Just How Different Are the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus?

The new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are displayed after a product announcement at Flint Center in Cupertino, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014.

For the second iPhone release in a row,Apple launched two different models at once, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Though both are larger than any previous iPhone, the iPhone 6 Plus is much more than a phablet-sized iPhone 6. We took a closer look at the specs and features to find the biggest differences.

Bigger Screens

Let's get the most obvious out of the way first: screen size. At 4.7-inches, the iPhone 6 is a significant increase over its 4-inch predecessor, but it's still smaller than many other flagships, including Samsung's Galaxy S5 (5.1"), the HTC One M8 (5"), and the new Moto X (5.2").

But at 5.5-inches, the iPhone 6 Plus falls squarely into phablet territory currently occupied by the 5.7-inch SamsungGalaxy Note 4 and 5.5-inch LG G 3.

While it may not sound like a lot— the difference between the two totals less than an inch— it adds up to a lot of real estate.

While the aforementioned handsets come with styli to help accommodate the bigger screens, the iPhone 6 Plus does not (Steve Jobs famously hated styli.) Instead, Apple has built a solution into iOS itself. The iPhone 6 Plus' home screen will work in landscape mode for the first time ever on an iPhone.

Resolution and Cameras

Aside from the size of the display itself, the new iPhones have slightly differing resolutions—though each one qualifies for Apple's new "Retina HD" moniker.

The iPhone 6 Plus comes in at resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 with a pixel density of 401 ppi (pixels per inch) while the iPhone 6 has a slightly lower 1,334 x 750 resolution with 326 ppi.

Both models feature an upgraded 8 MP rear-facing camera and 2.1 MP front-facing shooter. The iPhone 6 Plus has the extra advantage of optical image stabilization, a significant improvement over the iPhone 6's digital image stabilization.

Battery Life

Battery life on both handsets has also been upgraded though the larger iPhone 6 Plus clocks in with the more impressive numbers with a supposed 16 days of standby, 80 hours of audio playback, 14 hours of video playback and 12 hours of Internet use.

The iPhone 6 claims up to 10 days of standby time, 50 hours of audio playback, 11 hours of video playback and 10 to11 hours of Internet use (depending on the type of connection).

Thickness and Weight

Though the iPhone 6 Plus is significantly larger than the 6, the two are remarkably similar when it comes to their thickness and weight. At .28 inches thick, the larger 6 Plus is just a hair thicker than the .27-inch iPhone 6. The slightly heftier 6 Plus weighs in at 6.07 ounces while the iPhone 6 is 4.55 ounces.

Price

The iPhone 6 follows a similar price structure as previous iPhone releases, with prices beginning at $199 (with a two-year contract) for the 16GB model, though Apple is offering more storage for your money in bigger models. The 64 GB model will run $299 while the biggest 128 GB will cost $399. Similarly, The iPhone 6 Plus starts at $299 for the 16GB version and each size up adds an additional $100 to the price tag.

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iPhone 6 Plus is a rocket fuel for phablet sales in the U.S.

Sales of outsized smartphones, or phablets, have almost quadrupled in the United States over the past year — thanks mostly to Apple's new larger iPhones.

That's according to numbers from market research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, which found that phablet sales have spiked since the release of the iPhone 6 Plus.

Phablets, typically defined as handsets with 5-in. displays and larger, made up 21% of all smartphone sales in the United States during the first quarter of 2015, says Kantar.

This represents a 15% increase from the first quarter of 2014, when phablets made up just 6% of U.S smartphone sales.

Fueling this growth was Apple's 5.5-in. iPhone 6 Plus, which accounted for 44% of the phablet market, the report says. Together, Apple's flagship smartphones, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, now account for 18% of all iPhones in the U.S.

The numbers highlight just how important screen size has become — "screen size was cited as the main reason for buying a particular phone by both iOS and Android buyers at 43% and 47%, respectively," the report says.

Before Apple launched the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus last fall, earlier reports suggestedthe company needed larger displays in order to stay competitive with rivals like Samsung.

Exactly why users are drawn to larger displays is unclear, but there are likely several factors at work. Adobe principal analyst Tamara Gaffney speculated last fall that the widespread availability of free wifi is driving more users to stream video while on the go — and other activities that are more satisfying on larger screens.

An earlier report from Kantar found Apple's larger phones were also causing changes in the European smartphone market, with more Android users switching to iOS during the first quarter of 2015.

Across Europe, Android's marketshare decreased by 3.1%, the report found, though the operating system still dominated at 68.4%. The report points to Europe's "Big 5" — Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain — as having the biggest increase in iOS users where Apple's marketshare is 20.3%.

For Windows Phone, however, the numbers are much less promising, despite its own flagship phablets in the Lumia line. Both reports note that Microsoft's operating system has "grown little" in the U.S and Europe. That's with the exception of France, where Windows Phone claims just over 14% of the market.