Introduction
The iPhone 7 Plus hardly needs an introduction. Apple's latest always get the attention no matter how much or how little the company has changed. An aura of controversy has always been part of Apple's marketing and some might argue that the polarized opinions actually work in their favor.
And the iPhone 7 duo tops the polarizing scale this season thanks to ditching the standard audio jack and the iconic hardware key. It seems this doesn’t get in the way of the iPhone providing superb performance and superb user experience for yet another year in a row. We’ve already brought you the iPhone 7 review, and now it’s time for its bigger sibling.
Key Features
- Water-proof metal unibody with redesigned, less-obtrusive antenna strips
- 5.5" 16M-color LED-backlit IPS LCD screen of 1080p resolution, 401ppi, wide color gamut, 3D Touch tech
- Pressure-sensitive Home key powered by a brand new Taptic Engine
- Quad-core (2+2) 64-bit Apple CPU, hexa-core GPU, 3GB of RAM, Apple A10 Fusion SoC
- Dual 12MP camera: wide-angle F/1.8 + telephoto F/2.8, easy switch and live bokeh effects, optical image stabilization, quad-LED flash, phase detection auto focus, wide color capture, face and body detection; 2160p@30fps video recording
- 7MP F/2.2 front-facing camera with BSI sensor and HDR mode, 1080p@30fps video
- Comes in 32, 128, and 256GB of built-in storage
- Second-gen Touch ID fingerprint sensor
- 4G LTE Cat.9 (600Mbps); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.2; Lightning port; GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS; NFC (Apple Pay only)
- 2,900mAh battery
GENERAL
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Release date September 2016 Form factor Touchscreen Dimensions (mm) 158.20 x 77.90 x 7.30 Weight (g) 188.00 Battery capacity (mAh) 2900 Removable battery No Colours Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Black, Jet Black SAR value NA
DISPLAY
Screen size (inches) 5.50 Touchscreen Yes Resolution 1080x1920 pixels Pixels per inch (PPI) 401
HARDWARE
Processor quad-core Processor make Apple A10 Fusion RAM 3GB Internal storage 32GB Expandable storage No
CAMERA
Rear camera 12-megapixel Flash Yes Front camera 7-megapixel
SOFTWARE
Operating System iOS 10
CONNECTIVITY
Wi-Fi Yes Wi-Fi standards supported 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac GPS Yes Bluetooth Yes, v 4.20 NFC No Infrared No USB OTG No FM No Number of SIMs 1 SIM 1 SIM Type Nano-SIM GSM/CDMA GSM 3G Yes 4G/ LTE Yes Supports 4G in India (Band 40) Yes
SENSORS
Compass/ Magnetometer Yes Proximity sensor Yes Accelerometer Yes Ambient light sensor Yes Gyroscope Yes Barometer Yes Temperature sensor No
| Release date | September 2016 |
| Form factor | Touchscreen |
| Dimensions (mm) | 158.20 x 77.90 x 7.30 |
| Weight (g) | 188.00 |
| Battery capacity (mAh) | 2900 |
| Removable battery | No |
| Colours | Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Black, Jet Black |
| SAR value | NA |
DISPLAY
| Screen size (inches) | 5.50 |
| Touchscreen | Yes |
| Resolution | 1080x1920 pixels |
| Pixels per inch (PPI) | 401 |
HARDWARE
| Processor | quad-core |
| Processor make | Apple A10 Fusion |
| RAM | 3GB |
| Internal storage | 32GB |
| Expandable storage | No |
CAMERA
| Rear camera | 12-megapixel |
| Flash | Yes |
| Front camera | 7-megapixel |
SOFTWARE
| Operating System | iOS 10 |
CONNECTIVITY
| Wi-Fi | Yes |
| Wi-Fi standards supported | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac |
| GPS | Yes |
| Bluetooth | Yes, v 4.20 |
| NFC | No |
| Infrared | No |
| USB OTG | No |
| FM | No |
| Number of SIMs | 1 |
| SIM 1 | |
| SIM Type | Nano-SIM |
| GSM/CDMA | GSM |
| 3G | Yes |
| 4G/ LTE | Yes |
| Supports 4G in India (Band 40) | Yes |
SENSORS
| Compass/ Magnetometer | Yes |
| Proximity sensor | Yes |
| Accelerometer | Yes |
| Ambient light sensor | Yes |
| Gyroscope | Yes |
| Barometer | Yes |
| Temperature sensor | No |
Unboxing the Apple iPhone 7 Plus
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The iPhone 7 Plus retail box contains the standard accessories - a wall plug, a Lightning cable, and Apple's EarPods ending on a Lighting connector. The supplied charger is 5V/1A which is a pity as the phone is capable of charging twice as fast with a third-party 5V/2A charger.
For the first time in an iPhone there is a fourth thingy in the box - a Lighting-to-3.5mm analog adapter. Using one is not as convenient, it was a mandatory addition so the users can use headphones of their choice.
Hopefully, you didn't expect Apple to pack the new wireless AirPods. Those are sold separately for $159.
The iPhone 7 Plus retail box contains the standard accessories - a wall plug, a Lightning cable, and Apple's EarPods ending on a Lighting connector. The supplied charger is 5V/1A which is a pity as the phone is capable of charging twice as fast with a third-party 5V/2A charger.
For the first time in an iPhone there is a fourth thingy in the box - a Lighting-to-3.5mm analog adapter. Using one is not as convenient, it was a mandatory addition so the users can use headphones of their choice.
Hopefully, you didn't expect Apple to pack the new wireless AirPods. Those are sold separately for $159.
Design and build quality
We didn't get the best deal with the new generation iPhones, that's for sure. While the antenna bands have been refined for better looks, the design is pretty much the same for the third year in a row. The iPhone 7 Plus looks almost identical to the iPhone 6 and 6s Plus, and if it weren't for the new dual camera on the back, it's hardly distinguishable from the other Pluses.
Display
The display on the iPhone 7 Plus still has the same specs in terms of size and resolution: a 5.5" unit with a 1080p resolution (that's 401ppi). It's a LED-backlit IPS LCD screen with RGB matrix though the panel has been updated since the 6S Plus. Naturally, it is also 3D Touch-enabled, a technology we first saw on the iPhone 6s.
Battery life
The iPhone 7 Plus is equipped with a non-removable Li-Po 2,900 mAh battery, which is about 5.5% beefier than the one of the iPhone 6s Plus, and about the same as on the iPhone 6 Plus. There is also the new energy-efficient Apple A10 Fusion chip, which combined with the new battery and optimized iOS 10, should offer a longer battery life than before.
And in case you need your phone by the end of its charge, the Low-Power mode, which you can enable manually, should prolong your iPhone 7 Plus battery life once the charge drops below 20%.
Apple iOS 10
Apple unveiled iOS 10 last June. As part of the new update Apple refined the lock and home screens, the notification and control centers, the 3D Touch experience, Siri, and improved the system apps.
Performance
Apple has equipped the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus with a new-generation A10 Fusion chip. It has a quad-core CPU, a first for the iPhones, with two high-performance cores running at 2.34GHz and two power-saving ones. The high-performance ones run about 40% faster than the A9 chip and two times faster than the A8.
The other two are more power-efficient cores and require only 20% of the power needed for the high-performance cores. Those are not available to anything but the OS itself. No benchmark or game can use those; in fact, the benchmarks can't detect them at all - they show the CPU as dual-core. So, as far as the processing performance is concerned - all benchmarks use the two high-performance A10 cores ticking at 2.34GHz.
Apple hops on the dual-camera train
Apple completely revamped the imaging abilities on the new iPhone 7 Plus. Like its smaller counterpart the Plus shares the updated 12MP sensor that is reportedly 60% faster and 30% more efficient, the brighter f/1.8 aperture that should let 50% more light, the new six-element lens as well as optical image stabilization.
Apple reserved its best innovation for the Plus model. On the back, next to the standard 12MP camera sits a new 12MP sensor with a whole new telephoto lens which Apple aims at portrait shooters. Effectively, it's a 56mm f/2.8 lens which is twice as narrow in terms of field of view and about 1 ⅓ stops slower compared to the 28mm f/1.8 main lens. This means that the main camera lets in about 1.3x more light than the telephoto one and this is of great importance when it comes to low-light photography.
Final words
Apple's iPhone 7 Plus brings a solid hardware upgrade over its predecessor but fails to impress with substantial improvements in design or looks. Is that an issue? It depends on how you look at it. The iPhones have always had nice designs that age well, and we've already gotten well used to the extra bezels around the display. But the counter argument that is also true - the manufacturers in similar or lower price points are pushing the envelope of what a regular smartphone can look like. In comparison, Apple doesn't seem to put much effort for such an expensive product.
But the relatively unchanged looks of the iPhone 7 Plus are deceptive as there is a lot going on under the hood. The phablet is powered by the most powerful and efficient chipset on the market. It is also the first to offer secondary telephoto lens. It's also the first iPhone to come with dust and water resistance, stereo speakers, and a touch Home button.
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