The reviews are now out of the iPhone 7 Plus and there are plenty of discussions whether the new phablet is worth the upgrade or not. Some say it's worth it due to the new processor and updates that are coming to the camera, others comment that there aren't significant updates that would have users lining up to trade in their devices.
To make it a little easier, below is a direct comparison of the iPhone 7 Plus' specs against its predecessors, the iPhone 6s Plus and 6 Plus.
Display
All three have a 5.5-inch IPS LCD touchscreen display that runs natively on 1080p (1,920 x 1,080). The same pixel density as well at 401 ppi. Interestingly, the iPhone 7 Plus only has a 67.58 percent screen-to-body ratio while both the 6 Plus and 6s Plus have 67.91 percent.
The iPhone 7 Plus scores some points in terms of brightness. While the other two peak at 500 nit, the 7 Plus can shoot up to 625 nit, which makes it more ideal when outdoors, especially when using the handheld under direct sunlight.
Under The Hood
The SoC is where a huge difference appears. According to Apple, the quad-core A10 Fusion chip that the iPhone 7 Plus sports is 40 percent faster than the dual-core A9 SoC on the 6s Plus. The A10 is three times faster than the dual-core A8 on the 6 Plus.
The A10 on the iPhone 7 managed a 5,331 score on Geekbench's multi-core benchmark and 3,295 for the single-core. The 6s Plus' A9 managed 2,397 and 4,011, respectively. The A8 on the 6 Plus has 1,474 and 2,449.
The RAM also got upgrades as the iPhone progressed. The iPhone 6 Plus came with a default 1 GB LPDDR3 module clocked at 1,600 mhz while both the 6s Plus and 7 Plus got fitted with 2 GB and 3 GB LPDDR4 modules, respectively.
The iPhone 7 Plus also received significant storage upgrade. It comes with a 256 GB built-in storage. The 6 Plus and 6s Plus enjoy half of that at 128 GB.
Battery And Connectivity
Most companies increase the battery capacity of their flagships each year, but not Apple. Somehow, Cupertino likes to be different.
Among the three, the iPhone 6 Plus has the biggest battery capacity at 2,915 mAh followed by the 7 Plus with its 2,900 mAh. Last year's 6s Plus sits at 2,750 mAh. Surprisingly, the iPhone 7 Plus offers the least talk time at 21 hours while its predecessors can both manage 24 hours.
All three come with LTE, Wi-Fi and 3G.
Camera
The iPhone 6 Plus came with an 8-megapixel main shooter with dual LED flash and can only record 1080p videos at 60 fps. Its front-facing cam stands at 1.2 megapixels.
The iPhone 6s Plus's rear shooter was quite a significant upgrade from that of the 6 Plus's. It came with a 12-megapixel main camera that can shoot 4K (3,840 x 2,160) videos at 30 fps and 1080p at 120 fps. It also featured a 5-megapixel selfie cam.
This is another aspect where the iPhone 7 Plus separates itself from the other two. It actually has two sensors. One has an f/1.8 28mm wide-angle lens while the other is fitted with a f/2.8 56mm telephoto lens. The 7 Plus simultaneously operates the two sensors. However, the application is quite limited at the moment.
"Right now, what this means is that you can switch to a true 2x zoom by tapping on a button, which is very nice," writes Nilay Patel of The Verge. "You can also digitally zoom the 1x lens to 2x, where the telephoto takes over, and then digitally zoom the 2x lens to 10x."
It is worth noting that with iOS 10.1, which is currently in beta, the iPhone 7 Plus gets a Portrait camera mode, which aims to replicate the type of shallow depth field images that a high-end DSLR captures — a subject featured in the forefront while the background gets blurred.
All three iPhone models come with OIS and autofocus.
Dimensions, Weight, Material Composition And Design Features
There really isn't much difference when it comes to the three devices' dimensions. The iPhone 6 Plus, which was released in 2014, is 6.22 inches long, 3.06 inches wide and 0.28 inch thick while the iPhone 6s Plus, which followed the year after, is 6.23 inches x 3.07 inches x 0.29 inches. The iPhone 7 Plus's size is identical to 6s Plus — 6.23 inches x 3.07 inches x 0.29 inches.
Surprisingly, it's the iPhone 6 Plus that's the lightest of the three at 6.07 ounces (172 grams). The iPhone 6s Plus is the heaviest at 6.77 ounces (192 grams) and the iPhone 7 Plus sits in the middle with 6.63 ounces (188 grams). All of their bodies are made out of aluminum and feature a fingerprint sensor.
What separates the iPhone 7 Plus from the previous generations is its water and dust resistance, which both the iPhone 6 Plus and 6s Plus do not have. The 7 Plus has an IP67 rating.
The iPhone 7 Plus can come in matte black and jet black. The iPhone 6 Plus is stuck with silver, gold and space gray. The 6s Plus gets the additional rose gold option. Both of the predecessors also have headphone jacks.
The 256 GB version of the iPhone 7 Plus sells for $969, while the 32 GB and 128 GB iterations are priced at $769 and $869, respectively.
