The launch was another theatrical masterpiece. From the moment you saw James Corden bopping along with Tim Cook to the eventual iPhone 7 announcement, you could virtually taste the excitement. The audience had been whipped up into a hot quivering mess with a Nike Apple Watch, Super Mario and some banter about Pokemon. Then, when the gathered crowd couldn’t take any more, the iPhone exploded all over the stage … and not in a Samsung Galaxy Note7 way either.
Of course, Apple did kinda give the game away by showing both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus on the Hong Kong site beforehand, plus we pretty much knew what was arriving anyway. Let’s talk pricing and availability then. You can pre-order from this Friday (September 9th) and you can get it in the shops on September 16th, that’s next Friday people. In America you’ll be paying a base price of $649 for the iPhone 7 or $769 for the iPhone 7 Plus. Here in the UK the iPhone 7 will cost £599 and the 7 Plus will cost £719.
Network-wise, EE tell us that they’re the only network to give iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus customers the full CAT 9 beans over their EE 4G+ network. In theory this should give you 400Mbps speeds and it’ll be hitting 500 masts by December next year. Head to www.ee.co.uk/iphone7 from September 9th to pre-order. They’ll be taking the new Apple Watch Series 2 too. Vodafone have also confirmed that they’ll be taking both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
The Apple Watch 2 is now more than just splash proof – you can swim in the thing and the screen is twice the brightness as that Apple Watch 1. The Watch 2 comes in aluminium, stainless steel and… yes, ceramic. There’s GPS inside, so you can go swimming and do everything else without having to cart your phone around too. Like the phones, you can pre-order it this Friday and it’ll be in shops next Friday.
Back to the phones then and – to huge whoops and cheers from the assembled audience – two new shades appeared. Not only is there Rose Gold, Gold and Silver. No… now we get Jet Black and Black too. The new iPhones are now water and dust resistant, plus they’ve virtually got rid of those antenna bands around the edges of the phones. Good.
As with the new Watch 2, the iPhone 7 has a brighter display – 25% brighter than the 6s and with 3D Touch to register a wider range of pressure. New features in iOS 10 will appear to make use of this.
The camera then and, as widely expected, there’s two… on the iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone 7 has just the one, but there’s 12 megapixel resolution on both and an f1/8 aperture. The iPhone 7 camera will do 5x digital zoom, but thanks to the double camera arrangement on the iPhone 7 Plus you’ll get an optical zoom at 2x plus a digital zoom up to 10x. Again, this is all widely leaked – the iPhone 7 Plus has a wide-angle megapixel camera alongside a telephoto camera. Apple state that it’ll get 50% more light onto the sensor and the 12 megapixel shooter is 60% faster than the 6s. There’s OIS, plus head and body detection and a 7 megapixel selfie shooter up front.
As expected, the 3.5mm audio port is gone. Lightning EarPods will be in the box and there’s a fugly adaptor to connect those “old school” (or, as I like to call them, the PORT THAT EVERY OTHER BIT OF AUDIO KIT IN THE WORLD USES) 3.5mm audio plugs into the Lightning port. Want to charge your iPhone while you listen to tunes? Not with this adaptor mate, you’re flat out of luck.
Bluetooth seems to be part of the push here, especially as it’ll give a more predictable audio output, and you can use Apple’s AirPods to listen to music wirelessly.
At the heart of the iPhone 7 – a new A10 chip. This is said to be 40% faster than the 6s CPU. The phones are available in three storage sizes – 32GB is the smallest, then there’s 128GB and 256GB. Don’t ask me why there’s no 64GB one. If I’m honest though, when the iPhone 7 is in a case, you’ll struggle to tell the difference between this and the iPhone 6s.
Come on. You know it’s true.
If you want to look different, if you want people to know that you’ve got the new phone; you’re going to have to buy the eye-wateringly expensive iPhone 7 Plus because that one has the more obvious design difference with that double camera arrangement. That means spending more, which is great for Apple.
The only real difference that is immediately noticeable between the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 7 is the lack of those antenna bands. Here’s the official imagery from their website…
Apple Introduces iPhone 7 & iPhone 7 Plus —The Best, Most Advanced iPhone Ever
Including Breakthrough New Camera Systems, the Best Battery Life Ever in an iPhone and Water & Dust Resistance
SAN FRANCISCO — September 7, 2016 — Apple® today introduced iPhone® 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, the best, most advanced iPhone ever, packed with unique innovations that improve all the ways iPhone is used every day. The new iPhone features new advanced camera systems that take pictures like never before, more power and performance with the best battery life ever in an iPhone, immersive stereo speakers, wide color system from camera to display, two new beautiful finishes, and is the first water and dust resistant iPhone. iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be available in more than 25 countries beginning Friday, September 16.
“iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus dramatically improve every aspect of the iPhone experience, reaching a new level of innovation and precision to make this the best iPhone we have ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The completely redesigned cameras shoot incredible photos and videos day or night, the A10 Fusion chip is the most powerful chip on any smartphone while delivering the best battery life ever in an iPhone, and an entirely new stereo speaker system provides twice the sound, all within the first water and dust resistant iPhone.”
New Advanced Camera Systems
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus take the world’s most popular camera and make it even better with entirely new camera systems. The 12-megapixel camera includes optical image stabilization on both iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and a larger ƒ/1.8 aperture and 6-element lens enable brighter, more detailed photos and videos, and a wide color capture allows for more vibrant colors with more detail. iPhone 7 Plus features the same 12-megapixel wide angle camera as iPhone 7 and adds a 12-megapixel telephoto camera that together offer optical zoom at two times and up to 10 times digital zoom for photos.
Coming later this year, the dual 12-megapixel cameras also enable a new depth-of-field effect, using both cameras on iPhone 7 Plus to capture images, while sophisticated technology including Machine Learning separates the background from the foreground to achieve amazing portraits once possible only with DSLR cameras.
Additional Camera Advancements Include:
New Apple-designed Image Signal Processor, which processes over 100 billion operations on a single photo in as little as 25 milliseconds, resulting in incredible photos and videos;
New 7-megapixel FaceTime® HD camera with wide color capture, advanced pixel technology and auto image stabilization for even better selfies; and
New Quad-LED True Tone® flash that is 50 percent brighter than iPhone 6s including an innovative sensor that detects the flickering in lights and compensates for it in videos and photos.
More Performance & Battery Life
The new custom-designed Apple A10 Fusion chip features a new architecture that powers these innovations, making it the most powerful chip ever in a smartphone, while also getting more time between charges with the longest battery life ever in an iPhone. The A10 Fusion’s CPU now has four cores, seamlessly integrating two high-performance cores that run up to two times faster than iPhone 6, and two high-efficiency cores that are capable of running at just one-fifth the power of the high-performance cores. Graphics performance is also more powerful, running up to three times faster than iPhone 6 at as little as half the power, enabling a new level of gaming and professional apps.
Both phones include support for up to 25 LTE bands, for the best worldwide roaming in the industry, and LTE Advanced for three times faster data rates than iPhone 6 at up to 450 Mbps.1 For customers in Japan, iPhone will now support the leading FeliCa contactless technology, bringing the ability to use credit and prepaid cards, including on iD and QuicPay domestic networks, and Suica, Japan’s dominant transit card issued by JR East, the world’s largest transit operator.
An Amazing Audio Experience
New stereo speakers offer amazing and immersive sound that is two times louder than iPhone 6s, offering increased dynamic range of sound and a higher quality speakerphone. The new iPhone comes with EarPods® with Lightning® connector to deliver incredible sound, as well as a 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter that allows customers to use old headphones and accessories.
New AirPods™, Apple’s innovative new wireless headphones, weave simplicity and technology together to reinvent the wireless experience making headphones easy to use. Featuring the new Apple W1 chip, AirPods have extremely efficient wireless communication for a better connection, improved sound and industry-leading battery life. AirPods harness the power of Siri®, allowing you to access your favorite personal assistant with just a double tap.
Design That Makes a Splash
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus come in a gorgeous design in silver, gold and rose gold finishes and introduce two all-new black finishes, a beautiful black finish that has an anodized matte appearance, and an innovative jet black finish that has a deep, high-gloss look. The new jet black finish is accomplished through an innovative nine-step process of anodization and polish for a uniform, glossy finish. An entirely reengineered enclosure results in a water resistant iPhone offering protection like never before against spills, splashes and dust.2
The new iPhone features the brightest, most colorful Retina® HD display ever in an iPhone, now with a wide color gamut for cinema-standard colors, greater color saturation and the best color management in the smartphone industry. An all-new, advanced, solid-state Home button on iPhone 7 is designed to be durable and responsive, and working in tandem with the new Taptic Engine®, provides more precise and customizable tactile feedback.
Featuring iOS 10, the Biggest iOS Release Ever
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus come with iOS 10, the biggest release ever of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. iOS 10 introduces a huge update to Messages that delivers more expressive and animated ways to message friends and family, the ability for Siri to do more by working with apps, new ways to interact with apps and even more places to use 3D Touch™, beautifully redesigned Maps, Photos, Apple Music® and News apps, and the Home app, delivering a simple and secure way to manage home automation products in one place. iOS 10 also opens up incredible opportunities for developers with Siri, Maps, Phone and Messages APIs, allowing customers to do more than ever with the apps they love to use.
Pricing & Availability
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be available in silver, gold, rose gold and the new black finish in 32GB, 128GB and 256GB models starting at $649 (US), and the new jet black finish will be offered exclusively on the 128GB and 256GB models from Apple.com, Apple Stores, Apple Authorized Resellers and select carriers.
Through Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program, customers in the US, and for the first time in the UK and China, can get an unlocked iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, with the protection of AppleCare®+, choose their carrier and have the opportunity to upgrade to a new iPhone every year. The iPhone Upgrade Program is available at Apple.com and Apple Stores in the US with monthly payments starting at $32.3
Customers will be able to order iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus beginning Friday, September 9, with availability beginning Friday, September 16, in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UAE, the UK, US Virgin Islands and the US.
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be available in Andorra, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Greenland, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia and Slovenia beginning Friday, September 23. iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will also be available to customers in India beginning Friday, October 7.
The new Apple-designed wireless AirPods including charging case will be available for $159 (US) from Apple.com and Apple Stores beginning in late October. All iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models will include EarPods with Lightning Connector and a Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter, also sold separately at Apple.com and Apple Stores, for $29 (US) and $9 (US), respectively.
Apple-designed accessories including leather and silicone cases in a range of colors will be available starting at $35 (US) and iPhone 7 Smart Battery Case will be offered in black and white for $99 (US) from Apple.com and Apple Stores. Lightning Docks in several color-matching metallic finishes will also be available for $49 (US).
Every customer who buys iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus from Apple will be offered free Personal Setup, in-store or online4, to help them customize their iPhone by setting up email, showing them new apps from the App Store® and more.
Anyone who wants to learn more about iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus or iOS 10 can register for the free workshops offered at every Apple Store®.
