When Apple replaced the iPhone 13 mini in 2022, it decided to offer a phone with the same large display found on the iPhone 14 Pro Max and included what was, at the time, the largest battery ever found inside an iPhone. And it called the device the iPhone 14 Plus bringing back the “Plus” branding that Apple used on its larger-screened 5.5-inch phones with the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, and iPhone 8 lines. For last year’s iPhone 15 Plus, it was a case of rinse and repeat although Apple gave the model a slightly smaller battery than the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
This year, changes to the screen sizes on the iPhone 16 line will change things up. The iPhone 16 Pro models are getting a small increase in screen size that will take the OLED panel on the iPhone 16 Pro Max to 6.9 inches. The iPhone 16 Pro is expected to feature a 6.3-inch screen. The non-Pro iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will continue to sport 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch displays respectively. So this year, for the first time, the iPhone Plus model will have a smaller screen than the one used on the iPhone Pro Max model.
The iPhone 14 Plus suffered from sluggish demand
But more changes are coming. According to a tweet from accurate leaker Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), Apple is planning to reduce the size of the iPhone 17 Plus. While he didn’t give a precise screen size for the iPhone 17 Plus, he did say that it will “sit in between” the size of the iPhone 17/iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Despite having both a large battery and a large display, demand for the iPhone 14 Plus was weaker than expected. Early data seemed to indicate that the iPhone 15 Plus was doing better than its predecessor, but Apple might still feel the need to further differentiate the iPhone 17 Plus from the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Current differences between the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max include:
- Different application processors (4nm A16 Bionic on 15 Plus, 3nm A17 Pro on 15 Pro Max).
- 60Hz Refresh rate on 15 Plus, variable refresh rate up to 120Hz on 15 Pro Max.
- No Telescopic camera on 15 Plus, Tetraprism periscope camera on 15 Pro Max delivering up to 5x optical zoom.
- 6GB of LPDDR5 RAM on 15 Plus, 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM on 15 Pro Max.
- 128GB minimum storage with 512GB maximum storage on 15 Plus, 256GB minimum storage with 1TB maximum storage on 15 Pro Max.
The iPhone 16 series is expected to be introduced this coming September while the iPhone 17 line will probably be unveiled in September 2025. Surely we will hear more about the iPhone 17 Plus screen size as we get closer to the introduction of the series.
