Apple iPhone 6
A new Apple iPhone 6 Plus is seen during an Apple event at the Flint Center in Cupertino, California, September 9, 2014. Reuters/Stephen Lam

Phablets have already been beating tablets in sales and popularity. Recently, consumers are showing more interest with smartphones with larger screens and with the same capacity as tablets. It would be interesting to put the iPhone 6 Plus and the iPad Mini 3, Apple’s popular phablet and tablet in a matchup in terms of specs, features and overall performance.

Size, Weight, Build And Colours

The iPhone 6 Plus, which measures 158 mm x 78 mm x 7.1 mm, looks like an over-sized iPhone. It weighs 172 grams with its aluminium unibody build and comes in silver, gold and space grey variants.

The iPad Mini 3 measures 200 mm x135 mm x7.5 mm making it 27 percent taller and 73 percent wider than the 6 Plus. The Mini 3 weighs 331 grams making it 48 percent heavier than the 6 Plus. Just like the phablet, it also has the same aluminium build and comes in same colour variants.

Display

The 6 Plus sports a 5.5-inch IPS display with 1920 x 1080 resolution. Its 401 ppi pixel density is 23 percent higher than the Mini 3. On the other hand, the 7.9-inch IPS display of the iPad Mini 3 boasts an impressive 2048 x 1536 resolution with 326 ppi. The impressive resolution on both devices will offer crisp text and images.

Processor And Memory

The phablet is powered by the new generation A8 chipset 64-bit 1.4 GHz dual core processor. The more advanced A8 is more optimised for installing the latest apps and games.

The Apple mini tablet is equipped with the A7 chipset 64-bit 1.3 GHz dual core processor. The iPad Mini 3 and the iPhone 6 Plus both have 1 GB of RAM and both provides options of either 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB of onboard storage. Bigger storage will give wider space for more content.

Battery

The 6 Plus is packed with 2915 mAh battery. According to a recent battery review made by Know Your Mobile, the phablet has 20 to 30 percent longer battery life compared to the iPhone 6. The report also noted that the non-QHD display of the device brings less stress to its battery.

The Mini 3 is powered by a heavier 6471 mAh battery. Based on Tech Radar’s battery test, the Mini 3 is said to withstand 10 hours of multimedia usage. But when used on a Full HD video playing for 90 minutes, it has resulted to an 18 percent drain on the battery power.

Cameras

The iPhone 6 Plus sports an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.2-megapixel front shooter. It also comes with dual-LED flash which is ideal for both indoor and outdoor shooting. It is also capable of setting-up slow-motion video.

The iPad Mini 3 comes with a 5-megapixel rear snapper plus a 1.2-megapixel front camera but without the camera features on the 6 Plus. The Mini 3's camera is not equipped with the features found on the 6 Plus, but it can still capture shots with well reproduced colours.

Added Features

The iPhone 6 Plus and iPad mini 3 both include Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Both devices can also make use of Apple Pay, the tech giant’s payment system. However, the 6 Plus can be used for both in-store and online payments, while the Mini 3 can only be used for online transactions.

For questions/comments regarding the article, you may e-mail the writer at : e.reyes@ibtimes.com.au