Apple revealed the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus during the company’s Apple Event today, revealing its next flagship smartphone.
The iPhone 7 may not be the bold new upgrade that was the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but there were a surprisingly large amount of news to take away from the event given that it was predicted that the flagship would be a disappointment. Along with being a much more powerful smartphone than even the iPhone 6S, major changes to the device’s camera and the introduction of the company’s “AirPods” (more on that later) were at the forefront of the presentation.
Take a look at everything you need to know about the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus below:
- Apple clearly loves the design of the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus. The latter is designed with a “new finish” called jet black. High gloss, making it a seamless color all the way round the device. Stainless steel Apple logo. It’s also available in standard black, gold, silver and rose gold.
- The Home button has been redesigned to make it more responsive and reliable. It’s now force-sensitive, working with a more responsive taptic engine that grants different feedback for messages, notifications and even ringtones.
- Both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are water and dust resistant.
- iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus features optical image stablization, f/1..8 aperture allowing 50% more light, six-element lens, a 12-MP high-speed semsor making it 60% faster and 30% more energy efficint. Quad-LED True Tone flash allowing 50% more flight, and a flicker sensor that upgrades the image quality. Apple-designed image signal processor (ISP) that has twice the throughput of previous versions.
- New ISP can intelligently scan an image to focus, add color and even take multiple photos to create the “perfect image.” It performs 100 billion functions in 25 milliseconds.
- Live Photos have been improved, with image stabilization and new editing features. RAW camera API can now be captured.
- The front-facing camera is now 7MP HD, with wide color capture and auto image stabilization.
- iPhone 7 Plus boasts a dual lens camera, as previously reported, with it working to greatly enhance the zoom feature. Allows up to 10x zoom.
- Here’s the first depth-of-field image taken using an iPhone 7 Plus:
- The iPhone 7 Plus is the “best camera ever featured in a smartphone… allowing people to take incredible photos using creative tools.”
- The depth-of-field bokeh feature will be available in a free update released later this year.
- Retina HD display for both iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. 25% brighter display with the 3D Touch layer integrated.
- headphones now connect over Lightning rather than the removed headphone jack.
- Adapter for analog headphones included with each iPhone 7.
- Apple AirPods are brand new wireless headphones, offering 24 hours of battery life. Deliver “incredible sound,” can connect to other Apple devices.
- iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will get new Apple Pay NFC technology directly from Japan, called Felica, in late October.
- Transit maps will also appear on Apple Maps in Japan at the same time.
- The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will run on the A10 Fusion chip, “the most powerful chip ever in a smartphone.” Will allow for graphics that are 240 times faster than the original iPhone, and can switch between high performance and low battery modes automatically.
- The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have the longest battery lives of any iPhone, with the iPhone 7 lasting 2 hours longer than the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 7 Plus lasting 1 hour longer than the iPhone 6S.
- The iPhone 7 costs $649 in 32GB, 128GB and 256GB.
- iPhone 7 Plus comes in at 32GB, 128GB and 256GB.
- Pre-orders for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus begins on September 9th, with shipping beginning on September 16th.