Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus review: Big upgrades, but where's the next big thing?

Note: This article was first published on September 16, 2016.

Overview

Apple has had the same formula for years now. First we get a new look iPhone with dazzling new features. Then, the following year, we get the same design, but with a faster processor and a few new tricks. Apple has been doing it since the iPhone 4, and it's a proven system that we've all become accustomed to. Which is why, when Apple revealed the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, initial reactions were mixed. These phones look almost exactly the same as 2015's iPhone 6s, and 2014's iPhone 6. And all those rumors about edge-to-edge OLED displays, wireless charging and smart connectors proved to be, well, just rumors. Where's the new look? Where are the dazzling new features? The new iPhones don't look or feel like the "next big thing". So then, is there still a reason to consider them? Absolutely.

• The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are now IP67 dust and water resistant, capable of surviving submersion in 1m of water for up to 30 minutes.

• The cameras are better: they take better low light shots, and the smaller 7 even gets the optical image stabilization (which was previously reserved only for the Plus edition).

• To keep the 7 Plus camera special, it now has two cameras, one for wide angle shots, and one that's a little more zoomed in. Eventually you'll be able to use this dual-camera setup to take artsy bokeh shots too.

• The batteries are bigger and last longer, the storage has doubled, the processors are a lot faster, and the displays are much better - they're brighter and display more colors.

• And finally, you get stereo speakers.

While individually, none of these features are mind blowing, they all add up to a pretty big upgrade over last year's models. There's nothing revolutionary here, in fact these upgrades aren't even innovative - we've seen all of them on Android smartphones before - but everything about the iPhone 7 is better. Well, almost everything. There's a certain missing 3.5mm port that's not better.

Design

Apple has stuck to basically the same iPhone design for the past three years now. It's a clean and simple look, and it still looks great, but I can't help but look at the beauty that is the Samsung Galaxy Note7 and wonder if Apple couldn't have come up with something even better (maybe next year for the iPhone's 10th anniversary?). To illustrate just how similar these phones are, both the 7 and 7 Plus have identical dimensions to their predecessors. Both are marginally lighter - 5g lighter for the 7, and 4g lighter for the 7 Plus - but they're still noticeably heavier than the 2014 models. Despite the identical dimensions, I should point out that you can't actually re-use your old case as the camera modules on the back are in a slightly different position.

As mentioned, both the 7 and 7 Plus are now IP67 water resistant, which means you can dunk them in 1m of water for up to 30 minutes. Technically, Samsung's Galaxy S7 and Note7 are even more water resistant, but there's not actually that much difference between them. Unlike earlier water resistant phones like Sony's Xperia Z, there are no fiddly ports that need to be sealed shut and while you probably shouldn't take your new iPhone 7 snorkeling, it will survive an accidental drop into the toilet just fine.

Apart from the dust and water resistance, there are three main visual differences between the 6s and the 7. First of all, the unsightly antenna bands on the back now curl around the edge of the phone, which makes them a bit less of an eyesore. On the Jet Black and Black models, they're also black to blend into the body, which is a much welcome refinement. Second, the camera bump is now molded into the rear. Instead of the metal ring surrounded the camera module, the back of the case now forms a small curved lip around the camera. And finally, as you already know by now, there's no 3.5mm headphone port.

Like last year's Rose Gold, Apple has introduced a new color to the iPhone range that is sure to be the go-to choice for status seekers everywhere. In fact, this year there are two new colors: Black and Jet Black. The former is a matte finish that looks like a much darker version of the Space Gray it replaces, and reminds me a lot of the the black/slate iPhone 5 - it's probably my favorite color for the 7 and 7 Plus. Jet Black is Apple's fancy new finish, and it's hard to believe that this phone is even made of the same 7000 series aluminum as the others.

Thanks to Apple's 9-step anodization and polishing process, the back and sides of the phone are just as glossy and slick as its glass display, which results in a gorgeous seamless finish that wraps around the entire device. It's worth noting that the high-gloss finish and slick feel actually make the Jet Black look and feel a little plasticky (the back of the phone reminds me a lot of my old iPhone 3GS), but you have to admire the finishing process Apple has come up with. Here's the other thing about the Jet Black color: you probably want to put it in a case. As Apple themselves have been remarkably candid about, the Jet Black finish "may show fine micro-abrasions with use." Consider that an understatement because, less than 24 hours after we got our review unit, it's already showing some small scratches. It's also pretty much impossible to keep this finish fingerprint or smudge free, so unless you can live with small scratches and fingerprints everywhere, get a case, or a different color.

There's one other design change that you won't see, but you will feel as soon as you turn on your new iPhone. The iPhone 7’s home button is no longer an actual button. Try pressing it with the phone off - nothing happens. The button uses the same Taptic Engine as Apple's newer MacBook trackpads and sends a vibration through the button when you apply pressure to it - it feels like a click, but the button never moves.

You can choose from three levels of click vibration, but none of them really replicate the click of the old mechanical button. While the vibration is localized around the button, you can feel it throughout the entire lower half of the phone. It's an odd sensation that takes some getting used to. Personally, I'm fine with it, but I passed the review unit around the office and a number of people said they really didn't like the new Home button; it just doesn't have the same satisfying depth that the old mechanical Home button had. There are benefits to the new Home button though, it's a lot more durable for one, and Apple has been able to integrate the Taptic Engine into other parts of iOS 10. For example, when you drag the notification panel down, there's a cute little thud vibration when it hits the bottom of the display. It makes the notification panel feel like it has actual weight.

Okay, time to address the elephant in the room. Neither the iPhone 7 nor the 7 Plus have a 3.5mm headphone port. When Phil Schiller was presenting this change on stage, he stated that it was an act of "courage." To me, that means Apple knew the negative reaction they'd get for removing this decades-old standard. Now, according to Apple, the reason for removing the port is that smartphones are best experienced as wireless devices. "It makes no sense to tether ourselves with cables to our mobile devices," Schiller told the audience "but until someone takes on these challenges, that’s what we do." At which point he revealed the wireless AirPods.

This is all well and good, but some of us have expensive headphones that we're very fond of that require a headphone port. Yes, you get a Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter with the iPhone 7 but it's just another thing to misplace or forget to bring with you. And with the Lightning port now also doubling up as your audio output, you can forget about charging your phone and listening to music at the same time - unless you have wireless headphones or you're willing to buy a third-party adapter to split that Lightning port. Right now, Belkin's Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar adapter is your best bet, but it has two Lightning ports, which means if you want to plug in regular headphones you'll have to awkwardly daisy chain the 3.5mm adapter into it. Apple wants to make my life simpler by removing cables, so why is it I now need more adapters (and the wires they're attached to) than ever before? Nothing about this is making my life any simpler Phil.

Apple's wireless AirPods aren't available until late October so I can't comment on the quality of those, but I did try out the Lightning EarPods that come with every iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. To my ears, they're exactly the same as last year's regular EarPods i.e. fairly average in terms of sound quality, and personally, I've never liked the fit in my ears either.

On the plus side, I used my regular Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones with the Lightning to 3.5mm adapter and they sound exactly the same as before, so no loss in audio quality there. Still though, I feel like Apple could have put some extra effort into upgrading the audio quality of the Lightning EarPods to soften the sting of removing the headphone port, especially considering their acquisition of Beats two years ago. It would have been the perfect time to introduce a new Beats Lightning EarPods - complete with a musical performance by Dr. Dre naturally.

Display

Like they have for the past three years, the smaller iPhone 7 has a 4.7-inch 1,335 x 750 pixels resolution (326 ppi) LCD display, and the larger Plus has a 5.5-inch 1,920 x 1,080 pixels resolution (401 ppi) LCD display. While these resolutions may seem rather low-end compared to the QHD displays offered by competitors, I honestly can't see any difference in clarity between the 7, 7 Plus and the QHD 5.7-inch display on the Samsung Galaxy Note7.

While Apple isn't chasing higher and higher resolutions (something I commend them for), they're still making nice improvements to the display in other areas. First of all, the 7 and 7 Plus now support the DCI-P3 wide color gamut, which is the standard used in the film industry, and that means the new iPhones are capable of reproducing more colors than the standard sRGB color range. It's worth noting though that Apple isn't the first company to achieve this specification, the Note7 is also DCI-P3 approved. The new displays are also brighter than last year, with a maximum brightness of 625 nits, significantly more than the 500 nits of the 6s.

The changes are subtle, and honestly, I suspect most people won't notice them at all. Comparing the same picture on the 6s and the 7, it's hard to tell any difference between them, but some colors are just a little bit more lifelike - skies have more shades of blue, and skintones look a little more natural.

One area where Apple still trails behind Samsung is contrast. The Note7's Super AMOLED display is just better at rendering blacks than the iPhone 7's LCD display. They're not bad on the iPhone but they're never truly black. One interesting thing to note is that the iPhone 7 actually has a slightly higher 1400:1 contrast ratio compared to the 7 Plus' 1300:1. Personally, I didn't notice any difference between the two displays at maximum brightness, but theoretically, the smaller 7 has the advantage here.

Audio

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are the first iPhones to feature stereo speakers. We've seen this on a number of Android phones, and considering how most of the content we watch is in landscape orientation, it's amazing Apple has taken this long to implement stereo sound on the iPhone. Here's something weird about the speakers though: while there are two speaker grilles on the bottom of the iPhone, sound only comes out of the right-side one. The other speaker is located under the earpiece. What's the left-side speaker grille for? Aesthetics?

The speakers themselves are surprisingly good. They're much, much louder than before and both treble and bass performance is significantly improved. I no longer have the HTC 10 with me to compare it to, but it sounds pretty close in quality. The stereo seperation could perhaps be a bit better (it's better on the 7 Plus than on the 7) but it does the job.

iOS 10

iOS 10 isn't a major overhaul but it does include some nice new tweaks and improvements. The most noticeable of these is the improved lockscreen. For starters, a new feature called Raise to Wake automatically turns on your iPhone as soon as you pick it up - it works just like it does on the Apple Watch.

With the phone awake, you'll notice that the iconic Slide to Unlock bar is gone. To unlock the phone (either by fingerprint or passcode) just touch the Home button. Alternatively, swipe to the right to access the camera, or swipe left to access a new widget screen. This screen basically works like the widgets we’ve had in the Notification Center since iOS 8, but now they’re much more accessible. You can customize this screen to show news headlines, sports scores, the weather, your calendar and much more. Most of Apple’s default apps support widgets, and quite a lot of major third-party apps do as well. To customize what appears here, head to your widget page, scroll all the way to the bottom, then tap Edit. You can adjust which widgets appear in what order.

The Photos app has been revamped, and now comes with deep learning technology, facial recognition, and object and scene recognition. The app's learning algorithms create "Memories" which sort your photos into various themes based on where you've been and what you've done. You can then use keywords to search through these Memories.

3D Touch has been better integrated into iOS 10. I really liked 3D Touch on the 6s, but beyond some shortcuts and glances at emails it felt like iOS 9 didn't fully take advantage of the feature. There's more you can do with 3D Touch in iOS 10 and I'm still discovering new things you can do with it. Almost every native Apple app has some kind of 3D Touch contextual menu now, and I've also discovered that a lot more third party apps are now 3D Touch compatible.

The Taptic Engine is everywhere in iOS too. Pull down the notification panel and there's a vibration when it hits the bottom of the screen. Flick through your albums in Apple Music and you'll feel a little click each time you scroll. It's a neat addition that makes the OS more fun to use and adds some nice tactile feedback at the same time.

For a full look at the new features in iOS 10, check out our coverage from WWDC this year.

Benchmark Performance

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus both run on Apple's new A10 Fusion SoC, a quad-core processor that pairs two high performance cores with two low-power, high efficiency cores that only use 20 percent of the power of the other cores. When you're doing mundane tasks like web browsing or reading your email, these cores will kick in and save you battery life. According to Apple, the A10 is 40 percent faster than the A9 chip in the iPhone 6s, and twice as fast as the A8 in the 6. Phil Schiller also mentioned on stage that the new A10 Fusion is 120 times faster than the original iPhone!

Graphics performance has also improved, and Apple is promising "console-level gaming" as a result. Inside the A10 Fusion is a hexa-core graphics chip that's 50 percent faster than the A9 found in the iPhone 6s, and three times faster than the A8 in the iPhone 6.

One other thing worth noting is that the 7 has 2GB RAM while the 7 Plus has 3GB RAM. Here's how they compare with their predecessors and competitive offerings from the Android camp before we move onwards with performance findings:-

Sunspider Javascript

SunSpider JavaScript measures the browsing performance of a device when processing JavaScript. It not only takes into consideration the underlying hardware performance, but also assesses how optimized a particular platform is at delivering a high-speed web browsing experience.

Apple has always performed really well on this benchmark and that trend continues with the 7 and 7 Plus. The two phones are the first to record sub-200ms scores! In terms of actual user experience, the web browsing experience on both phones was lightning fast, smooth and lag-free.

3DMark Sling Shot

3DMark Sling Shot is an advanced 3D graphics benchmark that tests the full range of OpenGL ES 3.1 and ES 3.0 API features including multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback. The test also includes impressive volumetric lighting and post-processing effects. We're running this benchmark in Unlimited mode, which ignores screen resolutions.

The results of this benchmark really gives weight to Apple's claims of "console-level gaming" as the 7 and 7 Plus were way ahead of the pack - only Samsung's Exynos 8890-powered Note7 even came close. Strangely enough, the extra 1GB of RAM in the 7 Plus didn't seem to give it much of an advantage.

Camera Performance

The iPhone 7 has a single 12-megapixel, f/1.8 camera on its rear. Apple has brought optical image stabilization to the 7, previously found only on the Plus model, and there's also a new camera sensor that Apple says is 60 percent faster than before and 30 percent more efficient. According to Apple, the Image Signal Processor is improved too, resulting in better auto white balance, auto exposure and auto focus. Finally, the True Tone flash has received an upgrade, and now uses four LEDs instead of two, resulting in a 50 percent brighter flash. An interesting side-effect of the upgraded flash is the torchlight feature can now be customized into three different brightness settings - just 3D press it to select one.

The 7 Plus gets Apple's first dual-camera setup, which pairs a 12-megapixel f/1.8 wide-angle shooter with a 12-megapixel f/2.8 telephoto camera to give the Plus 2x zoom functionality. Of course, the iPhone 7 Plus isn't the first phone to offer dual cameras, nor is it the first with optical zoom (LG's G5 has a very similar dual camera setup, while ASUS' ZenFone Zoom has a single camera setup that offers up to 3x optical zoom).

Using the new camera app is elegant and simple, you just tap to switch between 1x and 2x zoom, or drag a slider to select a specific zoom length. You can still pinch to zoom too. The 7 Plus actually goes up to 10x zoom, but after 2x you're into digital zoom territory, which gets noisy pretty fast (I wouldn't recommend using anything over 4x).

The second camera feels a bit gimmicky and I've always been an advocate of zooming with your feet anyway. Still, it's useful to have when it's physically impossible to move any closer to your subject. One thing that's currently missing from the iPhone 7 Plus' feature set is the portrait bokeh effect we saw at the launch event. Dual camera setups have been used in the past to fake the shallow depth of field background blurring that you typically see on portraits shot with wide aperture DSLR lenses but the results so far have been mixed, often with jagged edges along background/foreground lines. It remains to be seen how good Apple's effort will be because this feature won't be available until later this year.

The front cameras have received a nice upgrade too. On both the 7 and 7 Plus you now get a 7-megapixel, f/2.2 shooter.

Picture quality on the 7 Plus' rear cameras are good with natural color reproduction and sharp details. I did notice some softening towards the edge of the frame when shooting with the wide-angle lens, but the telephoto lens is sharp from edge-to-edge.

Look out for a full camera review of the iPhone 7 Plus next week after we've taken it out for a spin around town.

Battery Life

One of the few upsides to removing the headphone port is more internal space for a larger battery. As a result, the iPhone 7 now has a 1,960mAh battery, 12.5 percent larger than the 6s, and the 7 Plus has a 2,900mAh battery, 5 percent larger than the one in the 6s Plus.

Our standard battery test for mobile phones has the following parameters:

• Looping a 720p video with screen brightness and volume at 100%

• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on

• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

Despite only a small increase in battery size, we saw a huge increase in battery life as the 7 lasted an extra two hours on our video looping benchmark and the 7 Plus lasted just under two hours more. In my day to day usage, I've also noticed a decent increase in battery life. After a full day of usage, my 6s is usually down to about 10-20 percent by the end of the day, whereas the 7 finishes the day with about 30 percent left.

Conclusion

If you can get over the re-used design (the new Jet Black and Black colors really help with that) and the whole no headphone port thing, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are easily contenders for the best smartphones on the market. Apple has upgraded nearly everything on the phones: the display, the processor, the storage, the speakers, the build, the cameras, the battery. But like I said in the overview, none of those upgrades feel like the next big thing. In fact, we've already seen all of the iPhone 7's new features on rival Android phones.

In many ways, Apple is a victim of its own success. Year upon year, Apple dazzles us with envelope-pushing, ground-breaking technology. We expect Apple to set industry trends. So when the biggest talking point of the new iPhone is that it's lacking a headphone port, it makes you wonder if the iPhone 7 is really that big of a deal at all.

It's hard to get over the fact that these iPhones feel incomplete too, at least for now. Phil Schiller delivered a passionate speech about the "courage" required to remove the headphone port and live in a wireless world, but then, Apple's wireless AirPod earphones won't even be available for another month. Apple hasn't even announced a release date for the background blurring Portrait mode on the 7 Plus - easily the most intriguing feature of the dual camera setup - other than to say, sometime towards the end of the year. Down the road, this won't be a problem, and I'll revisit this review in a few months time when things have changed, but just know that if you're one of the first to get your hands on an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, you'll have to wait a bit before it can reach its full potential.

Ultimately, that's been my experience with the iPhone 7: I'm waiting. Waiting for wireless audio. Waiting for bokeh mode. Waiting for next year's iPhone with its rumored drastic re-design. Going from the 6s to the 7 hasn't really changed anything, other than the fact that I now carry a weird set of adapters with me everywhere. The phone slips into the same place in my pocket, and it feels the same in my hand. Yes, the battery life is better, and the photos I take look better, but it hasn't changed my life or the way I use my phone.

If you need to buy a new phone right now, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are excellent. They're the best iPhones Apple has ever made. But if you decide to wait for next year, you won't actually be missing out on much. Don't get me wrong, Apple needed to make the iPhone 7. They needed to go back to basics and improve the fundamentals by adding features like water resistance and stereo speakers - features that their rivals have been pushing for years. And now that they've done that, Apple is ready to build on that foundation and change everything again. But we'll have to wait for next year's iPhone to experience that.