iPhone 7 vs. iPhone 6S: Should You Upgrade? Specs and Features Compared
With Updated Specs and Features, the New iPhone 7 Brings a Lot to the Table
Since the iPhone 3G, Apple has had the habit of releasing S models of their main generation. These phones are expected to improve on the previous version, while the next models are being prepared to take huge leaps in terms of innovation. With the iPhone 6S significantly improving the iPhone 6, let us see how much the iPhone 7 is far ahead.
Design and Display
To the untrained eye, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 6S look almost identical. The same glass and aluminum construction is present, with the antenna lines now much better hidden. The Home button now sits flush along the body due to its non-clickable nature. Also, there's no more headphone jack.
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However, the iPhone 7 does get a stereo speaker setup for a fuller loudspeaker listening experience. There's also the IP67 certification for water and dust resistance. Lastly, Apple is introducing two new colors—the shiny Jet Black and the plain Black. The Silver, Gold and Rose Gold are returning.
The retina display from the iPhone 6S also makes its way to the iPhone 7. The same 4.7-inch IPS LCD panel still gets a 1334 x 720-pixel density and 3D Touch. However, the iPhone 7 now packs 25 percent more brightness and a wider color gamut, making for better color reproduction.
Performance
The A9 processor packed by the iPhone 6S is easily trumped by the new A10 Fusion chipset of the iPhone 7. The A10 Fusion packs a quad-core processor, made up of two high-performance cores and balanced by two energy-efficient cores. There is also a dedicated core that decides which cores should do which task.
This is said to be up to 40 percent faster than the A9, as well as being more energy efficient. The embedded GPU is also said to be 50 percent more powerful. As for the internal storage, the new iPhone 7 doubles the options offered by the iPhone 6S. The new base model is at 32GB, topping out at 256GB.
On the software department, the iPhone 7 will be shipping with the new iOS 10. The iPhone 6S shipped with the iOS 9, but will be eligible for an iOS 10 upgrade later this month.
Camera
It's not a megapixel race for the iPhone devices here. The same 12-megapixel count is available, but the iPhone 7 steps up the aperture from f/2.2 of the iPhone 6S to a better f/1.8. A new Optical Image Stabilization is also available for steadier shots. The TrueTone flash is now equipped with four LEDs for a brighter photo.
The FaceTime camera also gets boosted. The previous 5-megapixel lens now goes up to 7-megapixels. The same f/2.2 aperture is still present though, along with the 1080p video recording capabilities.
Battery
The iPhone 6S came equipped with a disappointing 1715 battery pack. This capacity is easily dwarfed by the competition, so Apple addresses this with the iPhone 7. The new device, although exact battery capacity wasn't revealed, is expected to last for an additional two hours as compared to the previous model.
Price and Availability
While being available for a year now, the iPhone 6S still sports the same price tag. It sells for $649 for the 16GB version, $749 for the 64GB version, and $849 for the 128GB version.
The iPhone 7 will be coming with similar price tags across the range, but with double the storage options, starting at 32GB and ending with 256GB. It will be available for pre-order on September 9, and will be released on September 16.
