iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus – Check Out The Difference

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Making an iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus has been central to the thinking of many keen Apple fans over the last few months. While the iPhone X has undoubtedly generated the most headlines of the new handsets from the Cupertino-based corporation, the iPhone 8 Plus is also an excellent device, and one that has attracted its fair share of admirers.

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus
Image: Sheeraz Raza, ValueWalk

The $1,000 price tag of the iPhone X has also discouraged a lot of consumers, so comparing the other two recent and major phablets available from the Californian corporation has been a financial necessity for many consumers.

iPhone 8 Plus vs. iPhone 7 Plus – what is still the same?

The first thing to note about this comparison is that there are not absolutely massive differences between the two phones. The iPhone 8 Plus is very much an incremental improvement over the iPhone 7 Plus, with the iPhone X intended to be the revolutionary addition to the iPhone range.

So there is quite a bit that hasn’t changed between the two phablets, and making an iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus comparison in these areas is impossible!

Firstly, both of these smartphones feature Touch ID fingerprint authentication. Unlike the iPhone X, the iPhone 8 Plus retains the Home button which has been a central aspect of the iPhone series for many years.

The front-facing camera in both devices is a 7-megapixel sensor with ƒ/2.2 aperture and 1080p HD video shooting capabilities. 3GB of RAM has been included in both smartphones, while they are also both significantly water resistant, being rated as IP67.

Testing from Apple also indicates that both the iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 8 Plus deliver almost identical battery life. This can perhaps be considered slightly disappointing in the case of the newer phablet, as the lifecycle of the iPhone range has been criticized in some quarters.

Nonetheless, official figures from Apple indicate that both the iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 8 Plus are capable of the following:

• Talk: Up to 21 hours
• Internet: Up to 13 hours
• Video Playback: Up to 14 hours
• Audio Playback: Up to 60 hours

Both models also posses a Lightning connector, but no 3.5mm headphone jack, while support for LTE Advanced, VoLTE, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi calling are present in both smartphones.

Display

The iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus can begin here, albeit the displays included in the two devices are rather similar. Both handsets have 5.5-inch screens, with full HD resolution. 1300:1 contrast ratio, 3D Touch, Wide Color (P3) support, and 625 cd/m2 max brightness are all also resident in both phones. However, the True Tone display of the iPhone 8 Plus does give the newer device a slight edge.

Main cameras

Rear camera specs also look fairly similar, with both devices featuring 12-megapixel rear cameras with ƒ/2.8 aperture and a wide-angle lens with ƒ/1.8 aperture. However, the newer camera has been armed with a larger, faster sensor and what Apple describes as deeper pixels. Certainly the shooting results from the iPhone 8 Plus are better, particularly in dark conditions.

Size and weight

The iPhone 8 Plus is marginally heavier than its predecessor, and also slightly thicker. This really is barely perceptible, though.

Design

A major difference in the iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus comparison is the design of the two devices. The prominent inclusion of glass in the rear of the iPhone 8 Plus means that it has an improved appearance over the last generation release. But there are also similarities as well, with 7000 Series aluminum edges prominent in both mobiles.

Performance

The level of performance is obviously a key area in the iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus comparison, and it is perhaps here where the new device is most obviously superior. With the latest A11 Bionic chip included, the iPhone 8 Plus is noticeably slicker than the older smartphone.

Thus, the performance cores included in this device are 25 percent faster, while the four high-efficiency cores are 70 percent quicker than the A10 chip that the iPhone 7 Plus relies on. And the A11 chip also features a neural engine and more powerful M11 motion coprocessor versus the earlier M10.

Wireless charging

A major point of iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus comparison is the inclusion of wireless charging in the newer smartphone, which was a major new feature from Apple. The iPhone 8 Plus is also ”fast-charge capable,” which means that the device can be pretty much fully charged in an hour.

Colors

One area where the iPhone 8 has failed to measure up to the iPhone 7 is with regard to color choices. The iPhone 8 Plus can be purchased in glass-backed Silver, Space Gray, and a new shade of Gold, whereas the iPhone 7 Plus was made available in aluminum-backed Black, Gold, Jet Black, Rose Gold, and Silver.

Bluetooth

Apple has included Bluetooth 5.0 in the new smartphone, while the older iPhone 7 Plus relies on the more dated Bluetooth 4.2.

Video recording

Another interesting area of the iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus comparison is that the newer device is capable of 4K video recording at up to 60 FPS, while the older handset can only record video of this quality at 30 FPS. Certainly, 4K 60 FPS footage is extremely impressive, and the video shooting qualities of the new iPhone units pose problems for action camera manufacturers such as GoPro.

Price

Finally, the iPhone 8 Plus was released at an RRP of $799, which was $30 more expensive than the iPhone 7 Plus cost at launch.

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