The iPhone 15 Plus is one of the ‘large phones’ competing for your attention, but is it enough to win the fight of the what were formerly known as ‘phablets’?
For me, with the phone beginning at £899, there’s a lot to enjoy if you’re an iOS fan. The display is stunning, the battery life is incredible, and the performance is seamless.
It’s not ideal, though, since there’s no telephoto lens and charging rates aren’t very impressive, so if Android is an option for you, you can upgrade to better hardware.
Design & Build
- Big but easy enough to handle
- High quality build
- IP68 rated
It’s no surprise that the iPhone 15 Plus is just a larger version of the iPhone 15.
While it remains 7.8mm thick, it is approximately 6mm broader, 13mm higher, and 30g heavier. All to accommodate its larger screen and battery.
Apple provides it in the same five colorways: black, blue, yellow, pink, and green; I tested the latter, which is a very weak pastel shade. In some lighting conditions, the back appears virtually white.
the 15 Plus surprised me in how easy and comfortable it was to handle
Screen & Speakers
- 6.7-inch OLED
- 60Hz refresh rate
- Stereo speakers
The iPhone 15 Plus has a 0.6-inch bigger display than the normal 15, which is one of the two major reasons to ‘go large’.
The specifications are same save for a higher resolution to keep the same 460ppi pixel density.
The Super Retina XDR display, with its OLED panel, is a wonderful screen with many features to enjoy, including a sharp and vivid experience. Apple claims it can reach a peak brightness of 2,000 nits outdoors.
With autobrightness turned off, I tested it at 517 nits, which increased to 570 nits after True Tone was turned off. However, I found the screen simple to use in all circumstances.
One of the highlights here is Dynamic Island, which cleverly uses the pill-shaped space embedded in the screen for alerts and the like. It’s neat and handy at times.
On the flipside, Apple has kept with a 60Hz refresh rate here, meaning you must purchase a Pro model to benefit from 120Hz, which is unfortunate. Even 90Hz as a midway home would be welcome.
In addition, the company does not use a fingerprint scanner, relying only on Face ID. That remains the greatest facial biometric technology available, but you may want to have both options.
There’s no headphone jack (a given these days) but the speakers on the 15 Plus are decent if you haven’t got any wireless cans to listen to your podcasts, games or video streaming.
I did not find any flaws with real-world performance in my testing
Specs & Performance
- Year-old A16 Bionic
- Smooth performance
- Starts at only 128GB
When it comes to fundamental specifications and performance, there’s not much to be concerned about. Despite being a year old, Apple’s A16 Bionic chipset is both powerful and efficient thanks to its 4nm manufacturing process.
During my testing, I found no faults with real-world performance and utilized the 15 Plus for over three months.
What I would want to bring out is that the iPhone 15 Plus only has 128GB of storage for the lowest model, which is a pity.
Granted, rivals like as the Samsung Galaxy S24+ cost £100 more and start at 256GB, which is the same price as the 256GB 15 Plus, but it’s important to choose your storage size carefully because there is no microSD slot.
Of course, you get 5G connection, GPS, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 6, and more.
Apple iPhone 15 Plus benchmarks
Cameras
- Same cameras as regular 15
- 48Mp main sensor
- 12Mp ultrawide and selfie cameras
The 15 Plus has the exact same camera setup as its smaller brother so the main thing here is that there’s no telephoto lens. You’ll need to get a 15 Pro for that.
Still, the upgrade from last year’s 12- to a 48Mp (f/1.6) sensor makes a significant impact. One element being that it’s high enough resolution to crop in for what is the equivalent of a 2x optical zoom, according to Apple.
the 15 Plus is versatile enough to cope well with most situations
Shots are pixel bixed down to 12Mp, however you can shoot in full 48Mp if you choose. However, Apple appropriately hides this in the main settings, and even when it adds ‘HEIF MAX’ to the corner of the camera app, most consumers are unsure what it signifies.
The primary camera is supplemented by a 12Mp (f/2.4) ultrawide lens with a 120-degree field of view. Another 12Mp camera is located in the front, with autofocus and an f/1.9 aperture.
Overall, the quality is decent, and the 15 Plus is adaptable enough to handle most circumstances. On the most part, the detail is good, and I enjoy the natural, true-to-life colors.
Having the option to crop in to an effective 2x zoom on the primary camera is useful, but I often found myself wishing for a genuine telephoto. This is available on competing models, including the less expensive Xiaomi 14.
As with the standard 15, I found focusing to be a challenge, resulting in some fuzzy images. The 15 Plus performs well in low-light circumstances, although some Android competitors outperform it.
One area where the 15 Plus excels is video, with extremely good resolution and a plethora of settings and tools at your disposal.
For me, the 15 Plus just kept going and going
Battery Life & Charging
- Outstanding battery life
- 20W wired charging with no charger supplied
- MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging
One of my favourite aspects of the iPhone 15 Plus is its battery life.
Apple did not specify the capacity, but by all reports, it is 4383mAh. It’s much smaller than similar-sized Android phones, which often have 5000mAh batteries, but what you do with it is what matters.
For me, the 15 Plus simply went on going. My day began at 5:30 a.m. on the day I went to Barcelona for MWC, and by midnight, I still had 25% battery life.
This includes listening to music over Bluetooth, playing games on the plane, accessing social media, and utilizing it as a 5G hotspot for my laptop. Insane behavior on the phone.
Charging has not been exciting on an iPhone in forever and that doesn’t really change on the iPhone 15 Plus.
Sure, the switch from Lightning to USB-C is good, but charging rates still lag behind much of the competition.
Like Samsung, Apple does not provide a charger in the box, only a wire. So, using my 30W MacBook Air charger, I charged the iPhone 15 Plus to 12% in 15 minutes and 27% after half an hour.
You can obtain quicker rates – as long as it is not PD 2.0 – if you purchase Apple’s 20W charger (£19/$19), which should charge 50% in ‘approximately’ 30-minutes.
David Price of Macworld managed 55% in 30 minutes with his 67W MacBook Pro charger.
The phone also supports 15W wireless charging over MagSafe or Qi2 as well as 4.5W reverse charging but only with a wire.
Software & Apps
- iOS 17 unexciting but does the job
- Likely six years of OS updates
I won’t spend too much time talking about software since a) you probably don’t need me to explain iOS to you, and b) there isn’t much new in iOS 17.
As previously said, you can learn more about the iPhone 15 by reading my review.
All that has to be stated is that the 15 Plus is a pleasure to use (provided you’re not an Android fan). Of course, the screen makes it difficult to access the top part for some aspects, but this is expected with any bigger phone.
It works swiftly, is simple to use, offers a wide choice of programs, and has some handy features like floating windows for watching movies while doing anything else. As shown above, you may watch BBC iPlayer when ordering McDonald’s.
You can also expect the phone to be supported for a long time. Apple does not have an official policy, although most iPhones receive six years of OS upgrades.
That’s one year less than Google and Samsung guarantee for flagships, but it’s enough and provides decent value if you don’t want to change your gear every year or two.
Price & Availability
The iPhone 15 Plus starts at £899/$899 with two further models available if you want more storage:
- 128GB: £899/$899
- 256GB: £999/$999
- 512GB: £1,199/$1,199
Specs
- iOS 17
- 6.7-inch 2796×1290 460ppi Super Retina XDR display
- A16 Bionic processor (6-core CPU, 5-core GPU)
- 128/256/512GB storage
- 48Mp f/1.6 Main
- 12Mp f/2.4 Ultrawide
- 12Mp f/1.9 front camera
- Estimated battery life: Up to 26 hours video playback
- Fast charge: Up to 50% charge in 35 minutes with 20W adapter
- Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, 5G
- USB-C charging/data connection
- IP68 dust and water resistance (maximum depth 6m up to 30 minutes)
- 6.33 x 3.06 x 0.31 inches (160.9 x 77.8 x 7.8mm)
- 7.09 ounces (201 grams)
