Apple released their 7th edition of the iPhone on September 16, 2016.  This new smartphone has 10 brand new features that have never been done on an iPhone before. The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, said, “iPhone is the industry gold standard, the phone by which all other smartphones are compared to.” The biggest new feature is the camera system.  The iPhone 7 has a 12MP (Mega Pixel) wide-angle camera on the back and a 7MP camera on the front. The iPhone 7 Plus has the same front and back camera as the regular iPhone 7, but it has two back cameras. One of the two cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus is primarily a wide angle lens and the other telephoto lens.  They work together for better zooming. These cameras have an optical zoom of 2x, but can zoom up to 10x for high quality zoom shots.  Also, the dual cameras have an all-new depth-of-field effect.  This allows portrait photos to have a blurred background.

Another big change is the AirPods.  Without a headphone jack, iPhone 7 users are encouraged to buy AirPods that cost $159.00 from Apple. They come out in late October, a month after the iPhone 7 was released.  One of the features of these AirPods is you can double tap them for Siri and they can also hold a five hour charge.  Junior Y-minh Nguyen said, “I think the iPhone 7 is great because it’s faster and has a better camera, but I don’t like the new bluetooth headphones because they can get lost easily.”  The AirPods have a W1 chip inside them, and they can sense when the AirPod is in your ear and only plays music when it is in.  Apple is really pushing AirPods.  However, the iPhone 7 still comes with standard EarPods and an adapter to convert the lightening technology into a headphone plug.  One downside to this is that you cannot charge your phone and listen to music at the same time.

Other new features of the iPhone 7 include a Jet Black finish.  This is a high gloss finish that sold out the night of pre-orders.  If you did not pre-order it, you will have to wait until November to get it.  The immersive stereo system is 2x louder than the iPhone 6s and is higher quality.  The iPhone 7 is also water and dust resistant and has the brightest display ever in an iPhone.  It is 25% brighter and has wider color range.  The iPhone 7 also comes with iOS 10 which was released the week before the phone did.  IOS 10 comes with new iMessage and 3D touch features.  Lastly the iPhone 7 has a new home button.  With this home button you can do many different things.  By pressing it once, it takes you home.  A double tap takes you to multitasking, and by holding it down, you can get Siri. This home button is sensitive to force and more responsive with the Apple taptic engine.

All of these new features come with a price.  The iPhone 7 costs $649 which is the same cost as the 6 plus, while the 7 Plus costs $769.  With these crazy prices, Apple has doubled the storage; each model comes in 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB.  However, if you want the jet black finish, it only comes in 128GB and 256GB. There are many people who believe that this price is outrageous.  Junior Laura Scarbeck said, “I think it [iPhone 7] is completely useless if I’m honest.  All the company is doing is trying to bring in more money.”