Apple today officially announced the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus at their Sept 7 Special Event. The pair is dubbed as the best and most advanced iPhone ever. Yes, they are definitely better than their predecessors, read on to find out all the improvements and changes Apple introduced with their latest iteration of iPhone.
New Design
The iPhone 7 comes with a refreshed design where the antenna lines have been relocated to the top and bottom for a cleaner look at the back panel. Overall, it still looks almost the same as the iPhone 6/6s with the rounded edge and flatbed design.
What's new is the two new black finishes - Black and Jet Black.
Personally, I think the Black looks amazing with the anodised matte black surface compared to glossy, scratch and fingerprint magnet piano-black finish on the Jet Black version.
Water Resistance
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are now IP67 rated - sprinkle, water and dust resistant. On paper, the device is capable of submerging under the 1-metre depth of water for 30 minutes. However, just to make things clear, Apple is not making a waterproof device and liquid damage is certainly out of the warranty coverage, so hold your horses before leaping into your swimming pool with the phone in your pocket.
Force Touch Home Button
Gone is the mechanical switch home button, iPhone 7 comes with all new solid state, force sensitive home button which works in tandem with the Taptic engine in order to provide definite and customised feedback.
Camera
The iPhone 7 features a camera with 12MP sensor with 28mm wide angle f/1.8 lens. It includes optical image stabilisation.
The iPhone 7 Plus features the same camera as the iPhone 7 - 12MP sensor with 28mm wide angle f/1.8 lens and optical image stabilisation. On top of that, Apple adds a 12MP sensor with 56mm telephoto lens for 2x optical zoom capabilities.
The dual 12MP camera on the iPhone 7 Plus will also feature the depth of fields effect, coming later this year.
Both phones will have 7MP front facing camera and Quad LED True Tone flash at the rear for increased brightness.
Retina HD Display
The new iPhone features the brightest Retina HD display, although they still retain the same 4.7-inch 1334*750 pixels and 5.5-inch 1920*1080 pixels panel.
Stereo Speakers
For the very first time, the iPhone is now equipped with a stereo speakers for an immersive multimedia experience. If you wonder, one of the speakers is located at the bottom of the phone, while the another speaker is located in the earpiece. Not exactly symmetry design, but definitely looking forward trying it out in person.
Lightning Audio
Apple officially kills the good-old 3.5mm audio jack in favour of the lightning port, because why not. If you're still fond of your own custom pair of headphones or earphones, fret not as the Apple is including the lightning to 3.5mm adapter in each iPhone 7 package.
AirPods
Since the 3.5mm jack has been killed off, Apple might as well as remove the cable altogether. The AirPods represents Apple's futuristic vision for the music entertainment. Gosh, you need to take extra precaution for not losing the US$159 earphone pair.
Performance
New custom designed A10 Fusion Quad core chip, 2 cores for high-performance tasks and another 2 cores for power efficient tasks. The low power chip is capable of running at one-fifth the power of the high-performance cores. That also translates to longer battery life.
iOS 10
The iOS 10 introduces a whole bunch of new updates for the Siri, 3D Touch and more. It also features redesigned application interface and delivers redefined user experience.