Apple on Thursday launched the next generation iPhone with the hope to reverse dwindling sales of its best selling device and grow revenues from developed markets such as US and China.
The iPhone 7 brings in several new features while still retaining a design similar to that showcased two years ago with the iPhone 6. However, the device could appeal to upgrade buyers with new finishes including a glossy and dull black. Apple has also made the new iPhone dust and water resistant, another demand from users for years.
"iPhone is the industry gold standard. The phone with which every other phone is compared. There's a reason you see so many iPhones everywhere you look, because we've sold a billion of them. This makes the iPhone the best-selling product of its kind in the history of the world," said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, at the launch event on Thursday.
One of the most loved features, its camera, also got a big upgrade, albeit on the larger iPhone 7 Plus model only. While Apple did upgrade the camera on the smaller 4.7-inch iPhone 7, the 5.5-inch 7 Plus gets a dual camera setup that uses a regular wide angle in addition to a telephoto lens that will allow users a world of new features and control.
While the aesthetic of the new iPhone isn’t dissimilar to that of the iPhone 6, something that users complained about when the 6S was launched, the company has been able to introduce a load of new features that is likely to get people to upgrade.
The spurt in upgrades could bump up sales, with the company even extending to last year’s buyers of its upgrade programme the ability to upgrade to an iPhone 7 more affordably. It’s also looking to use this to get more people to sign up for the programme where aficionados get the latest iPhone every year.
One of the more controversial changes Apple made was its decision to ditch the analog 3.5mm jack in favour of using its proprietary Lightning port to run its headphones. In order to fill the void, the iPhone 7 is the first from the company to feature stereo speakers located at the top and bottom. The company also showcased its first wireless earbuds, dubbed Air Pods.
From a performance perspective, Apple says the four core A10 Fusion processor (two performance cores and two high-efficiency cores) is its fastest ever, beating older generation devices by a long margin. All the gains in efficiency should allow the iPhone 7 to achieve two hours of extra battery life over the 6S on average, while the 7 Plus will be able to manage an hour longer than the 6S Plus.
Apple has retained the pricing for the iPhone 7, starting at $649 for the smaller 4.7-inch model, while prices for the 7 Plus will start at $769. While the price remains the same, the company has effectively doubled the storage capacity of all variants, with the entry level models getting 32GB of storage, while higher-end models get 128GB and 256GB of onboard storage.
Starting price for the iPhone in India is Rs 60,000 and will be available from October 7.
It is yet to be seen if Apple can woo buyers with the iPhone 7, but the company certainly has made a lot of new additions to its flagship device as compared to the 6S which was considered too similar to its predecessor to justify an upgrade. Moreover, with people holding onto the iPhone 6 rather than upgrading to the 6S last year, Apple could automatically see increased sales.
