Buyer beware: the iPhone 7 is probably the most unspectacular full upgrade yet.
"Full" being the operative word. Consumers should keep that in mind as
When I did some initial hands-on with the iPhone 7 Plus, the only thing that stood out from the 6s Plus was the solid-state home button. (Ditto on the smaller iPhone 7 and 6). And later when visiting an Apple Store in Los Angeles, the iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone 7 Plus (sitting on two display tables next to each other) looked virtually indistinguishable. See photos below. Can you tell the difference?*
iPhone 7 Plus or 6s Plus? (Credit: Brooke Crothers)
That's perfectly acceptable if it's an interim upgrade. Not as acceptable if it's a full upgrade after two years. This headline at Quartz is telling: 11 Months 'til iPhone 8, The iPhone 7 is the best iPhone since the iPhone 6S
This is where I have to insert what almost every reviewer says: Apple makes great phones. (They do.) And it's a good upgrade. Except this time around it's not good enough to be designated a full upgrade.**
iPhone 7? Apple can check off new features that consumers want, as surveys have shown. That includes better performance, more storage, better battery life (though not all reviews saw appreciably longer battery life), better camera (though Consumer Reports didn't see much difference in cameras, publications like MacWorld did see a difference in low-light shots), water resistance, and more color (finish) options. But does that make it an iPhone 7? The half dozen or so analysts I've talked to (some I have cited before) pretty much all agree: it's a nice upgrade but it's a doppleganger/placeholder before the iPhone 8 arrives.
But it doesn't matter what I think: Or what analysts think. Apple is still going to sell a lot of iPhones. And you can't fault the company's strategy. They've effectively laid the groundwork for the 10th anniversary iPhone coming next year that could have an edge-to-edge curved OLED display with a newfangled home button built directly into the glass (or no home button, as we know it). They could also start to do some really cool stuff with the dual-lens camera. Namely, depth sensing, 3D, and augmented reality -- the latter Tim Cook has discussed recently.
How did this iPhone "6ss" thing happen? Apple couldn't do a full-blown upgrade/physical redesign this year (obviously) because the technology (e.g., OLED) wasn't ready. So they settled on a third version of the iPhone 6.
I'll end on a positive note. Most consumers won't notice (don't care) that the iPhone 6/6s and iPhone 7 look the same. And the iPhone 7 with a better camera/faster processor/water resistance etc. is only about $100 more than the iPhone 6s. Again, most consumers will blithely spend the extra $100 (or sign two-year contracts) and never look back.
*iPhone 6s Plus is the bottom image. If you look closely (which the average consumer probably won't do) at the iPhone 7 Plus, you would notice the absence of a 3.5mm headphone jack, a bigger camera bump on the back, and better placement of the antenna lines.
**That's just my opinion, of course. And I'm addressing the average consumer, who may not notice the subtle photo quality improvements, faster speed etc. but may notice something very basic like the lack of a headphone jack (the inclusion of an adapter notwithstanding) and may not necessarily be impressed by the "better" battery life, e.g., MacWorld "didn’t notice dramatic battery life savings."
