The iPhone 14 Plus Is a Big, Bold Purple Behemoth

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1 of 11 James Martin/CNET

The $899 iPhone 14 Plus is either a big iPhone 14 or a scaled-back iPhone 14 Pro Max, depending on your perspective.

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The iPhone 14 Plus starts at $899 for a model with 128GB of storage. That’s $200 less than the iPhone 14 Pro Max and just $100 more than the regular iPhone 14.

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3 of 11 James Martin/CNET

But it’s $900, which still makes it out of reach for many people. And that’s disappointing, especially when you consider that the Android landscape is littered with large-screen rectangular slabs that can be bought at nearly any price.

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The iPhone 14 Plus has a Lightning port but US models lack a physical SIM card tray.

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The 14 Plus has all of the iPhone 14’s features — some of which you may never see or use — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

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That includes Crash Detection, which can notify emergency services when you’re in an automobile accident.

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The iPhone 14 Plus has the same internal redesign as the regular iPhone 14, which improves thermal management. The back-glass on the back is easier and more affordable to repair since it’s no longer attached to internals.

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Starting in November, you’ll get Emergency SOS via Satellite that lets you message emergency services via a satellite link. You also get a new selfie camera and a new main camera.

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9 of 11 James Martin/CNET

Like the standard iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Plus has both an ultrawide and a main camera. Photos and videos shot on the iPhone 14 Plus look good, even in dimmer situations, and I like having a larger screen to frame up a scene.

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10 of 11 James Martin/CNET

One of the most underrated features on the 14 Plus might be the new TrueDepth camera, which now has autofocus. I don’t take many selfies regularly, but I was shocked to see how much better iPhone 14 Plus selfies looked compared to ones I took with an 13 Pro.

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11 of 11 James Martin/CNET