After months of speculation, Apple has finally revealed its next iPhones.
The tech giant unveiled the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus at a press event in San Francisco on Wednesday. As expected, the iPhone 7 comes with a slightly modified design compared to its predecessor, the iPhone 6s, but offers better performance thanks to more powerful components. The iPhone 7 comes in 32GB, 128, and 256GB storage sizes and has a $649 starting price. The iPhone 7 Plus offers the same amount of storage. Preorders on both devices start on Friday, Sept. 9, and the handset will ship on Sept. 16.
The new iPhone comes with a similar design to the iPhone 6s introduced last year, but comes with an aluminum body designed to deliver a “high-gloss black finish.” In addition, earlier rumors suggesting Apple would ditch the headphone jack were true: Apple installed dual speaker grills on the bottom of the device instead of a headphone jack. In its place, Apple announced new wireless earbuds, called AirPods. The AirPods, which will cost $159 when they debut in late October, can be used both as wireless earbuds for listening to music as well as a microphone to chat on the phone with others.
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Apple (AAPL), which has sold more than a billion iPhones worldwide, also re-engineered the iPhone home button so it can respond based on the amount of force placed on it. The phones also vibrates slight to let users know when a feature has been activated. Apple described phone as water and dust resistant.
Users will also find an improved camera that comes with optical image stabilization and better sensors. Most importantly, Apple is offering a dual-lens camera in the larger iPhone 7 Plus model, which comes with a 5.5-inch screen, for better quality photos.
On the performance side, users will find that the iPhone’s new A10 Fusion chip, which has four cores, delivers better power and more battery life. According to Apple, the chip is 40% faster than the A9 in the iPhone 6s and twice as fast as the chip in its iPhone 6. The smartphone’s graphics performance is 240 times better than what was in the original iPhone in 2007 and will deliver gaming performance that can match today’s home consoles, like the Xbox.
Apple was also quick to note that the iPhone 7 gets 14 hours of battery life over Wi-Fi, and that the iPhone 7 Plus can squeeze 15 hours of battery life out of Wi-Fi browsing before requiring a recharge. They both offer the longest battery life ever in an iPhone.
All the News You Need to Know From Apple’s Big Event
Over the last several months, rumors have been swirling about Apple’s plans for its next iPhone. Along the way, one thing remained consistent: The next iPhone would deliver only minor upgrades over its predecessor and would look largely the same.
The official iPhone 7 confirms many of those rumors in that it is somewhat similar to the iPhone 6. Many analysts predict that the next iPhone—presumably the iPhone 8 planned for 2017—would be the major upgrade that encompasses new display technology, a possibly curved iPhone screen, and a new design featuring an all-glass enclosure.
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Apple has not said anything about its plans for next year.
