For years, Android phones have shipped with displays in expansive, 5-inch-ish sizes, but Apple had insisted on the necessity of a small screen for one-handed operation. The iPhone 5S, while powerful, hit a wall in viewing room: its 4-inch screen was among the smallest on the market, and, frankly, I found it limiting.
Apple now has two larger iPhones: one big, the other even bigger. The iPhone 6 sports a 4.7-inch screen, while the iPhone 6 Plus goes full "phablet" with a 5.5-inch display. Compared to earlier iPhones, both of the new models boast thinner bodies, ship with faster A8 processors, slightly improved cameras, speedier Wi-Fi and LTE cellular data, better voice quality if you're using voice-over-LTE, and -- except in the entry-level models -- more onboard storage. And like all current iPhones, these are running iOS 8.1; it's a far less revolutionary update than iOS 7 was, but it adds some nice improvements and customization options, including notification widgets, replaceable keyboards, a new Health app and Apple Pay.View Full Gallery (26 Photos)
That last feature is especially notable. Both new iPhones incorporate Apple's new payment system, effectively turning each of them into a mobile wallet linked to your credit card. This sort of contactless, NFC-powered technology has been around for years on rival phones. But having used it since its mid-October debut, I can say that it works seamlessly (most of the time), and the implementation of Apple's TouchID fingerprint reader puts it head and shoulders above current Android alternatives like Google Wallet. Of course, its convenience will be determined by how many participating retailers ultimately come on board.
Both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are very evenly matched, but the larger model boasts an upgraded camera and longer battery life. In our real-world testing, the optical image stabilization of the 6 Plus's camera didn't seem to deliver appreciably better photos than the already excellent camera on the iPhone 6. On the other hand, our battery test found that the iPhone 6's battery life was essentially identical to that of last year's iPhone 5S, while the larger battery in the 6 Plus delivered at least two and a half hours more battery life just for video, and more depending on your use case. (Be sure to check out CNET's full review of the iPhone 6 Plus.)
