire EYE really pander to the selfie genreation. The iPhones barely acknowledge it.

The rear cameras are pretty similar as well. Both use 8 megapixel sensors with 1.5 micron sensor pixels, dual tone flash and include phase detection, which help the iPhones focus quickly.

The major difference here is that the iPhone 6 Plus comes with optical image stabilisation (OIS). This helps you take better photos by eliminating the blur caused by the small hand movements you make when taking a picture.


Here's an example of how the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus cameras compare

In well-lit conditions you won’t notice much difference because the camera can shoot quickly enough to minimise the effects of small shudders. When the lights go down the OIS on the 6 Plus shows its worth. Photos are sharper and colours more vivid when it’s dingy, and this applies to video as well.

Once again both phones have great point and shoot cameras, but the OIS makes the iPhone 6 Plus the better camera phone.

Winner: iPhone 6 Plus

iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Software

iPhone 6: iOS 8
iPhone 6 Plus: iOS 8

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus run iOS 8 and the experiences are almost identical barring the landscape mode we spoke of earlier. Even though the screen is bigger you get the same amount of apps viewable on your home screen – 20 in total.

iOS 7’s radical design makeover remains the same on iOS 8 but Apple has delivered some new features that make it a better operating system. A mixture of Android-esque features and some new additions help lay the foundations for a greater push into health and home automation over the coming months.

You can now add third party keyboards, use widgets, access apps from the new notification centre and have the ability to work across Mac and iOS devices in more intuitive way. Apple’s own keyboard has also had a bit of a makeover with predictive words now making an appearance. The iPhone 6 Plus’s larger display also means that you get a few more shortcuts when you’re using it in landscape mode compared to the iPhone 6 they won’t rock your world.

Winner: iPhone 6 Plus (just)

Watch our iOS 8 vs iOS 7 video

iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Performance

iPhone 6: Apple A8 64-bit and M8 co-processor
iPhone 6 Plus: Apple A8 64-bit and M8 co-processor

Apple’s new A8 processor is in both phones and it’s a great processor. It uses a 64-bit dual-core 1.4GHz CPU with a PowerVR GX6450 quad-core graphics chip supported by 1GB RAM.

In our benchmark tests both phones perform extremely well and beat much of the competition in graphics intensive tasks. That’s good news if you like gaming on your phone.

An M8 co-processor is also included. This looks after all the sensors on the phone and manages the data in a much more energy efficient manner, which means better battery life.

Winner: Draw

iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Storage

iPhone 6: 16GB (£539/$649), 64GB (£619/$749), 128GB (£699/$849), no micro SD card support
iPhone 6 Plus: 16GB (£619/$749), 64GB (£699/$849), 128GB (£789/$949), no micro SD card support

As ever, neither of the new Apple phones offers expandable memory. However, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus do raise the storage ceiling, from 64GB to 128GB.

This year, you get to pick between 16GB models (for the scrimpers), 64GB ones and – for the flush – 128GB phones. There's no 32GB this year and Apple hasn't really said why. An iPhone 6 Plus with 128GB of internal storage may be a dream for watching movies on, offering enough memory for a hundred SD-quality films or 25-plus HD ones. It's going to cost a whole lot of money to own it if you buy the iPhone outright though.

Winner: Draw

SEE

iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Battery Life

iPhone 6: 1,810 mAh battery, 11 hours video, 11 hours browsing
iPhone 6 Plus: 2,915 mAh battery, 14 hours video, 12 hours browsing

If you think the larger iPhone comes with a larger battery then give yourself a pat on the back because you are absolutely right. The iPhone 6 Plus has a 2915mAh battery compared to the 1810mAh one on the iPhone 6. It means that the iPhone 6 blows its little brother out of the water when it comes to stamina.

If you are a normal user you will be able to make the 6 Plus last two full days, which puts it up there with flagship Android phones like the Xperia Z3, One M8 and the Samsung Galaxy S5. It just keeps going and going. The iPhone 6 isn’t bad by any means, it just doesn’t come close to matching the Plus. You’ll easily get a day of use out of it but it’s a phone that you will likely want to charge daily.

In our like for like tests running standard definition video until both phones run out entirely the iPhone 6 Plus lasts for 12 hours while the iPhone 6 for 10 hours.

However the smaller size of the iPhone 6 means that you can plonk it into a charge case without it becoming too cumbersome but it’s not the most elegant solution.

Winner: iPhone 6 Plus by a mile

iPhone 6 Plus vs iPhone 6: Price

iPhone 6: 16GB (£539), 64GB (£619), 128GB (£699), no micro SD card support
iPhone 6 Plus: 16GB (£619), 64GB (£699), 128GB (£789), no micro SD card support

These are Apple phones so they were never going to be cheap but the iPhone 6 Plus is more expensive weighing in at a whopping £789/$949 for the top specification 128GB version. By comparison the same spec iPhone 6 costs £699/$849.

If you do decide to buy one of these phones we’d recommend going for the 64GB one unless you like to store lots of media or tinker with video editing on your phone. The 16GB versions only have 11GB of usable memory which isn’t much and there’s no microSD card slot so you won’t be able to add more storage later like you can on the Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z3 or HTC One M8.

Winner: iPhone 6

iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Verdict

Big or small? Apple has taken real pains to make sure the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus offer a pretty consistent experience. Similar screen tech, the same processor and similar-grade cameras make sure there’s no weak link here.

However, we do like that the extra display space of the iPhone 6 Plus and its greater battery life makes it more of a power user device. Early reviews suggest not all are entirely convinced by the bigger iPhone, but we'll reserve judgement until we get more time with it.