IPhone 8 Plus Reviews - World Technology

iPhone 8 Plus Reviews

Apple’s making it harder and harder to review the iPhone every year. Once again, the new iPhones are iterative.

The iPhone 8 Plus looks like the iPhone 7 Plus, which looks like the 6S Plus, which looks like the 6 Plus. The only thing that marks out the newer model visually is the addition of the glass back and the two-tone effect it creates… if it wasn’t for that, it would be impossible to tell this and the 7 Plus apart.

That said, maybe this is more of a statement about the state of the industry. Apple has never changed things for the sake of it, and with the 8 Plus it feels like Apple saying there’s nothing truly fundamental out there to move to.

Except… we also have the iPhone X, which does move the dial dramatically, plug in reams of new technology and alter the way we think about the iPhone.

So one can only surmise that this is the ‘default’ iPhone, the one that the people not willing to spend exorbitant sums of money on a handset will look to.

Despite not being in the X’s price bracket, however, the iPhone 8 Plus is still one of the most expensive flagship phones on the market – so it needs to have something a little different to command interest over the previous models.

There are some strong upgrades: the camera has been enhanced, the internal workings are now among the most powerful in the industry, and little tweaks throughout smooth off rough edges in a way that makes us feel Sir Jony Ive climbed inside his computer and lathed them off himself.

Watch our iPhone 8 Plus video review by clicking the play button above.

Add to that a better battery and screen, and the iPhone 8 Plus is the better iPhone compared to the smaller 8.

But today’s smartphone user is getting more discerning, and holding onto their handsets for longer than ever before… so the new phablet from Apple needs to deliver.

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone X

The first difference here is cost - although not to the same level as vs the iPhone 8. The iPhone X starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,579 if you want the 64GB model, where the iPhone 8 Plus begins at $799 / £799 / AU$1,229 for the same capacity.

So what are you getting for that (slightly) higher cost? Primarily, the screen - you've got a bezel-less 5.8-inch display with a 1,125 x 2,436 resolution, and it's OLED display technology too - that's superior to the 5.2-inch 1,080 x 1,920 screen on the iPhone 8.

That's a larger phone with a smaller screen - that's what losing the bezel brings.

The other big difference to consider is how you unlock this phone - with the iPhone 8 Plus, it's Touch ID fingerprint scanning, as it has been for years. With the iPhone X, you're unlocking with your face, using the nattily-named Face ID.

We are worried about whether Face ID will be swift and recognise faces fast enough - this will be one of the key things we look at in our review of the iPhone X when it lands.

The notch at the top of the iPhone X contains a camera that allows for Animoji, where emoji can be animated by mapping your face - this feature is locked to the iPhone X, and isn't a feature that appears on the iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone 8.

Both the iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus have dual cameras , which allows for background de-focus and a more comprehensive photographic experience - however, due to the way the phones are packaged (to accommodate for the iPhone X notch) the camera array is horizontal on the X, but vertical on the 8 Plus.

Basically, the iPhone 8 Plus is the larger-screened version of the 8, with better battery and more heft.

The iPhone X is the next generation of Apple's phone. It's chock-full of new technology, it's exciting for Apple fans, but it's untested and expensive. Our full iPhone X review is incoming... so if you wanted to really find out which is best, we'd recommend waiting a few days.