Should you upgrade to iPhone 7 from iPhone 6s?

It’s that time of the year again when there is a new generation of iPhone in the market and you have to decide whether to get the new iPhone 7 or wait for a better one. There are lots of things to consider here including a missing headphone jack port which was considered as one of the controversial decisions of 2016 by a smartphone manufacturer. For those who are still using the iPhone 6 or older phones it shouldn’t take too long to decide. However, if you are using the iPhone 6S, it can be difficult decision as these two almost include similar features. Here we will help you to decide by comparing all the new features just like we did last year for the iPhone 6S (which you can read here) where we compared the phone with its predecessors.

Design

There was almost zero changes in design last year and we can’t say things have changed this year. There is a new color in town now, the Jet Black which looks really appealing. The headphone port is missing and the only button that was clickable earlier is now a pressure sensitive one. To make sure users get the same sensation like pressing a real button, it includes haptic feedback. One of the visible changes that you will notice is that the antenna bands are hidden now and the camera layouts are different. Everything else is almost similar: same body dimensions, same screen size, same fingerprint sensor and other features like Apple Pay and Siri integration.

Samsung has introduced multiple IP67 smartphones and it was about time for Apple to introduce water resistance. The new phones are more durable and offers water and dust resistance thanks to its IP67 rating. Users get new AirPods as the headphone jack is missing. These new earphones are wireless and is expected to last for up to 24 hours. If you run out of battery, just put it inside it’s case and the case can give it up to 3 hours of battery life just after a 15 minutes charge.

Display

We got the new 3D Touch feature last year and that’s the about the only major change in display. Starting from the iPhone 6, there is no change in screen size or pixel density which means we get a 4.7-inch screen (and a 5.5-inch screen in the iPhone 7 Plus). This screen will be showing 1334 x 750 pixels resolution and 326ppi of pixel density. It shouldn’t be a problem as images and text looks just as crisp as you expect. The LED backlit IPS LCD display comes with “Wide color gamut display” which looks nice but there are no visible changes. It’s actually nice that you get the same display without worrying about water splash. However you do have to get a back cover if you are planning to get the Jet Black color.

Camera

There are some major changes in this part but most of the changes are made in the iPhone 7 Plus. Users get a 12-megapixel camera on the back which sounds the same compared to its predecessor megapixel-wise. This camera comes with f/1.8, 28mm, Optical Image Stabilization, phase detection autofocus and quad-LED flash. This is a great feature as the iPhone 6S was missing the OIS feature. However, there are some improvements and users can expect to get better results when taking pictures in darkly lit environments.

It’s the front camera that got promoted to a 7-megapixel one from a 5-megapixel front camera. If you mostly depend on your front camera for taking pictures that’s definitely a useful feature. For those who are looking for some serious photography using the rear camera can think about checking out the iPhone 7 Plus as it comes with dual 12-megapixel camera. There is a cool “bokeh” effect portrait mode and 2x optical zoom which are some great features to have in a smartphone camera. It’s definitely at par with some of the other camera focused smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Google Pixel XL.

More Battery Life and Power

The iPhone finally switched to quad core processor clocked at 2.34GHz as rumored which means more processing power. This processor is paired with 2GB of RAM and the bigger iPhone 7 Plus comes with 3GB of RAM. It’s definitely a great improvement compared to the iPhone 6S. However, the A9 processor is capable enough if you are not into heavy apps. These two extra cores shouldn’t affect the battery life as these are low power consuming cores according to Apple. There is a slight change in battery size: a 1960mAh non removable battery which is about 200mAh bigger than the previous battery. It should be able to provide two hours of extra battery life according to Apple. As usual users can expect to get more battery life in the iPhone 7 Plus than the smaller iPhone 7.

Price

This is where things get pretty serious, the price. Apple is known for its premium pricing and it’s the same with the latest iPhone 7. The starting price of the Apple iPhone 7 is around 2400 AED which is the standard 32GB version. There is the new Jet Black color in town but you have to get the 128GB or 256GB version and it costs slightly more than the regular colors.

Final Verdict

Compared to the iPhone 6S, there are definitely some new features in the iPhone 7: new and improved camera, slightly bigger battery and more processing power. These changes are more notable in the iPhone 7 Plus so if these changes sounds interesting to you than it will be a good idea to get the new iPhone 7. It will be a good idea to wait for a new generation if you want your headphone jack right where it is or own the latest Google Pixel or Samsung Galaxy S7.