So Yeah! Apple finally took off the curtain and revealed the much-anticipated smartphones of the year, the iPhone 7 & its big brother iPhone 7 Plus. While claims were made that Apple has worked hard on the new design, but there is not much difference in design except for a few things here and there. The phones still are aesthetically similar to their predecessors, but that does not mean that there are no new things, there are few improvements & other new features which we'll talk about today. The most significant improvements of all include the new pressure-sensitive home button, better camera, water resistant design, improved battery and a fast processor. Another thing to note is that iPhone 7 will be coming out in two new colors and those are; Rose Gold & Jet Black. Other than these, iPhone 7 will also come in regular Black, Silver and Gold variants. The Jet Black variant looks great and will be available only in capacities of 128 GB or above. So let's quickly jump into the specs part.
Apple iPhone 7
Retina Display & Improved Design
Still keeping the same 4.7 Inch LED-backlit IPS LCD Retina Display from the iPhone 6S, iPhone 7 also comes with the resolution of 1334 x 750 pixels & pixel density of 326 ppi. Of course, 3D Touch returns with the new iPhone 7 and as usual, Apple made use of Ion-strengthened glass for protecting the display from scratches. The phone comes in a new range of colors and measures same as iPhone 6s. The dimensions are exactly same as 6S but there is a slight drop in weight, iPhone 7 (138 grams) weighs 5 grams less than iPhone 6S (143 grams) and is IP67 certified for Water & Dust resistance up to 1 meter & 30 minutes.
Faster CPU & Better Hardware
Apple iPhone 7 packs a faster Apple A10 Fusion chip, which has a 64-bit architecture & a Quad core CPU, the clock speeds weren't revealed at the launch event. It comes with a Six-Core or Hexa-Core GPU, coupled with 2GB RAM. iPhone 7 will be released in three different capacities; 32GB/128GB/256GB and as you all know, storage cannot be expanded. It runs iOS 10 out-of-the-box.
New Improved Camera
The camera section of iPhone 7 houses a new improved 12 Megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, Phase Detection Autofocus, Dual Tone Quad-LED Flash and an OIS sensor. The camera can shoot videos up to 4K (2160p@30fps) and can shoot 8 Megapixel photos simultaneously. It can also shoot 1080p @ 30fps/60fps/120fps and 720p@240fps. The front camera is a 7 Megapixel camera with f/2.2 aperture. It can shoot Full HD 1080p@30fps and 720p@240fps.
Connectivity, Battery & Other Features
Connectivity options include GPS with A-GPS & GLONASS, USB v2.0 Lightning connector port, Bluetooth v4.2, Wi-Fi, 4G LTE etc. There is no support for FM Radio, Infrared, 3.5 mm Audio jack etc. In case you're wondering, Yes, Apple discontinued 3.5 mm jack from their new iPhones, instead, they'll ship new iPhone with lighting EarPods which will connect to your charging port. There is also a lightning to 3.5 mm converter inside the retail box which can be used for connecting regular earphones to your iPhone. Apple also introduced their new Wireless earphones 'AirPods' which come with a WI chip inside, motion sensors and a long battery life (more on that later). There is a Non-removable Li-ion battery inside the iPhone 7 but the capacity of the battery was not revealed. The fingerprint sensor remains inside the Home button.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Retina Display & New Improved Design
Just like the predecessor iPhone 6S Plus, the iPhone 7 Plus comes with a similar design & display, the 5.5" Inch LED-backlit IPS LCD Retina Display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels & pixel density of 401 ppi. iPhone 7 Plus comes with 3D Touch display & Home button, protected with Ion-strengthened glass & oleophobic coating. The dimensions again are exactly same as 6S Plus but again there is a slight drop in weight, iPhone 7 Plus (188 grams) weighs 4 grams less than iPhone 6S Plus (192 grams) and is IP67 certified for Water & Dust resistance up to 1-meter & 30 minutes.
Faster CPU
Apple iPhone 7 Plus packs a faster Apple A10 Fusion chip, with 64-bit architecture & a Quad-core CPU, with unknown clock speed (as of now). It comes with a Six-Core or Hexa-Core GPU, coupled with 2GB RAM. iPhone 7 Plus will be released in three different capacities; 32GB/128GB/256GB and there is no support for microSD card.
Dual Camera Setup with 4K Video Recording
iPhone 7 Plus comes with a Dual-Camera setup and is the first iPhone to come with Dual-Camera. The camera is a 12 Megapixel sensor with f/1.8 aperture & f/2.8 aperture, 56mm, Phase Detection Autofocus, 2x Optical Zoom, Dual Tone Quad-LED Flash, OIS sensor. It can again shoot 4K videos (2160p@30fps) and shoot 8MP Images simultaneously. Other than that there is 1080p @ 30/60/120fps and 720p@240fps support. The front camera is a 7 Megapixel camera with f/2.2 aperture, 1080p@30fps and 720p@240fps support.
Connectivity, Battery & Other Features
Connectivity options include GPS with A-GPS & GLONASS, USB v2.0 Lightning connector port, Bluetooth v4.2, Wi-Fi, 4G LTE etc. There is no support for FM Radio, Infrared, 3.5 mm Audio jack etc. The fingerprint sensor is located inside the new Home button. There is a Non-removable Li-ion battery inside the iPhone 7 but the capacity of the battery was not revealed, but Apple claimed that it will last an hour more than iPhone 6S Plus. Apple iPhone 7 Plus will be available in Jet Black, Rose Gold, Silver, Gold and Black variants, running the latest iOS 10.
Were They Really Worth the Hype? Our Take on iPhone 7 & iPhone 7 Plus.
As we all know, people expect a lot from Apple and sometimes it lives up to the mark, and other times it does not. Same thing happened yesterday at the iPhone 7 launch, some expectations were met, some rocketed down but in the end, it's not possible to make everyone happy. After closely watching the launch event, we can say that iPhone 7 & 7 Plus do look great in the new range of colors & improved design, they're still pretty same as the previous generation iPhone 6S & 6S Plus. Not even that, the dimensions of both the phones 6S & 7 and 6S Plus & 7 Plus are exactly same. There is a 5-gram drop in weight in new phone but does that really matter? The Jet black variant looks pretty good on screen but note that it is a fingerprint magnet & a bit slippery. Other than that not much was revealed about the Hardware, other than Apple A10 chip.
Another point to note is that Apple is still sticking to 2GB RAM while other phones are touching 4GB, 6GB milestones. I agree that software optimization is more important than the number of gigs in RAM, but still, if you're charging a buttload for a phone, at least upgrade a bit. The battery capacity was again not revealed, it was claimed that it will last an hour more than the previous iPhones, so can;t comment much on that. However that was some improvement in the camera department, iPhone 7 Plus became the first iPhone with a dual camera setup, which is something I'll be looking forward to. Overall iPhone 7 & 7 Plus are something which I'd like to explore more about before commenting. I hope this article covers all the important stuff, if not, you can leave a comment below & I'll be happy to connect with you.
Availability
The Pre-Order for iPhone 7 & iPhone 7 Plus began on September 9, 2016 and Apple will start shipping the units starting September 16. In India it will be available starting October 7
iPhone 7 Price
Apple iPhone 7 will be available in India starting October 7. Apple iPhone 7 Price in India starting at Rs.60,000 for the 32GB variant. There is no official word for other variants. The US price from iPhone 7 is $649 for 32GB, $749 for 128GB and $849 for 256GB. Apple iPhone 7 Plus in US costs, $769 for 32GB, $869 for 128GB and $969 for 256GB variants.
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