iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 plus: Which are people choosing?

The iPhone 6 Plus, or 'iPhapblet,' might cost $100 more than the iPhone 6, but a Dealnews survey shows that it's more popular with shoppers. 

Apple debuted the iPhone 6 last week, and this time around, the standard flagship model is joined by a beefed-up brother, the iPhone 6 Plus. Latching on to the growing phablet trend, the Plus stretches to 5.5" in size, whereas the standard iPhone 6 checks in at 4.7". Apple also supercharged the Plus with a higher-resolution screen and optical image stabilization, among other things.

With better features, the Plus is obviously a higher-end iPhone, but it also comes at a higher starting price: the iPhone 6 is $199 with a 2-year contract or $649 without, while the Plus starts at $299 on contract, $749 without.

Thus, we were curious to know just how many people are actually interested in the pricier model. We asked 1,807 of our readers if they would buy a newly-announced iPhone, and if so, which one. As it turns out, despite the additional cost, more shoppers were interested in buying the Plus; 34.3% of respondents claimed they will buy the iPhablet, whereas only 29.6% will purchase the standard iPhone 6. This supports early reports that the Plus actually sold out in preorders (although that fact alone doesn't definitively prove that the Plus is more popular, since Apple might have produced different amounts for each model).

Given the sales projections for phablets over the past year, this isn't too surprising; phones sized 5.5" and above have cannibalized tablet growth to a sizable degree, and they have slowly gained more market share amongst other smartphones. Still, phablets have only consumed about a fifth of the smartphone market thus far, making the demand for the iPhone 6 Plus surprisingly large.

Readers, what do you think? If you're considering the Plus, why are you opting for the larger phone over the iPhone 6? 

Lindsay Sakraida is the features director for Dealnews.com, where this article first appeared: http://dealnews.com/features/More-People-Will-Buy-Apples-Pricier-iPhablet-Than-the-iPhone-6/1149730.html