Introduction
The iPhone 7 Plus hardly needs an introduction. Apple's latest always get the attention no matter how much or how little the company has changed. An aura of controversy has always been part of Apple's marketing and some might argue that the polarized opinions actually work in their favor.And the iPhone 7 duo tops the polarizing scale this season thanks to ditching the standard audio jack and the iconic hardware key. It seems this doesn’t get in the way of the iPhone providing superb performance and superb user experience for yet another year in a row. We’ve already brought you the iPhone 7 review, and now it’s time for its bigger sibling.
Compared to its predecessor, the iPhone 7 Plus comes with a more refined design, it packs even more processing power, and ups the game with a new dual-camera setup on the back. And while the 7+ isn't the first to slap two snappers next to each other, it is the first to attach telephoto lens onto one of these.
And did we mention it’s waterproof now? The iPhone 7 Plus is certainly a nice upgrade over the 6s Plus even if, the design and screen bezels are the same for the third year in a row.
Key features
- Water-proof metal unibody with redesigned, less-obtrusive antenna strips
- 5.5" 16M-color LED-backlit IPS LCD screen of 1080p resolution, 401ppi, wide color gamut, 3D Touch tech
- Pressure-sensitive Home key powered by a brand new Taptic Engine
- Quad-core (2+2) 64-bit Apple CPU, hexa-core GPU, 3GB of RAM, Apple A10 Fusion SoC
- Dual 12MP camera: wide-angle F/1.8 + telephoto F/2.8, easy switch and live bokeh effects, optical image stabilization, quad-LED flash, phase detection auto focus, wide color capture, face and body detection; 2160p@30fps video recording
- 7MP F/2.2 front-facing camera with BSI sensor and HDR mode, 1080p@30fps video
- Comes in 32, 128, and 256GB of built-in storage
- Second-gen Touch ID fingerprint sensor
- 4G LTE Cat.9 (600Mbps); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.2; Lightning port; GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS; NFC (Apple Pay only)
- 2,900mAh battery
Main disadvantages
- No 3.5mm audio jack (ships with a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter)
- No microSD slot
- NFC functionality limited to Apple Pay
- Still no fast or wireless charging, no IR port or FM radio
- No user-replaceable battery
- Scratch-prone Jet Black model
- Last year's snap-on cases won't fit the iPhone 7 Plus due to the different camera module footprint
The list of omissions is shrinking with each year, but it's still far from a short one. But then again, opting for Apple has its ups and downs, and the latter don't come cheap. In order to keep iOS free of bugs, glitches, and throttles, Apple still poses lots of restrictions to both developers and users.
But these are hardly a surprise to anyone, so let's not dwell on what can't be changed right now. Stays with us right after the break to see what's new, what got better, and what's gone for good.
Unboxing the Apple iPhone 7 Plus
The iPhone 7 Plus retail box contains the standard accessories - a wall plug, a Lightning cable, and Apple's EarPods ending on a Lighting connector. The supplied charger is 5V/1A which is a pity as the phone is capable of charging twice as fast with a third-party 5V/2A charger.For the first time in an iPhone there is a fourth thingy in the box - a Lighting-to-3.5mm analog adapter. Using one is not as convenient, it was a mandatory addition so the users can use headphones of their choice.
Hopefully, you didn't expect Apple to pack the new wireless AirPods. Those are sold separately for $159.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus 360-degree spin
On the outside, little has changed since the first Plus model - the iPhone 6 Plus. The 6 Plus, 6s Plus, and 7 Plus all share a similar footprint at 158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm though they weigh differently. The 6 Plus is the lightest at 172g, the new aluminum alloy, and 3D Touch tech added 20g up to 192g to the 6s Plus, while the new iPhone 7 Plus has shed some weight down to 188g.Design and build quality
We didn't get the best deal with the new generation iPhones, that's for sure. While the antenna bands have been refined for better looks, the design is pretty much the same for the third year in a row. The iPhone 7 Plus looks almost identical to the iPhone 6 and 6s Plus, and if it weren't for the new dual camera on the back, it's hardly distinguishable from the other Pluses.
Of course, refurbished looks don't translate into a mediocre vibe. On the contrary, Apple's iPhone 7 Plus is possibly one of the most beautiful and best-built devices on the market. Its unibody is made of sturdy airplane-grade aluminum, the front 2.5D ion-strengthened glass is scratch-resistant and covered with oleophobic layer for smudge protection, while the camera is shielded with a sapphire piece.
The iPhone 7 Plus is big for a 5.5-incher mostly because of its beefy bezels and huge Home key below the screen. Keeping the old design meant inheriting some old unpleasantries, but Apple made sure to make up for those in technology.
The most notable changes in the design are the lack of the analog audio jack and the new dual camera. There are also two new paint jobs - Matte Black and Jet Black, replacing the previous Space Gray. Unfortunately, the Jet Black is very prone to scratches, acknowledged even by Apple, and as intended more like a limited eye-candy edition, rather than a mainstream purchase.
Most users will also appreciate the refined antenna bands - those have been moved to flow with the design's curves around the top and bottom, something that Meizu came up with first on their Pro 6.
The most notable design upgrade is lurking underneath - the iPhone 7 Plus is fully waterproof. Taking out the audio jack and the hardware Home key from the equation surely helped Apple achieve water-tight body easier than others.
Note that the Lightning port doesn't have charging protection and if you try to charge your iPhone 7 Plus while wet, you may short-circuit and destroy your phone. The warranty won't cover this case, of course.
Handling the iPhone 7 Plus is a premium experience, though, not the most comfortable. And while you can't stretch your fingers all the way up, you can type and browse quite comfortably. The curved edges, combined with the big footprint and aluminum finish, could become very slippery and compromise the grip, so we'd recommend to grab a case or handle it with care.
Controls
The front of the iPhone 7 Plus is a copy-paste from the iPhone 6 and 6s Plus. It has the earpiece on top of the 5.5" screen, surrounded by the almost invisible FaceTime cam and a couple of sensors. The Home key is centered below the Retina display.
Looks may be deceiving those, as there is lots of new stuff here.
First, the earpiece is now bigger as it also happens to double as a speaker - one of the two stereo speakers available on the iPhone 7 Plus.
Then there is the new front-facing camera which now employs a 7MP sensor.
Finally, the new Home key. It has the same Touch ID v2.0 fingerprint scanner as the iPhone 6s Plus has. But instead of the old clickable button, Apple opted for a touch-sensitive one backed by a physically larger Taptic engine to reproduce real-life feedback.
The good news is that the Taptic engine works as advertised and is capable of mimicking the feedback perfectly. You can even configure its click strength. The bad news is the feedback is almost non-existent when you lay the phone down on a flat surface. And what's worse is the whole button doesn't work if you are wearing gloves.
We guess Apple probably had several good reasons to go for a touch button instead of a physical one. For one, it could be a matter of reliability - hardware keys can and will fail with time. Also, perhaps waterproofing the phone was easier this way.
Unfortunately, the introduction of the touch key has brought along some limitations. The team at the office was divided over the way that the artificial Taptic Engine feedback feels upon pressing the key. Then there is the huge Taptic engine module itself, which had to be fitted somewhere. It makes you wonder whether the resulting need for more space wasn't the real reason behind the removal of the physical audio jack.
Moving on, the iPhone 7 Plus is business as usual on its longer sides. On the left are the mute switch and the two volume keys. The right side has the power/lock key and the SIM slot.
There is nothing on top of the iPhone 7 Plus, while the bottom is less crowded than before because of the missing audio jack. There are two grilles flanking the Lightning port - one for the main speaker and main microphone, and another one, which hides a cavity used by the second mic and the barometer sensor, which needs to have access to the atmosphere to measure pressure.
Bold move or not, the audio jack is still as relevant as the old-school SIM slot. Its omission in the iPhone 7 Plus also made it easier for Apple to make a water-tight body and in the meantime to sell its wireless reinvention called AirPods. We'll leave the AirPods design, quality, and pricing for you to judge, but the good news is there is a proper Lightning to analog adapter in the retail box, so everyone can use whatever headphones they want.
The highlight of the iPhone 7 Plus is on the back - the dual 12MP camera with optical image stabilization. Unlike Huawei and its P9 or Honor 8, Apple chose to opt for a regular wide-angle snapper (12MP, f/1.8) and a telephoto cam (12MP, f/2.8). There is also a new brighter quad-LED true-tone flash to complement the new setup.
There is another mic right next to the camera hump, but video recording is still stuck with mono audio capturing.
Apple hops on the dual-camera train
Apple completely revamped the imaging abilities on the new iPhone 7 Plus. Like its smaller counterpart the Plus shares the updated 12MP sensor that is reportedly 60% faster and 30% more efficient, the brighter f/1.8 aperture that should let 50% more light, the new six-element lens as well as optical image stabilization.Apple reserved its best innovation for the Plus model. On the back, next to the standard 12MP camera sits a new 12MP sensor with a whole new telephoto lens which Apple aims at portrait shooters. Effectively, it's a 56mm f/2.8 lens which is twice as narrow in terms of field of view and about 1 ⅓ stops slower compared to the 28mm f/1.8 main lens. This means that the main camera lets in about 1.3x more light than the telephoto one and this is of great importance when it comes to low-light photography.
There are camera improvements around the front as well with a new 7MP FaceTime HD camera, a healthy bump from the 5MP of old. The selfie snapper is aided by Apple's excellent Retina Flash as they call it - it flashes the screen to serve as an ambient flash.
Live Photos are available as before - if you activate them, those 3s small videos are captured automatically and the new thing about them is that they are now stabilized so they look much smoother.
The camera interface is the same as before. If you tap to focus the phone will give you control over exposure through a slider. This way you can conveniently adjust exposure compensation depending on the scene. You can lock the focus and exposure as well.
We can confirm the camera is blazingly fast. There is no pausing for loading or saving even when taking bursts of photos (even a hundred images or more). We just wish Apple would finally implement a quick way to launch the camera, like a double press on the home button.
All settings and shooting modes are laid out logically and the only setting we miss is a toggle between 1080p and 4K video recording, which instead of being accessible from the camera UI, requires you to dig deep into the phone's Settings menu.
On the iPhone 7 Plus you get two new additions - a zoom button, which gets you directly into the telephoto camera, and a new Portrait mode that's still available only on Beta iOS10 builds. We installed the beta software on our review device and you can read more about the current implementation of the Portrait mode further down.
Wide-angle camera
Even though Apple upgraded the camera with a new sensor and a brighter f/1.8 lens, it's still 12MP in resolution and the daylight photos snapped with the iPhone 7 Plus are quite close to what we had on the iPhone 6s and identical to the iPhone 7's.
In good light the resolved detail is good, but it's not at all better (or worse) than what the previous iPhones resolved.
We spotted some softness in the extreme corners of the images, something we haven't seen on older iPhones - possibly a direct result of the new, brighter lens, but the issue rarely manifests itself.
The image processing algorithm doesn't look changed and it's still among the best in the mobile business. Fine detail is nicely represented with good amount of sharpening which looks balanced compared to LG's or Samsung's.
Other than that, the colors and contrast are great and the dynamic range is simply great - probably due to some clever Dynamic Range Optimization routine - much like you would get on dedicated big cameras. In any case, the iPhone 7 Plus delivers the most balanced dynamic range from any smartphone at the moment.
As expected, HDR mode expands the excellent dynamic range of the iPhone 7 Plus. Apple's approach is mostly about bringing back the highlight detail and only slightly enhancing shadow detail.
Interestingly, the HDR photos appear a bit darker than the non-HDR ones, but they offer higher detail in both shadows and highlights.
The iPhone 7 Plus has four LEDs for its flash and indeed, it's twice as bright as the one on the iPhone 6s/SE but this will probably matter at longer distances. On the other hand, if you use the flash as a flashlight, then you'll greatly appreciate the new one.
You can finally capture RAW images with your iPhone. There is no such option in the stock camera app but as of iOS 10 Apple now has an API that allows third-party camera apps to do so (and there are already a few camera apps in the App store that support RAW capture).
The RAW image allows you to procces the photo in a way that you prefer - you can losslessly tune the exposure, the sharpening, the noise reduction or the color temperature exactly to your liking and you can then export the result as a regular JPEG file. Below you can see the out-of-camera JPG and a DNG edited to taste and see the kind of benefits shooting RAW brings along.
The iPhone 7 offers 180-degree panoramic shots and they can go up to 15,000 x 4,000 pixels or 60MP. The stitching is great, there are no artefacts, and the color rendering is good, too.
We love iPhone panoramas because they are the only HDR ones around - meaning the exposure is constantly being adjusted to be even across the scene - we can't believe Apple is still the only one doing this.
The front-facing camera got its resolution boosted to 7MP and records 1080p video. It can use the so-called Retina flash, where your screen lights your face up in particular color to provide more pleasing skin tones depending on the color of the available light.
The resolved detail is higher than before, the contrast and colors are very good, while the exposure is always based on the subject, which leaves the background overexposed at times.
Without a doubt this is one of the finest front-facing cameras out there.
4K video recording
Apple iPhone 7 Plus is capable of recording 2160p videos at 30 frames in addition to 1080p capturing at 30 and 60 fps. The slow-mo videos can be recorded at 1080p at 120 fps or 720p at 240 fps. There is a time-lapse mode, which works quite well.The same modes are accessible for the telephoto camera and you get a zoomed view, naturally. The telephoto camera lacks optical image stabilization but Apple still includes software-based stabilization so in video you get an even more zoomed-in field of view.
The camcorder UI is as simple as it can get, offering nothing but the flash setting. You can find the resolution switch in the Settings menu instead of having a shortcut in the viewfinder, which is somewhat annoying.
The 4K videos carry a bitrate of around 47Mbps, but audio is recorded in mono at 85Kbps in AAC format. The 1080p videos at 30fps have a bitrate of 16 Mbps, keeping the same audio, while the 60fps ones came out with 23Mbps bitrate.
The 4K videos are identical to what you get from the smaller iPhone 7 - they are slightly less processed than still images - with very little noise, less sharpening, while the detail is great if not quite class-leading.
Dynamic range is once again impressive and the frame rate is pretty steady, but the mono audio is disappointing.
The telephoto camera offers the same video capturing abilities - all the way up to 4K at 30fps. In good light, the telephoto camera matches the main one in video quality. Detail levels are high, sharpening is balanced and dynamic range is almost as wide as on the main camera, which is impressive considering the smaller sensor size.
The electronic stabilization does a fine job of keeping videos steady. It does a remarkably good job of stabilizing videos from the telephoto camera too.
When the light is low, the iPhone 7 Plus will, once again, use a digitally-zoomed wide-angle camera, instead of the telephoto one.
The main camera of the Apple iPhone 7 Plus is much better in low-light compared to the one on the Apple iPhone 6s Plus. Videos come out with a brighter exposure and less noise, probably due to the brighter aperture, and are also sharper with a much better white balance.
The 1080p videos at 30 and 60 fps are among the best we've seen, well stabilized again, with great amount of detail, fine colors, a steady framerate and superb dynamic range. Once again - the audio is just mono, which is rather hard to swallow at this price point.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus normal 2160p
Apple iPhone 7 Plus telephoto 2160p
Apple iPhone 7 Plus normal 1080p@30fps
Apple iPhone 7 Plus telephoto 1080p@30fps
Below you can check out how the wide-angle and telephoto cameras stack up against each other and against our extensive catalogue of tested phones - in both 4K and 1080p.
Conclusion
Final words
Apple's iPhone 7 Plus brings a solid hardware upgrade over its predecessor but fails to impress with substantial improvements in design or looks. Is that an issue? It depends on how you look at it. The iPhones have always had nice designs that age well, and we've already gotten well used to the extra bezels around the display. But the counter argument that is also true - the manufacturers in similar or lower price points are pushing the envelope of what a regular smartphone can look like. In comparison, Apple doesn't seem to put much effort for such an expensive product.But the relatively unchanged looks of the iPhone 7 Plus are deceptive as there is a lot going on under the hood. The phablet is powered by the most powerful and efficient chipset on the market. It is also the first to offer secondary telephoto lens. It's also the first iPhone to come with dust and water resistance, stereo speakers, and a touch Home button.
Behind all these big features there are also other tiny improvements - the wider color gamut of the display, the wider color capture for the camera, the faster LTE connectivity, the better front camera, the brighter flash.
The new storage options are also a long awaited and highly anticipated update.
It's not all bells and whistles, though. The infamous Error 53 might be fixed with the new touch-sensitive Home key, but the tactile response doesn't feel natural when the iPhone is resting on a flat surface. And let's not forget it is unusable with gloves altogether.
There is also the issue with the retirement of the analog audio port, a move which disturbed even the most brand-loyal users. Yes, there is an adapter in the box, and maybe the Lightning headphones will flourish in the next couple of months, but a drastic change like this is as controversial as it can get.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus key test findings:
- The iPhone 7 Plus looks similar to its predecessors, but as usual, it is built to the highest of standards. The iPhone is now water and dust proof, and the intrusive antenna bands are less obvious.
- The new Home key works as advertised and compared to other touch Home buttons, this one can do double and triple taps without breaking a sweat. The Taptic engine feels incredibly realistic when the phone lies on a desk, but the feedback feeling when you have the phone in hand caused much division in our office. You just have to decide for yourself.
- The iPhone 7 Plus has a class-leading IPS LCD regarding brightness and color calibration. Its 401p density is behind most of the Android flagships - but that's more a matter of numbers rather than actual user experience as you would be hard pressed to spot any fuzziness with a naked eye.
- Battery life is above average with an Endurance rating of 75 hours. The phone has well-balanced scores across all tests but the video playback. The stereo speakers might have something to do with the latter.
- The connectivity is improved with Cat.9 LTE support, but NFC is still limited to Apple Pay. Wireless charging could have been useful but is still not an option. The lack of analog audio port sits somewhere between visionary and unforgivable depending on where you come from. At least there is a free adapter in the package.
- Performance-wise, the A10-powered iPhone 7 Plus is arguably the most powerful smartphone in the world right now. Its CPU and GPU performance, as well as the overall experience, are unrivaled. The storage write speeds turned out quite different for the 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB models. We didn't notice any lags in real life, but there is a noticeable performance difference in tasks like copying or saving large files.
- iOS 10 makes more use out of 3D Touch, enhances the lockscreen and allows third-party integration with Siri and Maps. All default apps have received meaningful updates too. Apple has an industry-leading software update program - you are guaranteed to get all iOS updates in the next few years as soon as they are out. However, iOS still lacks any customization options such as UI themes or icon packs.
- The stereo speakers scored Good regarding speaker loudness, which is as high as an iPhone has ever achieved, and subjectively, they sound great.
- The audio quality through the Lighting to 3.5mm converter is very good, but not quite the best in the class.
- The main camera offers the same great levels of detail, superb processing and class-leading dynamic range of its predecessor and is better in low light - lower noise, sharper images and better white balance.
- The telephoto camera has a neat Portrait mode which offers one of the best, if not the best, software faux bokeh effect on any smartphone. It's nice to have a 2x zoom camera in good light, but the smaller sensor and smaller aperture make the telephoto camera unusable in low light.
- 4K videos offer great detail and low light videos benefit greatly from the wider aperture but the audio recording is still mono. 1080p videos provide high enough quality to be considered usable in the age of 4K.
- The front 7MP selfie camera takes nice images even in low-light conditions.
LG V20 was launched just recently, and while many are putting its looks under question, the shock-proof phablet is shaping up as one of the best phablets to date. The V20 has a high-end Quad HD IPS display complimented by a secondary always-on screen, a fast Snapdragon 820 chip with 4GB RAM, and the same dual-camera setup introduced with the LG G5 a while back (ultra wide angle + regular).
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