iPhone 8 Plus
Greatest iPhone Until the iPhone X
The annual Apple iPhone update is always a hotly anticipated event, and this year was no different – bringing new, fully numbered mainline smartphone updates in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, as well as an overhauled, higher-spec, 10th anniversary-celebrating iPhone Xfor the larger of wallet.
Apple unveiled the exciting but extremely expensive iPhone X on 12 Sept, but before it got to that the company also revealed 2017's more prosaic smartphone update: the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.
With Samsung's Galaxy S9 not dropping till next spring, can Apple's latest establish itself as the de facto high-end smartphone before Christmas? Or will the glare of the shiny iPhone X distract its own established fans? We've had a few weeks with the iPhone 8 Plus to find out.
Compared to the X, with its fairly radical redesign, the 8 and 8 Plus run the risk of looking a little dull, a bit been-there-done-that. But is that a fair assessment of Apple’s latest iPhone iteration, or is X-envy masking a solid step forward for Cupertino?
Like its smaller non-Plus sibling, the design of the iPhone 8 Plus has barely changed since it was introduced in 2014 with the iPhone 6 Plus, but it has aged worse. The iPhone 6 Plus was thin but relatively wide and tall for a smartphone with a 5.5in screen in 2014, with big bezels and a chunky top and bottom.
The Touch ID home button sits below the screen, as usual. There's a Lightning port, but no headphone jack, and the phone is water-resistant. The curved edges remain pleasant in the hand, and the slight increase in weight since the last generation (it's gone up from 188g to 202g) adds rather than detracts from the feel in our opinion, although your mileage may vary. It's also a shade longer, wider and thicker, although only a fraction of a millimetre in each case.
As good as the True Tone implementation is,We're annoyed that Apple didn’t opt for full OLED across the entire range. Instead, it’s only the iPhone X that gets the better saturation and near-perfect blacks that come with an OLED panel.
The iPhone X also has a much better contrast ratio (1,000,000:1 vs 1300:1) and offers ‘True HDR’. The iPhone 8 Plus can play back HDR (high dynamic range) movies from iTunes and content from Netflix, but they won’t look quite so rich and colourful. Still, watching the HDR version of Wonder Women was an enjoyable experience, even on a 5.5-inch display.
The iPhone 8 Plus has two improved 12-megapixel cameras on the back, which both have physically larger sensors than last year’s iPhone 7 Plus on which Apple’s dual-camera system was introduced. The two cameras work together: one has a standard wide-angle f/1.8 lens (the same as fitted to the iPhone 8), the other has a slower f/2.8 lens with an effective two-times magnification compared to the standard lens.
The Portrait Lighting effects are more fun, although not once did the subject think they looked better with the “contour light” option enabled, as it accentuated flaws and gave some the impression of having been awake for 48 hours.
Software tricks aside, the wide-angle camera is just as good as that fitted to the iPhone 8, and I got noticeably better results with telephoto camera compared to the iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone 8 Plus, like the iPhone 8, easily has one of the best cameras on the market.
The 7-megapixel selfie camera is great too, although some might not like the level of detail it preserves – if you have big pores, as I do, be prepared for them to show up. You can always soften these kinds of details after the fact.
Anyway – that’s that dealt with. The new chipset inside has six cores, with four efficient ones doing the basic stuff and the other two doing the heavy lifting, whether that’s photo-editing, intensive multi-tasking or providing real-time camera effects.
Those previously mentioned Portrait Lighting effects need some real power, and that’s where the A11 chip comes in. Any app that uses high levels of photo manipulation worked pretty flawlessly in our tests, with no lag when working with multiple image layers.
It’s hard to convey the usefulness of all this power for the average user, one who might not use such features regularly – but it’ll keep your iPhone singing more sweetly for the next two or three years compared to the previous generations.
Everything feels fast under the finger – although that seems like a redundant thing to say given that most iPhones feel that way when taken out of the box. The real test comes when you start loading it up with apps and content.
Generally, even when loaded up the iPhone was zippy as anything, with nothing flickering under the finger. However, we had a few moments where the interface juddered and bounced a bit – it still moved swiftly, but the frame rate slowed so it looked jagged. It righted itself quickly, but it was surprising to note for an iPhone – it’s not something we’re used to.
What’s more surprising is that the iPhone 8 Plus didn’t perform any better in testing than the iPhone 7 Plus – we opened and closed apps on the two phones simultaneously, and the response times were identical - and was similar in performance to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
In fact, when saving a large video to Files, the iPhone 7 Plus was actually faster at completing the task, despite being older and having more storage taken up. The A11 Bionic chip is certainly powerful, but we’ve not seen anything that shows off the raw power in terms of regular interaction – it’s only evident in extra features like the Portrait Lighting.
In terms of out-and-out power though, this is the most powerful phone we’ve ever benchmarked. The Geekbench results are off the chart, powering past 10,000 for the multi-core score and easily beating anything from the Android world.
Will you notice the power of the iPhone in day-to-day use? Nope. iPhones have been rapid enough for years – but people are starting to expect even more and more from their device, whether that’s adding filters to photos, exporting content to friends, or playing the most powerful games around, and you’ll be glad of the bionic chip in a year’s time.
Apple doesn’t make a song and dance about the raw power in its devices, but it does build its reputation on phones just working as they should, and the iPhone 8 Plus will carry on working as it should longer than any phone Apple’s selling right now.
The iPhone 8 Plus arrives running iOS 11, which is one of the best versions of Apple’s operating system yet. I’ll direct you to our iOS 11 review for the full rundown on what’s new, but in short it adds a new Control Center, better Siri, AR support and plenty more.
The Control Center is no longer spread over three panes; it’s now all jammed into a mix of different-sized bubbles. You can 3D-Touch your way around it and I particularly like the way the Home and Remote apps have been shrunk down to fully functioning widgets. You can, for the first time, edit what goes into the Control Center.
Siri has a more human voice, but the functionality is still a little ropey. I’d have thought considering how integral the voice assistant is to the upcoming HomePod that Apple would have at least made it able to understand an instruction to set an alarm.
What iOS 11 doesn’t add is a new overall look for the iPhone. That same grid-like homescreen filled with icons has been the one constant since the original iPhone launched 10 years ago, and even the most die-hard of iOS loyalist would have to admit it could do with a rethink. we’d also like to see some of the split-screen capabilities from the iPad on the iPhone. Android phones can have two apps open and usable at once, so why doesn’t Apple add something similar here? The screen is certainly big enough.
The 8 Plus packs a 2,691mAh battery, down from the 2,900mAh found in the 7 Plus. That might sound worrying, but a combination of software and hardware optimisations mean you can expect the battery to last roughly the same amount of time - even Apple’s own specs page lists the battery life as “about the same as iPhone 7 Plus.”
So far, that seems to mean a little over 24 hours on a single charge - so you’ll make it through the day comfortably enough if you need to, but realistically you’ll be wanting to charge on a daily basis.
That’s a little worse than what some of the flagship Android devices manage, but realistically you’d have to drop to a mid-spec phone to reliably hit a two or three day battery life, so we can’t complain too much.
The headline battery feature is of course the introduction of wireless charging, but don’t get too excited. Not only is Apple a few years late to the party, but for some reason it’s restricted the iPhone to a measly 5W wireless charging speed - with a software patch to allow 7.5W support down the line - despite the fact that other devices support up to 15W.
That means that right now the wireless charging runs at the same rate as the included Lightning charger, meaning it’ll take 4-5 hours to top up to full. It’s also worth noting that there’s no wireless charger included, so you’ll have to buy it separately - though that’s true of most, if not all, wireless charging phones.
Apple has also touted the new wired fast-charging capabilities, with up to 50% charge in 30 minutes. That sounds great, but unlike just about every fast-charging Android phone, Apple hasn’t included a fast-charger in the box - you’ll have to spend £49/$49 on a charger and £25/$25 on a cable (from Apple’s official store at least - prices will be lower elsewhere) to take advantage of the faster charging.
The iPhone 8 Plus costs £799 with 64GB of storage or £949 with 256GB of storage, and comes in three colours: silver, gold and black (“space grey”).
For comparison, that’s £80 more for the cheapest version of the iPhone 8 than last year’s iPhone 7 (but the iPhone 8 Plus comes with twice the storage) and £100 more than the iPhone 8. The Samsung Galaxy S8 with 64GB of storage is under £540, the S8 Plus with 64GB of storage is under £630 and the Note 8 with 64GB of storage costs under £830. The 5.5in OnePlus 5 with 64GB of storage costs £449. Google’s £719 Pixel is about to be replaced.
You get many of the X's features: wireless charging (thanks to the glass back), which is convenient and fun, albeit a little slower than charging with the bundled 5W wired charger; the A11 Bionic chip, which is absurdly fast, and makes this device a mobile gaming beast; Portrait Lighting, a spotty and inconsistent software feature, but one that sometimes produces highly flattering, professional shots with little effort.
And you don't lose the Home button, which means you don't need to relearn the interface and you can carry on using Touch ID. It's also cheaper - and you can buy it right now.
It's just hard to see the argument for spending £799/$799 on a phone this big in 2017, especially with the smaller-bodied iPhone X just around the corner. This one's for big-handed Apple devotees only.
With Samsung's Galaxy S9 not dropping till next spring, can Apple's latest establish itself as the de facto high-end smartphone before Christmas? Or will the glare of the shiny iPhone X distract its own established fans? We've had a few weeks with the iPhone 8 Plus to find out.
Like its smaller non-Plus sibling, the design of the iPhone 8 Plus has barely changed since it was introduced in 2014 with the iPhone 6 Plus, but it has aged worse. The iPhone 6 Plus was thin but relatively wide and tall for a smartphone with a 5.5in screen in 2014, with big bezels and a chunky top and bottom.
iPhone 8 Plus Design
From the front, you may have some trouble telling the iPhone 8 Plus apart from the 7 Plus. At 6.24 by 3.07 by 0.3 inches and 7.13 ounces, it's the same size, but heavier. It has a similar 5.5-inch, 1,920-by-1,080 LCD, although it's been enhanced with True Tone, which gives it better white balance in different kinds of lighting.
The Touch ID home button sits below the screen, as usual. There's a Lightning port, but no headphone jack, and the phone is water-resistant. The curved edges remain pleasant in the hand, and the slight increase in weight since the last generation (it's gone up from 188g to 202g) adds rather than detracts from the feel in our opinion, although your mileage may vary. It's also a shade longer, wider and thicker, although only a fraction of a millimetre in each case.
Flip over the 8 Plus to see the difference from last year's model. The phone now has a glass back, rather than smooth metal. It also supports wireless charging with all the popular Qi-compatible chargers. We put it on both Mophie and Samsung wireless charging pads and it charged just fine, if slowly, at about two-thirds of the speed of standard wired charging.
Apple says a firmware update will enable faster wireless charging in the future. Most cases for the iPhone 7 Plus will work on the 8 Plus, which is good news for those who upgrade each year and don't want to wait for the iPhone X.
iPhone 8 Plus Display
The running theme of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus is that they take the basics from the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, but the individual components have been tweaked and fine-tuned.
Take the screen, for example. The iPhone 8 Plus has the same 1080p IPS LCD as last year’s handset, capable of displaying the wide DCI-P3 colour gamut. However, it now benefits from the True Tone tech that Apple first debuted on the iPad Pro 9.7-inch. True Tone alters the colour temperature of the display depending on the environment in which you’re in, reducing the harsh blue tones typical of an LCD when you’re in a softly lit room.
This may sound like a minor tweak, but the difference is significant, obviously so on switching back to an iPhone 7. To get a clear idea of the level at which True Tone alters the balance of the display, toggle it on and off in Settings – and shudder at just how blue the normal screen is.
Take the screen, for example. The iPhone 8 Plus has the same 1080p IPS LCD as last year’s handset, capable of displaying the wide DCI-P3 colour gamut. However, it now benefits from the True Tone tech that Apple first debuted on the iPad Pro 9.7-inch. True Tone alters the colour temperature of the display depending on the environment in which you’re in, reducing the harsh blue tones typical of an LCD when you’re in a softly lit room.
This may sound like a minor tweak, but the difference is significant, obviously so on switching back to an iPhone 7. To get a clear idea of the level at which True Tone alters the balance of the display, toggle it on and off in Settings – and shudder at just how blue the normal screen is.
The iPhone X also has a much better contrast ratio (1,000,000:1 vs 1300:1) and offers ‘True HDR’. The iPhone 8 Plus can play back HDR (high dynamic range) movies from iTunes and content from Netflix, but they won’t look quite so rich and colourful. Still, watching the HDR version of Wonder Women was an enjoyable experience, even on a 5.5-inch display.
we do prefer the better viewing angles and better outdoor performance afforded by LCD. I still get frustrated by the overly reflective nature of many OLED panels, but the LCD here is perfectly viewable.
iPhone 8 Plus Camera and New Portrait Lighting mode
It also enables some fancy camera effects Apple calls Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting, which uses depth information and facial mapping to artificially blur the background of a photo or apply different lighting effects to a person’s face.
While the technology has been refined since last year, I still get weird aberrations in about half of photos using the software trickery, with the system struggling to discern what should and shouldn’t be blurred. I find I can get better results simply by framing my subjects better and physically moving like you have to with a prime lens on a dSLR.
While the technology has been refined since last year, I still get weird aberrations in about half of photos using the software trickery, with the system struggling to discern what should and shouldn’t be blurred. I find I can get better results simply by framing my subjects better and physically moving like you have to with a prime lens on a dSLR.
Software tricks aside, the wide-angle camera is just as good as that fitted to the iPhone 8, and I got noticeably better results with telephoto camera compared to the iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone 8 Plus, like the iPhone 8, easily has one of the best cameras on the market.
The 7-megapixel selfie camera is great too, although some might not like the level of detail it preserves – if you have big pores, as I do, be prepared for them to show up. You can always soften these kinds of details after the fact.
iPhone 8 Plus Performance
It’s hard not to like the names Apple is appending to its chips these days. Following A10 Fusion, A11 Bionic doesn’t really make a lot of sense in terms of what it actually does, but it’s evocative.
Those previously mentioned Portrait Lighting effects need some real power, and that’s where the A11 chip comes in. Any app that uses high levels of photo manipulation worked pretty flawlessly in our tests, with no lag when working with multiple image layers.
It’s hard to convey the usefulness of all this power for the average user, one who might not use such features regularly – but it’ll keep your iPhone singing more sweetly for the next two or three years compared to the previous generations.
Everything feels fast under the finger – although that seems like a redundant thing to say given that most iPhones feel that way when taken out of the box. The real test comes when you start loading it up with apps and content.
What’s more surprising is that the iPhone 8 Plus didn’t perform any better in testing than the iPhone 7 Plus – we opened and closed apps on the two phones simultaneously, and the response times were identical - and was similar in performance to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
In fact, when saving a large video to Files, the iPhone 7 Plus was actually faster at completing the task, despite being older and having more storage taken up. The A11 Bionic chip is certainly powerful, but we’ve not seen anything that shows off the raw power in terms of regular interaction – it’s only evident in extra features like the Portrait Lighting.
In terms of out-and-out power though, this is the most powerful phone we’ve ever benchmarked. The Geekbench results are off the chart, powering past 10,000 for the multi-core score and easily beating anything from the Android world.
Will you notice the power of the iPhone in day-to-day use? Nope. iPhones have been rapid enough for years – but people are starting to expect even more and more from their device, whether that’s adding filters to photos, exporting content to friends, or playing the most powerful games around, and you’ll be glad of the bionic chip in a year’s time.
Apple doesn’t make a song and dance about the raw power in its devices, but it does build its reputation on phones just working as they should, and the iPhone 8 Plus will carry on working as it should longer than any phone Apple’s selling right now.
iPhone 8 Plus OS
The Control Center is no longer spread over three panes; it’s now all jammed into a mix of different-sized bubbles. You can 3D-Touch your way around it and I particularly like the way the Home and Remote apps have been shrunk down to fully functioning widgets. You can, for the first time, edit what goes into the Control Center.
Siri has a more human voice, but the functionality is still a little ropey. I’d have thought considering how integral the voice assistant is to the upcoming HomePod that Apple would have at least made it able to understand an instruction to set an alarm.
Finally, Apple is stronger on privacy than Google is. Google's business is data, and you should assume it's collecting data on everything you do. Apple's business is primarily hardware, and it's less likely to share your data with others.
iPhone 8 Plus Battery
So far, that seems to mean a little over 24 hours on a single charge - so you’ll make it through the day comfortably enough if you need to, but realistically you’ll be wanting to charge on a daily basis.
That’s a little worse than what some of the flagship Android devices manage, but realistically you’d have to drop to a mid-spec phone to reliably hit a two or three day battery life, so we can’t complain too much.
The headline battery feature is of course the introduction of wireless charging, but don’t get too excited. Not only is Apple a few years late to the party, but for some reason it’s restricted the iPhone to a measly 5W wireless charging speed - with a software patch to allow 7.5W support down the line - despite the fact that other devices support up to 15W.
Apple has also touted the new wired fast-charging capabilities, with up to 50% charge in 30 minutes. That sounds great, but unlike just about every fast-charging Android phone, Apple hasn’t included a fast-charger in the box - you’ll have to spend £49/$49 on a charger and £25/$25 on a cable (from Apple’s official store at least - prices will be lower elsewhere) to take advantage of the faster charging.
iPhone 8 Plus Price
The iPhone 8 Plus costs £799 with 64GB of storage or £949 with 256GB of storage, and comes in three colours: silver, gold and black (“space grey”).
For comparison, that’s £80 more for the cheapest version of the iPhone 8 than last year’s iPhone 7 (but the iPhone 8 Plus comes with twice the storage) and £100 more than the iPhone 8. The Samsung Galaxy S8 with 64GB of storage is under £540, the S8 Plus with 64GB of storage is under £630 and the Note 8 with 64GB of storage costs under £830. The 5.5in OnePlus 5 with 64GB of storage costs £449. Google’s £719 Pixel is about to be replaced.
Verdict
The iPhone X got all the headlines but in many ways the iPhone 8 Plus is a more appealing upgrade.
You get many of the X's features: wireless charging (thanks to the glass back), which is convenient and fun, albeit a little slower than charging with the bundled 5W wired charger; the A11 Bionic chip, which is absurdly fast, and makes this device a mobile gaming beast; Portrait Lighting, a spotty and inconsistent software feature, but one that sometimes produces highly flattering, professional shots with little effort.
And you don't lose the Home button, which means you don't need to relearn the interface and you can carry on using Touch ID. It's also cheaper - and you can buy it right now.
If you're coming from an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus there's not much to justify the upgrade - though moving from a 6 or 6s is more understandable. And if you're currently an Android user, you'll find phones that are just as fast, with modern designs, for far less money in the Android ecosystem.
It's just hard to see the argument for spending £799/$799 on a phone this big in 2017, especially with the smaller-bodied iPhone X just around the corner. This one's for big-handed Apple devotees only.
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