It's Time for Early Christmas treat this year......!
Yes, The reveal of iPhone 7 and its big brother iPhone 7 Plus has brought a ton of happiness for the 'I' fans.
Now lets get straight to the comparison.
The iPhone 7 and its big brother iPhone 7 Plus look virtually identical to both the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
So are they a go or not?
In short: yes and no.
On one side, the leaks are proved not almost but 100% accurate so there were no surprises at the revelation. But on the other side Apple has changed a lot internally and provided a major camera Modules to both models.
So let’s see he key differences to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus…
Design - The Same as 6, 6s except the antenna design
First lets get on to the Big Brother: yes, it’s disappointing that Apple has made virtually no changes to the external design of its iPhones for the third year in a row. And yes, this does make them look somewhat outdated compared to more radical designs like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy Note 7.
But changes have been made and some are significant while others are very controversial. First the big one: both models are missing a headphone jack:
Yes Apple has done the unthinkable and fitted both the new iPhones with just a single Lightning port. Adaptors are bundled in the box, but users will now not be able to charge their iPhones and listen to music with wired headphones at the same time. This decision to going to divide a lot of users.
They have added IP67 dust and water resistance up to 1 metre of water for 30 minutes for the first time while still retaining the rigid Series 7000 Aluminium introduced last year with the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.
Also aiding durability is the replacement of the physical home button on both models with a touch sensitive surface which provides haptic feedback to mimic the feeling of a click.
Apple has also tidied up the antenna bands, removing them from the back of the phone so they only now appear at the top and bottom edges.
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are both fractionally lighter at 5g (0.17 oz) and 4g (0.14 oz) respectively compared to 6s and 6s Plus.
Lastly both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus gain dual speakers for the first time. Interestingly this is not from what seems like dual speakers at the bottom of the new iPhones (one side is the mic for phone calls).
As for finishes, you’ll get a wider array of options this year with Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Black and (for just 128GB and 256GB options) Jet Black.
Displays – Upgraded But Still Last years tech...
This year there’s not much to see here. The much marketed 3D Touch is carried over from the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus:
- iPhone 7 – 4.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD, 1334 x 750 pixels (326 ppi), 65.6% screen-to-body ratio
- iPhone 7 Plus – 5.5-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD, 1920 x 1080 pixels (401 ppi), 67.7% screen-to-body ratio
Performance –Seriously..... Major Speed Upgrades
According to some metrics, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus are still the fastest smartphones on the market one year on, but Apple has not stood still:
- iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus – Apple A10 Fusion chipset: Quad Core CPU, 2GB of RAM (3GB rumored for Plus, but unconfirmed)
Yes the big news is these are the first iPhones to be equipped with quad core processors. Apple claims they will deliver 40% faster CPU performance and up to 50% faster graphics performance than the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.
Update: some leaks are claiming the Plus will have 3GB but Apple has not confirmed that yet.
Performance upgrades in the last two years are significant. Image credit: Apple
In addition to this Apple has upgraded the 4G modem to support speeds of up to 450Mbit. Though it made no claims to have improved the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, though it doesn’t really need to be any faster.
Cameras – The Big reason And Main Selling Point
There’s no denying Samsung has taken the photography crown from Apple in recent years, but the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus may steal it back:
- iPhone 7 – Rear: 12 megapixel sensor, f/1.8 aperture, Focus Pixels, Optical Image Stabilisation, quad-LED (dual tone) flash, 4K video recording. Front: 7MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, 1080p recording
- iPhone 7 Plus – Rear: Dual 12MP sensors (f/1.8, 28mm & f/2.8, 56mm), Focus Pixels, OIS, 2x optical zoom, quad-LED (dual tone) flash, 4K video recording. Front: 7MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, 1080p recording
We’ll get to the iPhone 7 Plus, but first the iPhone 7 as it has made some significant improvements with a much larger f/1.8 aperture to let in more light (better for low light snaps in particular), a new 6-element lens and the long awaited addition of OIS. There’s also wide color capture for more color accurate photos and a new Apple-designed image signal processor which does the hardwork optimising images after they are captured
Battery Life And Charging – Minimal Improvements
Apple failed to disclose the exact capacities of the batteries in either of its new iPhones, but it did say iPhone 7 owners could expect up to two additional hours of usage compared to the iPhone 6S while iPhone 7 Plus owners will get one additional hour compared to the iPhone 6S Plus. The full breakdown is as follows:
Meanwhile Apple still hasn’t implemented fast charging or wireless charging. The omission of both is getting pretty ridiculous at this stage with fast charging having been around for years on rival phones (and resulting is 50% faster charge times) while the latter should really have launched this year so users could still charge the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus while also listening to music.
Storage And Price – The 16GB Is out of the Line
Far better news comes with storage and value for money, however, as Apple has at long long last ditched its useless 16GB of base level storage. In fact the company has double storage capacities at every tier so 16GB, 64GB and 128GB have been replaced with 32GB, 128GB and 256GB.
Consequently while prices are unchanged from last year this look better value for money:
- iPhone 7 – 32GB ($649), 128GB ($749), 256GB ($849)
- iPhone 7 Plus – 32GB ($769), 128GB ($869), 256GB ($969)
Needless to say that hardcore iPhone fans will grab the 256GB model, but I suspect many buyers of the previous 128GB flagship may now be happy to save $100 and opt for the same storage as a mid tier option.
As a package, the iPhone 7 (pictured) and iPhone 7 Plus are better value for money thanks to their upgraded storage. Image credit: Apple
Finally the VERDICT:
The removal of the headphone jack is also going to split the users.
They are more durable than ever before, much faster and have generous storage options.
They also have the potential to steal back the coveted camera crown from Samsung, particularly the dual camera iPhone 7 Plus.
So Overall the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are a bit overpriced beasts but for 'I' fans its a bang for their buck.
