iPhone 8 and 8 Plus review: A worthy upgrade ?
HIGHS
- Stellar performance
- Great camera, fun Portrait Mode features
- Wireless charging works well
- Great display
- Daylong battery
LOWS
- Expensive
- Boring, dated front design
- No headphone jack
8.8OVERALL
PRETTY COLORS, BUT A DATED DESIGN
Put the iPhone 8 Plus next to the iPhone 7 Plus and you’ll hardly notice a difference. The 8 Plus is marginally thicker and longer, but it should still be able to fit in any 7 Plus case. It carries the same design theme from the iPhone 6, but the major difference is a new glass back, which allows it to support wireless charging technology. Apple said it’s the most durable glass ever in a smartphone, with a “50 percent deeper strengthening layer,” but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will survive a drop on concrete.
The other differences are minor. There are fewer color options now: Gold, silver, and space gray (goodbye rose gold and jet black). The silver and space gray models are similar to the silver and black iPhone 7 Plus devices, but the gold is slightly more champagne-gold. The rear has a creamy, pinkish hue that we like, and the “aerospace-grade” aluminum sides are a darker gold. It’s undoubtedly attractive, and elegant.
As usual, you’ll find the power button on the right edge, with the volume rocker and mute switch on the left. The force-sensitive home button sits on the front, and you’ll find a Lightning port on the bottom with the speakers. There’s no headphone jack again, sadly, but there is a Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter in the box. The iPhone 8 Plus is once again IP67 dust- and water-resistant, so you can take it underwater up to 1 meter for 30 minutes.
FANTASTIC TRUE TONE DISPLAY, LOUDER SPEAKERS
The iPhone 8 Plus’ display isn’t any different from the iPhone 7 Plus. It’s a 5.5-inch LCD IPS screen with a 1,920 × 1,080-pixel resolution (401 pixels-per-inch). It can get incredibly bright for easy viewing in direct sunlight; and as always, the colors are accurate and visually pop off the screen.
The stereo speakers have also improved. They’re decently louder than the iPhone 7 Plus (about 25 percent to be exact), but they sound richer as well.
UNRIVALED PERFORMANCE, AR FOR THE MASSES
One category where Apple continues to blow away the competition is performance. Apple’s processors outperform anything from Qualcomm or Samsung, and the same rings true for the A11 Bionic in the 8, 8 Plus, and X.
The six-core processor has two fast cores plus four low-power cores, and multitasking tests show a big leap over last year. The test results in Geekbench 4 crushed all other phones, notably even Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835. It's a major, major speed upgrade: expect double the multitasking speed of the A10 in the 8 models.
Apple’s processors outperform anything from Qualcomm or Samsung, and the same rings true for the A11 Bionic.
IOS 11
First off, there’s a new Control Center. It’s all available on one screen now when you swipe up from the bottom, and you can tweak what you want to see here. Want a quick toggle to Low Power Mode? Done. Want to turn off True Tone display? Use 3D Touch on the brightness slider and toggle it off.
The Notification Center is also a little different. Now when you pull down your notifications, you’ll be greeted with the lock screen. You can swipe to the left to access the camera, and swipe to the right to access to Today widgets. Notifications are separated by day, so you have to swipe to the next day’s notifications if you want to see the “X” icon to clear everything.
CAMERA AND PORTRAIT LIGHTING
The iPhone 8 Plus carries over nearly the same camera specifications as the iPhone 7 Plus, which first introduced Apple’s dual-camera system. It has two 12-megapixel cameras, one wide-angle lens with optical image stabilization (f/1.8 aperture), and one telephoto lens (f/2.8 aperture).
The telephoto lens is used for Portrait Mode, which adds a blur or “bokeh” effect behind a subject, but what the iPhone 8 Plus will have over its predecessor is a new mode called Portrait Lighting.
Photos are incredibly detailed, and the color accuracy is impressive.
Video looks fantastic, and the switch to new photo and video formats enables 4K video recording at 60 frames per second, or slow-motion in 1080p and 240 frames per second. Slow motion looks particularly stunning.
iPhone 8 vs iPhone 8 Plus Summary
Both the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus follow the same format as their predecessors. Featuring a larger screen, more advanced camera, the iPhone 8 Plus will likely be a better choice for phablet fans and people who care about camera tech. It’s $100 more expensive than the basic iPhone 8.
iPhone 8 vs iPhone 8 Plus: Which phone is more powerful?
Both the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus run using the new 64-bit CPU which has a slightly atypical hexa-core design that pairs two high-performance cores with four high-efficiency cores. Apple claims the cores are 70% faster than the A10’s and is significantly more power efficient.
The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus also feature a new Apple-designed three-core GPU that the company claims is three times faster than the A10’s graphics. If any of the performance claims ring true the two phones should be serious performers and deal with everything from hardcore gaming to 4K video recording and multi-tab web browsing hassle-free. The only potential performance differentiation between the two will be memory.
For a full spec comparison, check out the table below:
| iPhone 8 | iPhone 8 Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Screen | 4.7-inch Retina Display | 5.5-inch Retina Display |
| Display Resolution | 1334 x 750 | 1920 x 1080 |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Primary Camera | 12-megapixel rear camera, ƒ/1.8 | Dual lens rear camera: 12MP, ƒ/1.8 with telephoto, ƒ/2.8 (OIS) |
| Secondary Camera | TBA | TBA |
| Chipset | A11 Bionic | A11 Bionic |
| RAM | TBA | TBA |
| Storage | 64GB/256GB | 64GB/256GB |
| Battery Capacity | TBA | TBA |
| Waterproof? | Yes | Yes |
| Fingerprint Scanner? | Yes | Yes |
| Headphone Jack? | No | No |
| Primary Port | Lightning | Lightning |
| Iris Scanner? | No | No |
| Wireless Charging? | Yes | Yes |
| Micro SD Slot? | No | No |
| Dimensions | TBA | TBA |
| Weight | TBA | TBA |
| Software | iOS 11 | iOS 11 |
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