Of the quartet of new iPhones released this fall, the iPhone 15 is the cheapest, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the sexiest, and the iPhone 15 Pro—powerful and portable—is the connoisseur’s choice. But the iPhone 15 Plus might just be the most fascinating.
After all, this is a form factor that didn’t exist at Cupertino until last year. Apple’s philosophy until then was that small things should be cheap and large ones expensive…which admittedly has some logic to it. But phone buyers don’t like being put in neat boxes, and some of them would quite like to get a large screen without having to pay for the very latest features and processing power. That’s where the Plus line comes in.
We’re looking at a compromise phone, then—one that sacrifices in a bunch of areas in order to supercharge one specific feature: that whopping 6.7-inch screen. Not that the other specs are dismal by any means. They’re just not Pro-standard. Are the (mild) sacrifices worth it? I think so. But let’s take a look in more detail.
DESIGN AND BUILD
In terms of design, the 15 Plus mostly sticks to the Plus formula established by Apple in 2022 (a formula that itself was largely based on the iPhone 12 from 2020). The edges are squared off; the corners of the screen are rounded; there are two camera lenses on the rear in a diagonal configuration. It’s essentially a standard-looking non-Pro iPhone with only tweaks from previous designs.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, of course. Apple is quite conservative in its phone designs, but the company’s aesthetic remains both appealing and instantly recognizable. The clean lines, the lack of extraneous detail, the pleasing contrast between flat matte and brushed-metal surfaces…it all adds up to a modern classic that has (by tech standards) stood the test of time.
In terms of size, this is as big as iPhones. Your mileage may vary, however. I have what I consider to be average-size hands for a man (my limit on the piano is a ninth, if that helps at all), so those who are more petite should visit an Apple Store and check their physical compatibility with this form factor.
