Apple *officially* unveils the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus

We already know that it’s water resistant, has stereo speakers, and has a brand new camera (because Apple accidentally tweeted about it earlier today). But Apple is finally unveiling the next-gen iPhone officially, and everything seems fairly in line with what rumors have been suggesting all summer.

Design

The body is quite similar to the iPhone 6s, but it’s SHINY! Essentially, they used robots to spin the aluminum bodies through sand to make it insanely shiny. They call it “Jet Black.” It comes with a stainless steel Apple logo and the body is supposed to merge seamlessly with the glass display



There’s also a “black” model, which comes with a black Apple logo, along with your standard gold, rose gold and silver options.

Essentially, the black will come in both matte and glossy.



Home Button

The Home Button will now rely on Apple’s taptic engine, just like new Mac trackpads. It won’t actually click, but it’ll feel like it.



Water and Dust Resistance

The new iPhones will be more durable than any that have come before, at least when it comes to serious corruption from water and dust. The next-gen models meet the IP67 protection standard, which is good enough to briefly drop it in a pool (or, more likely, a toilet) but not good enough to shower with regularly.



Camera

The new iPhones will have optical image stabilization, allowing for up to 3x longer exposure. The iPhone 7 camera has a six-element, 1.8 aperture lens, a 12 megapixel sensor that is 60 percent faster, with a quad-LED flash with 50 percent light output. Plus, the iPhone 7 will have a 7-megapixel front camera, up from a 5-megapixel camera on the iPhone 6s.

But, as I’m sure you’re wondering, that doesn’t account for all those dual-lens camera rumors we heard all summer.



Enter the iPhone 7 Plus, which comes with two 12-megapixel cameras on the back. The dual-lens setup allows for both wide angle and telephoto — one lens handles 1x zoom and the other hands 2x zoom.

Users can simply tap on the screen of the camera app to zoom 2x, automatically focusing on the region that was tapped. Beyond 2x zoom, you head back into the realm of digital zoom. All in all, the iPhone 7 Plus will go all the way to 10x zoom.



The dual-lens camera, and a forthcoming “Portrait” feature, will offer DSLR quality bokeh, or shallow depth of field (that blur you get behind someone when you take their portrait with a high-end camera).



Audio and Display

Let’s just get the display info out of the way, since there isn’t much news there. The new iPhone displays will be 25 percent brighter, with wide color range and continued support for 3D Touch.

Now to the good stuff:

The new iPhones now come with stereo speakers, and we’ve finally confirmed that the 3.5mm headphone jack is gone. Instead, Earpods will connect via the Lightning port. Lightning Earpods will be included in the box, and so will an adapter for folks who are invested in 3.5mm compatible headphones.

In short, Apple needs more space for things like taptic engines and dual-lens cameras, and needed to get rid of the 3.5mm port for something more versatile, like the Lightning port.



More importantly, Apple is introducing a wireless option with the AirPods.

AirPods will use Infrared sensors to detect when they’re in your ears, playing only when they’re in your ears. The setup process is super easy — connect the AirPods once to your iPhone, and the AirPods instantly sync over iCloud to your other devices. From there, you never worry about them again.

You can double-tap the AirPod to activate Siri, and the AirPods offer up to 5 hours of playback before needing a charge.



This is all made possible by Apple’s first wireless chip, the W1, which will also be featured in a new wireless Beats headphone. Apple hasn’t yet announced pricing for the AirPods, nor have they said whether they’ll be included with the iPhone 7. (That’s doubtful, seeing as the iPhones have Lightning-based EarPods included in the box.)

Apple Pay

The biggest piece of news here is that the next-gen iPhones will support felica, the NFC technology used in Japan. Japan is a big mobile payments country, and Apple’s rollout of Apple Pay there is a big step towards the progress of mobile payments as a whole.



Performance

With each new iPhone comes a new processor, and the iPhone 7 is no diffrent. The new A10 fusion has a four-core CPU: two high-performance CPU cores (each 40 percent faster than the A9) and two high-efficiency cores that run at one-fifth the power to save battery life.

A new performance controller determines which apps run on which core.

And far more importantly, the new iPhones both have the best battery life of any previous iPhones.

On average, you can expect to get about two hours from the iPhone 6s to the iPhone 7, and about an hour more on the iPhone 7 Plus than you would form the iPhone 6s Plus.

Here is the read-out on hourly battery usage based on activity:



Availability

The iPhones are staying at the same price points, but upgrading storage capacity. The 16GB model is gone, and the configurations now go from 32GB to 128GB to 256GB. The iPhone 7 starts at $649 unlocked and iPhone 7 Plus starts at $769.

The iPhone SE will be the only 16GB model, while iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S plus will now start at 32GB. Pre-orders start on Friday, and store availability starts on September 16.

AirPods, for $159, go live in October.



source: techcrunch.com

Man... All these new features about this iphome 7 are SICK!!! Talking about the design and and how sleek it looks and its ability to resist water and dust, this proves the extent to which technology is advancing... Woow!!! Let alone the sound, display and camera quality... Simply awesome..

I only like the camera bit. The portrait feature sounds interesting. Overall, I see iPhones are simply overpriced. $649...what? Even my 2013 Xperia Z has IP57 certification for dust and water resistance. And I don't really see so much of an improvement in the specs. It looks good though.

I see where you are coming from, you are the Android Os fan. But trust me there is no phone on plant earth that have any specs close to this one, just take the A10 fusion has a four-core CPU: two high-performance CPU cores (each 40 percent faster than the A9) and two high-efficiency cores that run at one-fifth the power to save battery life, The Iphone7 have something most laptops do not have let alone some Samsung android Phone,

But i do agree with you on the $649 Price tag thingy. its very costly i must admit but as always there are people who capable of buying it.

Its just an overpriced and over hyped phone.It's the same as the iPhone 6.There are phones out there are water and dust resistant but are way more cheaper.They've killed of the ear phone Jack and they've made it compulsory to use the airpods which cost $159.What is they get lost or worst swallowed by your kid.The Specs are also similar to the iPhone 6 with just a few improvements.They is no way this phone can be compaired to a laptop.The specs are not anything incredible and its not something we've not heard of before.

Apple always introduce the same phones over and over again with just a few changes.
Their goal is just to suck away the cash of people.

I see you are also an android fanatic. Ok fine, your kid can swallow the airpods, but cant the same kid swallow a coin which is even bigger the airpods. Are you not tried of buying earphones every single month or week because it has broken, besides it included in the package when you buy the phone.

Remember this is not an ordinary airpod,this airpods are made which technology worth 3 billion dollars when Apple bout beats from Dr Dre. Quality is costly, and you must anderstand.

Some people pay 30 million dollars just to take a tour in Space Station. Trust me, they will have millions pre-oders just on the first day...... just wait till it hit japan or china.

Ya i agree with the Admin................. an iphone is of a higher quality than most phones i remember that when the network gets jammed and people can not allow cashout with their phones to get money an iphone user will not have any problems withdrawing his, when the mtn midnight browsing was giving me problems on my android phone the iphones did not experience the same problem it was as if it didn't even know what was going on. And their macbooks is sick man i remember being able to log on to a shared wifi connection that only takes 5 wifi devices and it was full and yet i managed to connect it turns out that it disconnected someone from the wifi in order for it to get access.........well i could go on and on about apple devices but i will stop here.

I'm not against the iPhone o. You guys are getting me wrong here.
1. Apple focuses on one handset with each iteration. Thus when iPhone 4 was launched that was it. No need to worry about ten other models for that year. Then improvement would come in the iPhone 4s and so on. This means more time would be spent on a single product, thus better outcome in terms of quality.

Most of the other brands like my very own Sony and and my much disliked Samsung have several models coming out each year. In a single model year, Samsung could have different models for their Galaxy S series, the Galaxy A series, J series and so on. They only make a few modifications and tradeoffs and push them as variants of the same model.

You agree with me that the one who has a single model per model year would do much better.

2. I understand that Apple have carved a niche in the market for themselves. Their products look and feel more "premium" than their counterparts. They look well thought of and made, unlike the shabby products some other manufacturers churn out. So yeah.....an iPhone is an iPhone....simple.


My problem is with the hype and price. Under the hood the specs are good. But these are not out of the world. Some other brands offer similar or better specs for much less. If you have a very fat check book, why not? Otherwise there are equally well placed options available from other brands in the same price range.

I agree with @WhiPL4$h.Although the specs are good its not something we haven't of before.There are many cheap but quality phones like the One Plus 3.If you have money there is no harm in buying an iPhone.But many Ghanaians like hyping.They buy iPhones at expensive prices and be using it for Airtel free Facebook.Most people buy it to show off.

Why is it that almost all the iPhones I've seen have cracked screens?Has anyone noticed this.