iPhone 6 Plus hands-on: large enough to potentially rival iPad mini, thin enough to feel manageable in-hand
The iPhone 6 Plus hands-on: yeah, it's big — I just had the chance to play with the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, and while it's nothing surprising after all the leaks, it's still a fascinating phone.
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple has ended its long resistance to big phones: the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus arrives alongside the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, announced by Apple itself as 'the biggest advancements in iPhone history' and following months of near-complete leaks that left little to surprise at the hands-on. The Verge's first impression is less about specs than about category boundaries — the phone is described as large enough to potentially rival the iPad mini, while remaining thin enough to feel manageable in hand.
The competitive frame is already visible in the same-day coverage: Engadget benchmarks it against the Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G3 and HTC One, and 9to5Mac highlights Apple's new 'Reachability' one-hand mode — an admission that the hardware alone doesn't solve the reach problem its size creates.
First-order effects
- Apple now sells two screen sizes for the first time, putting the iPhone 6 Plus in direct conflict with its own iPad mini for buyers who want a big-screen device they carry everywhere.
- Samsung, LG and HTC — whose flagships Engadget is already comparing against the 6 and 6 Plus — lose their monopoly on the large-phone segment that Apple had ceded to them for years.
Second-order effects
- Apple's own software responds to the size: Reachability pulls the top of the screen into thumb range, and the two-paned landscape mode Engadget notes signals that iOS app layouts will have to be redesigned for a device this wide.
- App developers and accessory makers face a split target — four iPhone sizes instead of effectively one — raising design and inventory costs across the iOS ecosystem.
Third-order effects
- If the mini-rivaling framing holds in reviews, Apple faces the classic self-cannibalization question inside its own lineup, forcing clearer separation between iPhone and iPad rather than between phone sizes.
- The launch normalizes phablets at the premium end of the market, pressuring every major Android vendor to treat 5.5-inch-and-up as the default flagship size rather than a niche variant.
The trend: Smartphone screens are expanding until the phone and small tablet categories merge, with Apple's entry into large screens turning a niche Android format into the mainstream standard.