iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus launched: All you need to know

Apple unveiled the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus at an event in San Francisco. The company says it is the “best iPhone” they have ever created.

The iPhone 7 is priced at $649 (approximately Rs 43,000) for the 32GB storage variant while the iPhone 7 Plus start at $769 (Rs 51,000). The company scrapped the 16GB variant and added two new models, 128GB and 256GB. The AirPods will cost $159 (approximately Rs 10,000) and will not come in the box.

Pre-orders begin on September 9 while the devices will ship on September 13 in select countries. The new iOS10 comes out September 13. It is believed that the iPhone 7 models will launch in India on October 7, with the iPhone 7 base model starting at Rs 60,000 respectively.            

Design

The design for the iPhone 7 models looks awfully similar to the iPhone 6s. However, Apple has ditched the headphone jack and installed dual speaker grills on the bottom of the device instead. Apple announced new wireless earbuds, called the AirPods. Apart from the silver, gold and rose gold color variants, Apple introduced two-new black finishes, called black, jet (glossy) black. Apple says that the new jet black finish is accomplished through an innovative nine-step process of anodization and polish for a uniform, glossy finish. The new iPhones are now water resistant (IP67), offering protection against spills, splashes and dust. The home button is now Force Touch sensitive as well. Lastly, a second-generation fingerprint sensor is built into the new Home button too.

Display

The iPhone 7 sports a 4.7-inch LED Multi-touch display with a 1334X750 pixel resolution at 326 ppi whereas the iPhone 7 Plus sports a 5.5-inch LED Multi-touch display with a 1920X1080 pixel resolution at 401 ppi. The iPhone 7 comes with a Retina HD display that's 25 percent brighter than the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. Apple's Phil Schiller is confident in the quality of the iPhone 7 display and has touted it as being the "best display on any smartphone."

Processor and storage

The new iPhones include a new A10 Fusion chip with a 64-bit embedded M10 motion coprocessor. This chip is said to be 40 percent faster than the A9. Apple's Phil Shiller stated that the new A10 fusion is 120 times faster than an original iPhone. However, the most significant change the chip will play is for the battery life. Apple stated that the new chip lets the iPhone 7 last more than two hours more than the iPhone 6S, making it the "longest battery life ever in an iPhone."

Apple finally ditched the 16GB storage variant for the new iPhones. The iPhone 7 and iphone 7 Plus will be available in 32GB, 128GB and 256GB storage variants.

Camera

The iPhone 7 packs in a 12MP camera with quad-LED with True Tone Flash a new 6-element f/1.8 aperture lens. It includes a new 7MP front facing camera. The iPhone 7 Plus packs in a dual rear camera setup, out of which one sports a 56mm telephoto lens and the other, a wide-angle lens. The devices also include optical image stabilization (OIS). They include 4K video recording at 30 fps and are capable of 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps or 60 fps. The iPhone 7 offers a digital zoom up to 3x while the iPhone 7 Plus offers an optical zoom at 2x along with a digital zoom of up to 6x respectively.

Battery

Though exact details have not been shared regarding the battery, the iPhone 7 is said to last up to 2 hours longer battery life than iPhone 6s while the iPhone 7 Plus has a battery life which is said to last up to 1 hour longer than iPhone 6s Plus.