Apple iPhone 6 Plus review: Discontinued and replaced by the iPhone 6S Plus

iPhone 6 Plus review: Wireless

Of course, 4G is supported across all of the UK’s networks. The UK model supports pretty much all of the LTE bands, so, depending on your roaming deals, you’ll be able to use 4G in practically any country. Call quality is still excellent, with clear transmitted speech and a loud, clear speaker.

Apple has also upgraded the Wi-Fi to 802.11ac, providing up to 150Mbit/s download speeds. For large apps and iCloud backups, the new wireless technology is great to see, although you’ll need to have equally-as-fast broadband in order to see the difference.

iPhone 6 Plus review: Storage options

As with all previous models, there’s no microSD card slot, so you have to make do with the built-in storage. This starts at 16GB (£619), which is a little too small, skips 32GB (this feels as though it should have been entry level) and then gives you the option of 64GB (£699) or a massive iPad-equalling 128GB (£789). Given the options available, the 64GB version feels like the model that most people should buy – we had a 64GB iPhone 5S and struggled to fill it up.

iPhone 6 Plus review: Verdict

It’s fair to say that the iPhone 6 Plus is something completely different from Apple, and something that the company wouldn’t even have attempted a year ago. The real question comes down to whether or not you think that the company has gone too far and the handset is too large. That’s something that we can’t answer for you: you’ll need to go into an Apple store and pick up the phone for yourself to see if you’re happy with the size. As far as we’re concerned, the phone is big, but it’s definitely not too big and we didn’t have a problem carrying it around. If you think it’s too large, then there’s always the iPhone 6 for you.

The question isn’t really, is the iPhone 6 Plus a big phone, but more is a good big phone? We’d have to say that it is. The screen’s great and Apple makes the most of the extra resolution and size that you get. Performance from the 64-bit A8 chip is also top-notch, with the highly-optimised iOS 8 still outperforming Android systems. Battery life is also much improved to the point where you don’t have to get charge anxiety during a normal day, either. Price is something that’s harder to mitigate, as the iPhone 6 Plus costs a fair whack, particularly if you buy the 128GB version.

Of course, there’s a lot of good competition out there, particularly with the flagship Android phones out for the year. This time around, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is the one that will give people some difficult decisions. It has a higher-resolution AMOLED screen, excellent build quality and a processor that’s just as fast as the iPhone’s. It’s very expensive, though, and we think that as an overall package (hardware and software), the iPhone 6 Plus just nips it. 

It’s fair to say that the iPhone 6 Plus is still the best phablet overall thanks to everything you get. For starters, you’re guaranteed to get the next version of iOS on its day of release – how many Android phones can say the same thing? Then, there’s Apple’s entire ecosystem, which is getting better and better. With OS X Yosemite and iOS 8, you can share tasks and features across all of your devices seamlessly. On top of all that, the Apple App Store still has the best selection of quality apps in it. Put all of that together and there aren’t a lot of good reasons not to buy the iPhone 6 Plus.