After a wait of many months, Apple finally showcased its iPhone 7 at an event in San Francisco. Like last year, iPhone 6s launch Apple has brought out two variants - the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. As per the latest news, the Cupertino giant is going to launch these devices in India on October 7, contrary to the previous reports that hinted the launch for September. The base model of the iPhone 7 (32GB storage) will start at Rs. 60,000 in India. There is no info regarding the pricing for other 128GB/256GB storage variants.
Pricing (India not under first preference countries)
In the United States, the base model (32GB storage) of the iPhone 7 will retail at $649 (approx. Rs. 43,000) while the iPhone 7 Plus's base model (32GB storage) will start at $769 (approx. Rs. 51,000). These devices will go on pre-ordering in select countries from Friday. Apple will start shipping them from September 13. Apple has yet again excluded India from its first preference regions.
Force-sensitive Home Button, Color Options, Water and Dust Resistant
Coming on to the specifications of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, we do not see any significant design change from the iPhone 6s, except for the change in position of antenna lines. Apple has introduced to new colors for the iPhone 7 - Matte Black (matte finish) and Jet Black (gloss finish). There are other colors too - Gold, Silver, and Rose Gold. This time around, Apple has given an overhaul to its Home button, which is now integrated with a force-sensitive touch that works on Apple's Taptic engine. It is a similar technology as we had seen on the latest MacBooks. And yes, both the devices have IP67 certification, which makes them water and dust resistant.
Camera
Apple has seemingly worked hard for the camera performance on the latest iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. There is a single lens 12MP rear camera with Digital zoom up to 5x on the iPhone 7 while 12MP wide-angle and telephoto dual cameras (two lenses) on the iPhone 7 Plus that gives it ability to capture Optical zoom at 2x and digital zoom up to 10x. Cameras on both the devices have features such as 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps or 60 fps, Quad-LED True Tone flash, Six?element lens, Optical image stabilization, Hybrid IR filter, Live Photos with stabilization, and much more.
Display and Performance
The iPhone 7 comes with a 4.7-inch LED-backlit widescreen Retina display while the iPhone 7 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch LED-backlit widescreen Retina display. Powering both the devices is a new A10 Fusion 64-bit quad core chip, which is touted by Apple to have 40 percent faster processing power than the A9 SoC. The new A10 chipset is also claimed to be better at battery saving. The iPhone 7 features 2GB of RAM while the iPhone 7 Plus comes with 3GB of RAM. Both the devices run iOS 10, which is Apple's latest version of iOS. The iOS 1o will start rolling out from September 13 to other Apple devices as well.
AirPods and Lightning Port
Another highly-rumored feature on the iPhone 7 was its stereo speakers, lack of 3.5mm audio jack, and "AirPods". Everything turned out to be true, the iPhone 7 skips the 3.5mm audio jack and has Lightning port for audio. But, Apple will provide a Lightning-to-3.5mm audio adapter with the device package so that users can connect their regular earphones. The stereo speakers on the iPhone 7 are placed at the top and bottom. The stereo speakers are claimed to deliver better and immersive sound output, almost twice the iPhone 6s lineup.
Apple's newest addition to the iPhone accessories is "AirPods". These wireless pods will not be a part of the iPhone 7 package and would be up for sale separately, priced at $159. These wireless pods can be easily paired with Apple devices via W1 chip integrated inside the new Apple devices. The AirPods come with an easy to carry charging case.
