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The iPhone 14 Plus reviewed: Cheaper than Pro Max and wins on battery life

I’ve been testing Apple‘s new $899 iPhone 14 Plus, which hits stores Friday, for the past several days. It has the biggest screen you can get on an iPhone, without shelling out $1,099 for the Pro model, and the best battery life ever on an iPhone.

The iPhone 14 Plus is great for people who just want a larger screen and don’t mind missing out on the new features of the Pro and Pro Max, such as the Dynamic Island and always-on display.

But most buyers seem to have flocked to the Pro models over the regular iPhone 14 so far.

Bank of America analysts released a rare downgrade to Apple’s stock last week and cut its price target on “weaker consumer demand” and the potential for a sluggish iPhone cycle as consumers slow spending. The bank suggested that while there’s a stronger mix of Pro model purchases so far, that won’t offset a decline in revenue and profit if Apple sells fewer units overall.

iPhone 14 Plus.

Sofia Pitt

And JPMorgan analysts said in a note on Oct. 3, which compared shipment times across iPhone models, that price-sensitive customers are opting for the iPhone 13 rather than the more expensive iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus.

But you shouldn’t just write off the iPhone 14 Plus. It’s a good option for folks who just want a big screen and don’t want to spend $200 more for the iPhone 14 Pro Max. And it has excellent battery life and improved cameras in a lightweight package.

Here’s what you need to know about the iPhone 14 Plus.

iPhone 14 Plus: What’s good

Apple unveiled four new iPhones, three new Apple Watches and an updated AirPods Pro during a press event on Wednesday in Cupertino, California, United States on September 7, 2022. 

Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The large screen is the highlight here. And, if you’re like me, you’ll dig having a bigger display in your pocket for reading, movies, gaming and more. It’s otherwise the same screen as the regular iPhone 14. I noticed blacks were nice and deep and colors popped while streaming YouTube videos.

You can see more on a page, such as a website you’re browsing, or store more apps on your homepage. And this helps if you want to see more while also increasing the text size, which might be convenient for folks who prefer or need larger text.

iPhone 14 Plus.

Sofia Pitt

The iPhone 14 Plus is 1.31 ounces lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the difference felt significant when I carried it around.

Apple says the iPhone 14 Plus has “the best battery life ever in iPhone,” which just refers to general usage throughout the day. The battery life was great in my tests. I was able to stream YouTube videos for over 19 hours before the phone died, which is in line with Apple’s claim that streamed video playback lasts 20 hours. Apple also promises up to 100 hours of audio playback, which is longer than any other iPhone.

iPhone 14

Apple

The cameras are also solid. While you don’t get the telephoto or really sharp main cameras that you’ll find on the iPhone 14 Pro models, you still get an improved 12-megapixel main camera that took good pictures, including clearer and brighter photos at night when there weren’t a lot of lights.

iPhone 14 Plus photo in night mode.

Sofia Pitt

There’s also a new front camera with autofocus for selfies. That means your selfies will look sharper and more in focus than on the iPhone 13.

iPhone 14 Plus selfie.

Sofia Pitt

iPhone 14 Plus.

Sofia Pitt

iPhone 14 Plus: What’s bad

Despite its size, the iPhone 14 Plus is a relatively small update over last year’s iPhone 13. You’ll see more of an upgrade from the Pro models. Those phones have always-on displays that can show notifications even when your phone is idle, and feature Dynamic Island, which makes better use of the notch at the top of the screen. Dynamic Island can show things like album art for the music you’re playing, for example, and will soon offer other features like live sports scores at the top of your screen.

iPhone 14 Plus home screen.

Sofia Pitt

If you’re looking for a camera upgrade, you’ll notice a difference if you’re upgrading from an iPhone 12, but it’s hard to see a significant difference if you’re switching from the 13 to the 14 Plus, aside from the autofocus on the front-facing selfie camera.

The iPhone 14 Plus uses the same A15 chip as the iPhone 13, but with an additional graphics processing core for improved gaming performance. I didn’t notice a difference when I played the game “Diablo: Immortal” on both phones.

I’m disappointed that all of the iPhone 14s still have a Lightning port instead of USB-C. I wasn’t expecting Apple to switch, but it would be really useful to just carry the same USB-C charger that I use to power a MacBook and an iPad.

iPhone 14 Plus.

Sofia Pitt

Should you buy it?

The iPhone 14 Plus is a great buy for folks who just want an iPhone with a bigger screen and who don’t want or need the features in the Pro models. At $899, the $100 premium over the standard iPhone 14 is well worth it for the larger display and better battery life. But you probably don’t need to upgrade from the iPhone 13 for it.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the weight of the iPhone 14 Plus.

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Amazon to invest another $4 billion in Anthropic, OpenAI’s biggest rival

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Amazon to invest another  billion in Anthropic, OpenAI's biggest rival

Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

Amazon on Friday announced it would invest an additional $4 billion in Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup founded by ex-OpenAI research executives.

The new funding brings the tech giant’s total investment to $8 billion, though Amazon will retain its position as a minority investor, according to Anthropic, the San Francisco-based company behind the Claude chatbot and AI model.

Amazon Web Services will also become Anthropic’s “primary cloud and training partner,” according to a blog post. From now on, Anthropic will use AWS Trainium and Inferentia chips to train and deploy its largest AI models.

Anthropic is the company behind Claude — one of the chatbots that, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, has exploded in popularity. Startups like Anthropic and OpenAI, alongside tech giants such as GoogleAmazonMicrosoft and Meta, are all part of a generative AI arms race to ensure they don’t fall behind in a market predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade. Some, like Microsoft and Amazon, are backing generative AI startups with hefty investments as well as working on in-house generative AI.

The partnership announced Friday will also allow AWS customers “early access” to an Anthropic feature: the ability for an AWS customer to do fine-tuning with their own data on Anthropic’s Claude. It’s a unique benefit for AWS customers, according to a company blog post.

In March, Amazon’s $2.75 billion investment in Anthropic was the company’s largest outside investment in its three-decade history. The companies announced an initial $1.25 billion investment in September 2023.

Amazon does not have a seat on Anthropic’s board.

News of Amazon’s additional investment comes one month after Anthropic announced a significant milestone for the company: AI agents that can use a computer to complete complex tasks like a human would.

Anthropic’s new Computer Use capability, part of its two newest AI models, allows its tech to interpret what’s on a computer screen, select buttons, enter text, navigate websites and execute tasks through any software and real-time internet browsing.

The tool can “use computers in basically the same way that we do,” Jared Kaplan, Anthropic’s chief science officer, told CNBC in an interview last month, adding it can do tasks with “tens or even hundreds of steps.”

Amazon had early access to the tool, Anthropic told CNBC at the time, and early customers and beta testers included Asana, Canva and Notion. The company had been working on the tool since early this year, according to Kaplan.

In September, Anthropic rolled out Claude Enterprise, its biggest new product since its chatbot’s debut, designed for businesses looking to integrate Anthropic’s AI. In June, the company debuted its more powerful AI model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and in May, it rolled out its “Team” plan for smaller businesses.

Last year, Google committed to invest $2 billion in Anthropic, after previously confirming it had taken a 10% stake in the startup alongside a large cloud contract between the two companies.

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Apple and Google could face a competition probe over their huge mobile ecosystems in the UK

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Apple and Google could face a competition probe over their huge mobile ecosystems in the UK

Omar Marques | Lightrocket | Getty Images

LONDON — Apple and Google could face a competition investigation into their dominance of mobile web browsers and apps in the U.K.

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority issued a report Friday with a provisional decision from an independent inquiry group tasked by the regulator with carrying out an in-depth review of the mobile browser markets.

In the report, the group recommended that the CMA investigates Apple and Google’s activities in mobile ecosystems under the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC), a new U.K. law coming into force next year which seeks to prevent anti-competitive behavior in digital markets.

The DMCC is akin to the Digital Markets Act in the European Union. It gives the CMA the ability to designate firms as having “Strategic Market Status” (SMS) — which means they have a significant amount of market power in a certain digital business.

Under the rules, the CMA can impose major behavioral changes on firms that have SMS status, including ending “self-preferencing” of their own services, requiring interoperability — essentially allowing one piece of software to work with another smoothly — and banning anti-competitive behavior.

The CMA is required to undertake a formal investigation to give a firm SMS status.

For Apple specifically, the CMA inquiry group said it was concerned the tech giant’s App Store rules “restrict other competitors from being able to deliver new, innovative features that could benefit consumers” — for example, faster webpage loading on iPhone apps.

It added many smaller U.K. developers said they would like to use “progressive” web apps — which allow firms to offer apps outside of an app store — but that this technology “is not able to fully take off on iOS devices.”

The group also said it found a revenue-sharing agreement between Google and Apple to make Google the default search engine on iPhone “significantly reduces their financial incentives to compete in mobile browsers on iOS.”

“Markets work best when rival businesses are able to develop and bring innovative options to consumers,” Margot Daly, chair of the CMA’s independent inquiry group, said in a statement, adding that “competition between different mobile browsers is not working well and this is holding back innovation in the U.K.”

Apple said in a statement that it disagreed with the findings of the report and that it was concerned market interventions imposed under the DMCC “would undermine user privacy and hinder our ability to make the kind of technology that sets Apple apart.”

 “Apple believes in thriving and dynamic markets where innovation can flourish. We face competition in every segment and jurisdiction where we operate, and our focus is always the trust of our users” an Apple spokesperson told CNBC via email.

Google was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

The CMA group had also looked into restrictions on the distribution of gaming services on Apple’s mobile app distribution platform. However, it’s now decided to drop this element of the investigation following a decision by the U.S. tech giant to allow cloud gaming services on App Store.

The regulator said interested parties have until Dec. 13 to share comments on its provisional findings. It expects to make a final decision in March 2025.

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Indonesia wants Apple to sweeten its $100 million proposal as tech giant lobbies for iPhone 16 sales

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Indonesia wants Apple to sweeten its 0 million proposal as tech giant lobbies for iPhone 16 sales

An iPhone 16 signage is seen on the window at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store on new products launch day on September 20, 2024 in New York City. 

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The Indonesian government expects Apple to increase its proposed $100 million investment into the country, according to state media, as the iPhone maker seeks clearance from Jakarta to sell its latest phones.

The American tech giant’s latest smartphone model doesn’t meet Indonesia’s 40% domestic content requirements for smartphones and tablets and hasn’t been granted clearance to be sold in the country. 

The purpose of the ban is to protect local industry and jobs, with officials asking Apple to increase its investments and commitments to the economy in order to gain greater access. 

According to a report from Indonesian state media, the country’s Ministry of Industry met with representatives from Apple on Thursday regarding its proposal to invest $100 million over two years. 

The funds would go toward a research and development center program and professional development academy in the country, as per the report.

The company also plans to produce accessory product components, specifically mesh for Apple’s AirPods Max, starting in July 2025, it added.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

While the new offer is 10 times larger than a proposal that was reported earlier, the government is still striving to sweeten the deal to get a “fair” commitment.

“From the government’s perspective, of course, we want this investment to be larger,” industry ministry spokesperson Febri Hendri Antoni Arif told state media on Thursday.

He said that a larger investment would help the development of Indonesia’s manufacturing sector, adding that its domestic industry was capable of supporting production of Apple devices such as chargers and accessories.

While Indonesia represents a small market for Apple, it also offers growth opportunities as it has the world’s fourth-largest population, according to Le Xuan Chiew, a Canalys analyst focusing on Apple strategy research.

“Its young, tech-savvy population with growing digital literacy aligns with Apple’s strategy to expand [global sales],” he said, noting that it also offers potential for manufacturing and assembly that supports Apple’s efforts to diversify its supply chain. 

Success in this market requires a long-term approach, and Apple’s investment offer demonstrates a commitment to complying with local regulations and paving the way for future growth, he added.

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