The iPhone 14 Plus and iPhone 14 Pro Max are two headliners of Apple’s 2022 release, with the iPhone 14 Plus as a brand new addition to the series. SmartphonesPLUS is here to provide a brief overview of both the iPhone 14 Plus and the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and help you decide which one will give you the best bang for your buck.
Specs
The spec sheet for the two iPhone 14s are both completely stacked, but the Pro Max beats out the Plus in most categories.
| Specs | iPhone 14 Plus | iPhone 14 Pro Max |
|---|---|---|
| Weight (grams) | 203 | 240 |
| Memory & Storage | 6GB 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | 6GB 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1024GB |
| Display | 6.7-inch OLED 60Hz 1284 x 2778 Pixels | 6.7-inch ProMotion XDR OLED 1- 120Hz 1290 x 2796 Pixels |
| Processors | Apple A15 Bionic w/5-core GPU | Apple A16 Bionic hexa-core |
| Rear Camera | Main: 12MP Ultra-wide: 12MP | Main: 48MP Ultra-wide: 12MP 3X Telephoto: 12MP |
| Front Camera | 12MP | 12MP |
| Charging Speed | 20W wired 15W Magsafe 7.5W Qi wireless charging | 27W wired 15W Magsafe 7.5W Qi wireless charging |
| Battery Capacity | 4325mAh | 4323mAh |
| iPhone Released Date | October 7th, 2022 | September 16th, 2022 |
| Price | $1200 | $900 |
Display Features
The display is one of the areas where the Pro Max completely outshines the Plus. For starters, the Pro Max has a way brighter display. Coming in at 1000 nits of peak brightness, 1600 nits of peak brightness for HDR, and an unbelievable 2000 nits of peak outdoor brightness–compared to the 800 nits peak brightness, 1200 nits peak outdoor and HDR brightness on the iPhone 14 Plus. What that means to you, is that you will have better screen vision outdoors on the Pro Max than you would with the Plus.
The Pro Max also has a high refresh rate display that can upscale and downscale between 1 Hz and 120 Hz depending on what you’re doing. Shamefully, and I repeat, shamefully, the $900 iPhone 14 Plus still sports a 60hz display, which is inexcusable for a $900 device. So the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s display is more battery efficient and smoother than that of the iPhone 14 Plus.
The only similarity between the displays of the iPhone 14 Plus and the iPhone 14 Pro Max is the screen size, with both having a 6.7-inch panel.
If a high refresh rate and better peak brightness matter to you, then the clear choice for you is the Pro Max.
Build
The build is a big area where we see a lot of differences between the Plus and the Pro Max. If you had both phones sitting in front of you, the first thing you would probably notice is that the materials used on the sides and back of the two phones is different. The iPhone 14 Plus comes with aluminum sides and a glossy back finish, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max uses stainless steel on the sides, which is more durable and has a matte finish on the back glass.
The Pro Max is also heavier than the Plus, which come in at 240 grams and 203 grams, respectively. With that heaviness and stainless steal sides comes a more sturdier build. On the other hand, the iPhone 14 Plus has a lighter and easier-to-use build.
Design
Design is another area where the Pro Max and the Plus vary greatly. Starting from the backside, the two have different rear camera designs. The iPhone 14 Plus has a dual-diagonal rear camera setup, while the Pro Max carries on with the same rear camera design as its last three predecessors, with an elegant triangular triple camera design.
Moving over to the front design, the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the iPhone 14 Plus truly look like phones from different generations. The Pro Max packs Apple’s all-new pill-shaped cutout, called the “Dynamic Island”. It also marks Apple’s first departure from the notch. The Plus, on the other hand, still sticks with the smaller notch introduced on last year’s iPhone 13 series.
The frontal design change on the Pro Max isn’t just merely a new cutout for Face ID and the selfie camera. The pill-shaped cutout or the Dynamic Island on the Pro Max also brings some new functionalities to the iPhone 14 Pro Max that haven’t been seen on any other smartphone before. Dynamic Island uses UI elements and the new Live Activity Api on the Pro Max to display live activity on the island. It does this by changing the shape of the Island to show live activities like playing music, using Airdrop, etc. The downside is that the Dynamic Island is more intrusive than the notch because it’s lower on the screen than the notch was.
Battery Life and Charging
The iPhone 14 Plus has a bigger battery than the Pro Max, but with just a slight difference of 2 mAh, which honestly doesn’t make much difference.
| iPhone 14 Plus | iPhone 14 Pro Max | |
| Battery Capacity | 4325mAh | 3=4323mAh |
| Charging Speed | 20W Lightning Charging | 23W Lightning Charging |
Unfortunately, there’s really no data on the real-world difference in battery life between the two smartphones yet, but that doesn’t stop us from making educated guesses. Considering factors like features, display, processor size, efficiency, etc. We’d say the Plus would probably last longer than the Pro Max in day-to-day usage.
We say this because
- The iPhone 14 Plus has fewer battery-eating features like Dynamic Island
- Battery capacity has been increased slightly.
- The slightly lower resolution and lower peak brightness on the iPhone 14 Plus
- The fact that the iPhone 13 Pro Max has better battery life even with the older A15 Bionic
When it comes to charging speed, the iPhone 14 Pro Max should charge faster than the iPhone 14 Plus. This is due to the faster 27W charging speed on the iPhone 14 Pro Max compared to 20W on the Plus. According to tests, the iPhone 14 Pro Max takes a whopping 1 hour 50 minutes plus to go from 0-100%. So you can expect the iPhone 14 Plus to take around 2 hours or more to completely charge.
Camera
The first difference you’ll notice between the two cameras is the extra telephoto lens and lidar sensor that’s present on the Pro Max but absent on the Plus. The iPhone 14 Pro Max also features a 48MP high-resolution main camera, so you’ll get more details in your pictures. The selfie camera on both phones is the same. Apart from those, there isn’t any other major difference between the camera systems on the two.
To summarize the camera differences:
- No ProRes Raw or 12MP 2x Mode on the iPhone 14 Plus
- There is a better quality zoom on the Pro Max than on the Plus, with a max zoom of 15x and 5x, respectively.
- The Pro Max features portrait shots with the telephoto lens and can utilize the portrait shots feature at night.
If cameras are a crucial aspect of your phone, then the iPhone 14 Pro Max is the best device for you.
Comparing Processors
There isn’t much to say here, because the difference between both processors isn’t noticeable in real-world usage. There’s quite a difference in power between the two processors, but you aren’t going to notice that power difference unless you run power-hungry games and apps.
| Benchmark (Higher Is better) | A15 Bionic (iPhone 14 Plus) | A16 Bionic (iPhone 14 Pro Max) |
| Geekbench | Single-Core Score 1740 Multi-Core Score 4689 | Single-Core Score 1882 Multi-Core Score 5333 |
| Antutu 9 | 854468 | 972936 |
Summary
Everything you need to decide to help you decide between the two latest and greatest iPhones has been laid out for you. So now it’s up to you to decide if the iPhone 14 Pro Max, with all its bells and whistles, is worth the $200 extra you’re going to spend if you go for it instead of the iPhone 14 Plus. If you decide after further research that neither of these options fit you best, take a look at some of our best refurbished iPhones.
