IPhone 7 Plus Shipping Issue, Is It Worth It?

If you belong to the Apple cult and awaiting its latest iPhone idol to be worship, then you are in for a big surprise.  Guess what? The iPhone 7 Plus does not ship until October 7-14, 2016 if you want the 32 GB version and November 28, 2016 if you want the 256 GB version!

Thankfully the I Phone 7 32 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB versions are scheduled to be on time, and pre-orders will be honored on September 16, 2016.  If you're wondering if it is worth it to wait at least another month before you purchase the $900+ smartphone, then here are a few options to leverage to test your decision making skills and vindicate your judgement. Source of information below is attributed to Forbes.com.

Cameras – Main Selling Points

There’s no denying Samsung is outshined Apple 720P low quality cameras in recent years, but the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus may steal it back:

• iPhone 7 – Rear: 12 megapixel sensor, f/1.8 aperture, Focus Pixels, Optical Image Stabilisation, quad-LED (dual tone) flash, 4K video recording. Front: 7MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, 1080p recording
• iPhone 7 Plus – Rear: Dual 12MP sensors (f/1.8, 28mm & f/2.8, 56mm), Focus Pixels, OIS, 2x optical zoom, quad-LED (dual tone) flash, 4K video recording. Front: 7MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, 1080p recording

iPhone 7 Plus, but first the iPhone 7 as it has made some significant improvements with a much larger f/1.8 aperture to let in more light (better for low light snaps in particular), a new 6-element lens and the long awaited addition of OIS. There’s also wide color capture for more color accurate photos and a new Apple-designed image signal processor which does the hard-work optimizing images after they are captured.

But it is the iPhone 7 Plus which will capture all the headlines as it is the first iPhone to use a dual camera setup. One camera is identical the wide-angle lens in the iPhone 7, but the second is a telephoto lens enabling 2x optical zoom and far greater depth of field (something Apple pointed out is particularly good for portrait shots).

In addition to this both phones get an upgraded four-LED True Tone flash which is 50 percent brighter, but uses warm and cool lights to produce more natural results. Both phones also have an upgraded 7MP front camera with 1080p video recording, though disappointingly this camera has a slower f/2.2 aperture (the same as last year’s models) so it waits to be seen how it performs in low light.

Storage And Price – The 16GB Curse Is Lifted

Far better news comes with storage and value for money, however, as Apple has at long long last ditched its useless 16GB of base level storage. In fact the company has double storage capacities at every tier so 16GB, 64GB and 128GB have been replaced with 32GB, 128GB and 256GB.

Consequently while prices are unchanged from last year this look better value for money:

• iPhone 7 – 32GB ($649), 128GB ($749), 256GB ($849)
• iPhone 7 Plus – 32GB ($769), 128GB ($869), 256GB ($969)

Needless to say that hardcore iPhone fans will grab the 256GB model, but I suspect many buyers of the previous 128GB flagship may now be happy to save $100 and opt for the same storage as a mid tier option.

Battery Life And Charging – Minimal Improvements

Apple failed to disclose the exact capacities of the batteries in either of its new iPhones, but it did say iPhone 7 owners could expect up to two additional hours of usage compared to the iPhone 6S while iPhone 7 Plus owners will get one additional hour compared to the iPhone 6S Plus.

Displays 

The much marketed 3D Touch is carried over from the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, but wasn’t name dropped once during the entire keynote.

Meanwhile on paper the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus look identical with OLED panels missing yet again and native resolutions moored far behind their flagship 2K (2560 x 1440) Android counterparts:

• iPhone 7 – 4.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD, 1334 x 750 pixels (326 ppi), 65.6% screen-to-body ratio
• iPhone 7 Plus – 5.5-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD, 1920 x 1080 pixels (401 ppi), 67.7% screen-to-body ratio

Apple is loudly proclaiming improvements to the quality of both displays highlighting a 25% brighter “cinema standard” Retina HD display. There is also a wider (P3) colour gamut and improved color management, though Apple stopped short of labelling them ‘True Tone’ displays like that on the iPad Pro.

Performance – Major Speed Upgrades

According to some metrics, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus are still the fastest smartphones on the market one year on, but Apple has not stood still:

• iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus – Apple A10 Fusion chipset: Quad Core CPU, 2GB of RAM (3GB rumored for Plus, but unconfirmed)

I Phone 7 will be the first iPhones to be equipped with quad core processors. Apple claims they will deliver 40% faster CPU performance and up to 50% faster graphics performance than the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

Some will bemoan that the iPhone 7 Plus hasn’t got the 3GB of RAM many had predicted, but new iPhones will still deliver performance that even 2017 Android flagships may struggle to live with. Update: some leaks are claiming the Plus will have 3GB but Apple has not confirmed that yet.

 

Design & Size

Apple has made virtually no changes to the external design. Apple fitted both the new iPhones with just a single Lightning port. Adaptors are bundled in the box, but users will now not be able to charge their iPhones and listen to music with wired headphones at the same time. This decision to going to divide a lot of users.

While the practicality of this decision is questionable, elsewhere the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are the most durable iPhones Apple has ever made. They add IP67 dust and water resistance (good for full submersion in up to 1 metre of water for 30 minutes) for the first time while still retaining the rigid Series 7000 Aluminium introduced last year with the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

Also aiding durability is the replacement of the physical home button on both models with a touch sensitive surface which provides haptic feedback to mimic the feeling of a click. App developers can also harness the haptic feedback for custom vibrations, which could prove interesting.

Apple has also tidied up the antenna bands, removing them from the back of the phone so they only now appear at the top and bottom edges. Meanwhile the eagled eyed among you will have spotted a small physical change:

• iPhone 7 – 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm (5.44 x 2.64 x 0.28 in) and 138 g (4.87 oz)
• iPhone 7 Plus – 158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm (6.23 x 3.07 x 0.29 in) and 188 g (6.63 oz)

The answer? While the dimensions are identical to the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are both fractionally lighter at 5g (0.17 oz) and 4g (0.14 oz) respectively. Then again they are still notably heavier than 2014’s iPhone 6 (129g) and iPhone 6 Plus (172g).

Sound Quality

Both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus gain dual speakers for the first time. Interestingly this is not from what seems like dual speakers at the bottom of the new iPhones (one side is the mic for phone calls), but through upgrading the speaker earpiece so it is loud enough to be an external speaker in its own right. Better external audio is a long awaited iPhone catchup.

As for finishes, you’ll get a wider array of options this year with Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Black and (for just 128GB and 256GB options) Jet Black but wave goodbye to Space Grey.