If Apple sticks to its usual schedule, the new iPhone 7 will be here this September, with the official sale to start towards the end of the same month.
Samsung Galaxy S7 is now three months old since it was first unveiled to the market. The device has bene instrumental in orchestrating the South Korean company’s success during Q1 2016 as far as U.S. smartphone sales are concerned. Apparently, Apple’s iPhone 6S is nowhere near Samsung Galaxy S7 in terms of sales, something that Cupertino has all the time to take care of with the release of iPhone 7.
The question here is how will Apple really respond? Well, here is what we have gathered from the rumor mill.
No wholesale changes in iPhone 7 design
As it seems, Apple will be keeping the huge part of its design changes for 2017. This means that the iPhone 7 will still look a lot like the iPhone 6S, something that Samsung also did with the design of the S7 in relation to the S6. Samsung is also rumored to have kept the major design changes for the upcoming Galaxy S8 and the foldable Galaxy X.
Despite not being radical in terms of changes, Apple will be looking to get back to what brought it to the limelight in the smartphone industry – killer designs. Rumor has it that the iPhone 7 will feature a revised antenna design, which perhaps the only major design changes unless the company decides to include a dual-lens camera setup on the device.
Dual-lens camera setup with OIS
Speaking of dual-lens camera setup, rumors are rife that the iPhone 7 will feature a dual-lens snapper on the rear. It has already happened with Huawei P9 and LG G5 and the benefits of this setup are already known. Samsung Galaxy S7’s camera has already been voted by many as the best in the current smartphone market, it will take a lot for Apple to beat this standard.
In a bid to beat the South Korean company in photography matters, Apple is also rumored to be working on adding optical image stabilization (OIS) on the standard iPhone 7 for the first time since the introduction of the feature on the Plus models. But this battle will not end here as the S7’s lens has a f/1.7 aperture, something that Apple must match or beat in order to dream of toppling the S7 in terms of photography.
Apple to stick with IPS LCD display panels
It had been rumored that Apple will switch to OLED panels with the release of iPhone 7, but it seems this won’t be happening anytime soon. On the other hand, Samsung has now refined the Super AMOLED technology, which gives the Galaxy S7 a more than beautiful display. With Apple expected to stick to an IPS LCD panel, albeit with some improvements, it will be hard to beat the quality offered by the S7.
Of course, Apple is expected to improve on the 3D Touch screen technology introduced with iPhone 6S, something that will definitely give it an edge over Samsung Galaxy S7. On the contrary, the latter offers an Always on display feature that ensures users always get to see the most basic information in a hassle-free manner.
Apple A10 SoC vs. Snapdragon 820 SoC vs. Exynos 8890 SoC
Apple will probably be releasing the iPhone 7 powered by a new A10 chipset. This will be an improvement to the current A9 that powers the iPhone 6S. Apparently, the A9 SoC is not far away from the likes of Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890 used on the Galaxy S7 as far as benchmarking tests are concerned. With this in mind, we expect the improved A10 SoC to even outshine the current offering on the Galaxy S7 in terms of performance.
Of course, Samsung will be looking to better this when it unveils the Galaxy S8 next year, which will be about six months after the release of iPhone 7.
No 3.5mm headphone jack
One rather strange but pioneering move by Apple will be ripping the 3.5mm headphone jack off the next version of the iPhone. This will instead be replaced with a Lightning port that will also be used for data transfer and charging. Alternatively, users of iPhone 7 will have to rely on Bluetooth headphones to listen to audio on their phones.
This might be both beneficial and damaging to Apple. As noted, it might be hailed as the pioneer of such great technology, but the iPhone 7 might end up being less user-friendly than the Galaxy S7, something that might work in favor of Samsung.
What do you think about the upcoming iPhone 7?
Wireless, Bluetooth earbuds will require enough of a charge and reliable performance to give audio satisfaction to users.