If you're going to buy a new iPhone, this is the one to get – there's a slightly longer battery life, a better camera, fast innards and protection against water. However, many of the changes are slight, and the iPhone 6S, for the lower price, suddenly becomes a very attractive option.
FOR
- Good low light camera
- Water resistant
- Double the internal capacity
AGAINST
- Lacks clear upgrades
- Same design used for last three phones
- Battery life unimpressive
- If Apple had released the iPhone 7 in place of the iPhone 6S in 2015, it would probably have been the phone of the year.
- See all Apple iPhone 7 deals
Instead the upgrades for the iPhone 7 didn't have such an impact in 2016 and it struggled to keep pace with devices released in 2017.
There's a brighter and more colorful screen, a waterproof design, dual speakers, and a boosted 12MP camera, but it doesn't keep up with what most Android manufacturers are achieving at the moment.
Apple has also changed the home button from a clickable entity to something that responds to pressure, lost the headphone jack and included a 256GB storage model.
If Apple had released this in 2015, it may have cast off the 'tick-tock' mentality of keeping the smaller upgrades confined to the S variants and shaken up the iPhone cycle. But that didn't happen, and now the metronomic quality of Apple's upgrades seems to have come to a halt – or the pendulum is stuck.
- After the bigger iPhone? Check out the iPhone 7 Plus review
- We've also ranked all the iPhones in our best iPhone roundup
- The best iPhone 7 deals in the UK this month
Because with the iPhone 7 we've got another 'tock'. The initial reaction of dubbing this an iPhone 6S is unfair, as it's more than just an S upgrade – but it's not as much of a push forward as many would have expected given the large changes on the iPhone 4 and 6 in particular.
Although maybe there's a second pattern emerging here – the odd-numbered iPhones keeping things incremental before the big changes on the even-numbered models. Either way, the iPhone 7 is another good, but not great, handset from Apple.
Plus now the whole Apple line up has changed. There's the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus to take over from this handset, and then there's the whole new iPhone X with an almost bezeless display and high price tag.
The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus come with glass designs, wireless charging and new internals making them more powerful than both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
On top of that, there are there are also a great selection of Android devices that you may want to go with competition like the Samsung Galaxy S8, OnePlus 5Tand Sony Xperia XZ Premium all garnering very positive reviews throughout this year.
iPhone 7 price and release date
- Launched in September 2016
- iPhone 7 price was originally $649 (£599, AU$1,079)
- The 32GB phone is now $549 (£549, AU$849)
- Cheaper than iPhone 7 Plus by $120 (£120, AU$150)
The iPhone 7 price now starts at $549 (£549, AU$849) but that's mostly because there are newer and better phones available from Apple.
The 32GB model once cost $649 (£599, AU$1,079) but now that discount has made this a much more palatable price for those looking to pick up an iPhone. If you're in need of more storage you can get the 128GB variant for $649 (£649, AU$999).
Apple did sell a 256GB iPhone 7 model that's now not available directly from the manufacturer, but you may be able to find it from a third-party retailer. That phone originally cost $849 (£799, AU$1,379) but should be less now.
The iPhone 7 Plus, with its larger 5.5-inch display, bigger battery and dual-camera on back goes for a premium, too. Apple starts the price at $669 (£769, AU$1,199) for 32GB. That means the iPhone 7 is now cheaper by $120 (£120, AU$150), widening the price gap between the two.
In terms of contracts, we're not looking at a cheap phone here. In the US, you'll pay around $33 a month for the phone alone without a plan factored in. In the UK, the iPhone 7 starts at £43 per month with no upfront cost - that'll give you 4GB of data and the lowest-spec model.
Now is a good time to buy the iPhone 7 as the price has dropped from the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus release and we won't really expect any more dramatic price drops for quite some time.
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