The iPhone 7 & 7 Plus Have Been Officially Revealed

After months of speculation and rumors, Apple has officially taken the wraps off the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, two new flagship handsets for the Cupertino company for the year 2016. Sure enough it looks like Apple has decided to stick with the same design from the past two generations, although there are some slight changes which we guess are pretty evident.

We are looking at brand new color options which includes the return of the black finish (in either a black or jet black option which gives it a mirror-like look), and let’s not forget that Apple has successfully managed to hide the antenna break, and it looks like Apple has finally introduced water resistance to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

The display sizes and resolutions will remain the same, but according to Apple, there are changes made to the display in the sense that it is 25% brighter than before. It also has a wide color gamut and according to the Cupertino company, it is of cinema standard. Apple has also included a dual speaker design with one speaker placed at the top and one at the bottom, leading to twice the volume compared to previous iPhone models.

Speaking of audio, it looks like Apple has decided to do away with the headphone jack. Apple will now be bundling EarPods with Lightning connector, as well as an adapter for those who might have a pair of headphones they love but aren’t of the Lightning variety. For those who prefer wireless, Apple has also introduced the AirPods, wireless headphones with built-in sensors and microphones, and a battery life of about 5 hours. Its design is a bit odd as it looks like regular EarPods without the cables.

The camera bump is still present, but now it sports a smoother bump thanks to Apple sculpting the camera cutout from the aluminum body itself. However there is more to the camera than just the redesign of its exterior.

According to Apple, they have made it so that both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will have optical image stabilization, where previously OIS was only available on the Plus model. Apple has also upgraded the sensor to 12MP and also upgraded its lens to an f/1.8 lens with 6-elements. Its True Tone flash will now contain 4 LEDs to make your flashes brighter than before, and there is also a flicker sensor that will help the flash adapt to existing lighting.

As for the iPhone 7 Plus, the dual lens will sport the same 12MP sensor, except that one lens will be of the 28mm wide angle variety, while the other will be of the zoom variety. This allows users to switch between the wide lens and the zoom lens depending on their needs, but when combined with Apple’s ISP will allow users to create that bokeh effect that is usually limited to higher-end cameras and lenses.

Apple has made changes to the home button. Just as the rumors have suggested, the new home button is a Force Touch button, meaning that it has a taptic engine that will simulate a click without actually clicking, making it more reliable since there are less moving parts. Apple is also claiming how third-party apps can access the new home button to customize it according to their apps.

There are also some changes made under the hood, such as a new brand new A10 Fusion SoC which last we heard, was manufactured exclusively by TSMC. According to Apple, they are boasting that the new A10 chipset will offer up 4 cores – 2 of which are high performance cores that are 40% faster than the A9. Battery life has also improved and according to Apple, the iPhone 7 will provide about 2 hours more battery than the iPhone 6s, while the iPhone 7 Plus will offer 1 hour more battery than the iPhone 6s Plus.

As for pricing and availability, the iPhone 7 will start at $649 with 32GB as the base storage, with the iPhone 7 Plus starting at $769. Apple has also done away with the 16GB and 64GB options, with the 32GB being the base, moving to 128GB, and 256GB as the highest storage possible. The new iPhones will be available for pre-order come 9th of September and will begin shipping out on the 16th of September.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: iPhone, iphone 7, iphone 7 plus