You probably already know this, but just in case you’ve been living under a rock, Apple finally revealed the iPhone 7 on Tuesday. Surprisingly for me, it turns out that many of the rumors that had been doing the rounds turned out to be true. So in this article, I will be taking a look at how Apple’s latest handset compares to its predecessors, the iPhone 6 and 6s.
Design
Just like the rumors had predicted, the iPhone 7 does look similar in design to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6, but there are some differences.
To start with, the antenna lines found on the rear of the previous models have been moved to the top and given a cleaner look. Plus the headphone jack has been completely removed; now you have to use the Lightning port for connecting headphones. Also the Home button is longer mechanical. Instead, Apple has opted for a touch sensitive/tactic option that can be customized.
Plus, there are two new colors: Black and Jet Black. If you are a fan of Space Gray, I’m sorry to say Apple has not included it in this year’s line up.
The iPhone 7 does look somewhat similar to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6. However, both of the older handsets keep the antenna lines exactly where people did not want them, and they both use a mechanical Home button.
Cameras
If you were hoping for something different, something about the 7 that would stand out, this could be it. The camera on Apple’s latest handset is a whole new piece of technology. To start with, it has a 12-megapixel rear-facing sensor with a f/1.8 aperture and six-element lens.
Plus, if you throw in the optical image stabilization, Quad-LED True Tone flash, and wide color capture, this could be a serious contender for best camera on a smartphone anyone has ever seen. The front-facing camera has been bumped up to 7 megapixels.
The iPhone 6s has a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera with a 5-megapixel front camera, both with a f/2.2 aperture. It was with the 6s that Apple first introduced the Retina Flash and Live Photos, both of which have made the jump to the iPhone 7 although with improvements thanks to iOS 10.
The iPhone 6 has an older generation 8-megapixel rear camera and what now seems an ancient 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera. As with the 6s, its cameras both have a f/2.2 aperture, although it does not have a front flash.
Size and weight
The latest iPhone weighs in at a respectable 138 grams and measures 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1mm, which is the same overall size as the 6s, only lighter, as the 6s weighs in at 143 grams. However, the thinnest and lightest of the three handsets is the oldest here. The iPhone 6 is 138.1 x 67 x 6.9mm and weighs 129 grams.
Display
If you were hoping for something new from Apple like Quad HD, unfortunately on the iPhone 7 it has stuck with a Retina HD display. That means the resolution which almost everyone was hoping for of +400ppi is not happening. Instead, we have a resolution of 1334 x 750 pixels and a pixel density of 326ppi. Apple claims it is 25% brighter than the displays on the 6 and 6s, and its colors are richer due to the P3 color gamut.
Both the 6 and 6s have 4.7-inch displays like the iPhone 7. Plus they each have similar LED-backlit technology with a resolution of 1334 x 750 pixels and 326ppi, the same as the 7.
One last thing to point out would be 3D Touch; both the iPhone 7 and 6s have it, whereas the 6 does not.
Hardware
The iPhone 7 will hit store shelves sporting a new A10 Fusion chip which has an embedded M10 motion co-processor. This chip, according to Apple, is 40% faster than the A9 and twice as fast as the A8 chip. However, that’s not the only performance increase Apple had in store yesterday, as the handset has a new GPU. Apple says it is 50% faster than the A9 and offers three times the performance of the A8.
The iPhone 6s features the A9 processor with the embedded M9 motion co-processor and 2GB of RAM. The iPhone 6 has the much older A8 chip, the M8 motion co-processor and 1 GB of RAM. Interestingly, it was RAM that was missing yesterday from the spec line-up. However, this is believed to be either 2GB or 3GB, depending on storage size.
Storage
With the iPhone 7, Apple has decided to remove what was the standard 16GB storage option from its line-up and instead go with 32GB, 128GB and 256GB storage options. One other thing to note is that both the Black and Jet Black color variants will only be available with 128GB and 256GB of storage.
The iPhone 6s started with the following storage options: 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB. However, Apple has since discontinued the 16GB here too and replaced it with 32GB. The iPhone 6 came with 16GB and 64GB options.
Conclusion
Personally, I think Apple has done a good job producing a next-generation iPhone that improves in several areas. Yes, it looks similar to the older handsets, but there is enough of difference (I think) to make the iPhone 7 a worthy upgrade if you have an older model or if you’re an Android user looking to jump ship.
If you want to know everything there is to know about how the iPhone 7 compares to every other iPhone that is still available to buy, check out the rather large spec sheet below.
More Apple smartphones compared with iPhone 7 below:
