Apple is good at making waves with each launch of its smartphones, and its iPhone 7 faced enough hype and criticism to be no exception from the tradition.
Tech Times has taken a look at the experts' reviews and summarized the most relevant aspects of the iPhone 7, so you know if you should wait for next year to update your current iPhone.
Design
Multiple reviewers have chastised Apple for its apparent laziness in terms of design. The iPhone 7 brings two shades of black and repositions the antenna bands, but the general design is taking more than a leaf from the iPhone 6's book.
"[I]f you're looking at the iPhone 7 from the front, it's almost impossible to distinguish from the iPhone 6 or 6S," Scott Stein from CNet notes.
The Home Button went from a clickable, physical button to a Haptic Engine enabled surface.
"It's nothing like the clumsy haptic feedback on other phones, it really does feel like a click," Nilay Patel from The Verge observes.
"[T]he omission of the headphone jack ... could shake up the headphone industry," Gareth Beavis of TechRadar states.
It remains to be seen how this "courageous" move from Apple influences the mobile environment.
Features
Apple 7 finally caught up with the pack and made its smartphones water resistant. To do this, the company removed the headphone jack, which led to some extreme gestures from some of the company's loyalists.
Another commendable upgrade is having the basic model of iPhone 7 loaded with 32 GB of storage.
Apple fitted the iPhone 7 with cameras better suited for low light.
"Against competition like the new LG V20 and Samsung Galaxy S7 series, we still prefer the iPhone camera overall," Jeffrey Van Camp of Digital Trends affirms.
The display got revamped so it delivers a better contrast, a larger palette of hues and 25 percent brightness increase in both pictures and videos.
Performance
The A10 CPU that sits inside the iPhone 7 benchmarked high scores in single and multi-core testing.
"Apple was able to create a more efficient processor ... while using less power," Patel says.
With the pairing of an extra efficient processor, iOS 10 improvements and the larger power source should give the iPhone 7 two more hours over the battery life of iPhone 6s.
"Apple guarantees software updates for about four years," Van Camp says. He goes on to add that this is one major incentive to choose an iOS handset over an Android one.
"Apple's new iOS 10 is one of the best platforms the company has ever put together," another review backs him up.
Conclusion
There are some strong reasons to upgrade to the iPhone 7: it can take a little splash of liquid, it sports great cameras, has increased storage and battery life and its stereo speakers are a blast. The main downsides are the lack of a headphone jack, a very scratchable Jet Black finish and an outdated design.
"[M]any of the changes are slight, and the iPhone 6S, for the lower price, becomes a very attractive option," Beavis concludes.
