The new iPhone features a design that's very similar to last year's iPhone 6S, with a rounded aluminum body but instead of the matte metal finish we are used to, it has a glossy, mirrored design.

Display

The new phones have upgraded displays that are 25 percent brighter, with a wider color gamut for better color reproduction and improved color management. Both include the 3D Touch pressure sensitive display that debuted with the 6S line. But it appears that Apple did not update the image resolution of the displays, meaning that this year's iPhone has the same number of pixels as 2014's iPhone 6. (The iPhone 7 has 750 x 1334 pixels, while the iPhone 7 Plus has 1080 x 1920.)

A10 Fusion Processor / M10 Coprocessor

The next-generation Apple A10 quad-core processor together with the M10 motion coprocessor and Apple is calling it the A10 Fusion. It offers significant improvements over the old chip, with up to 40% faster performance and 50% faster graphical performance compared to the A9 in the iPhone 6s/6s Plus. When put alongside iOS 10, that should equate to some seriously notable improvements.

Apple A10 quad-core processor - Two cores are high-performance, the other two are "high efficiency," which means they will conserve battery while handling tasks.

Camera

The camera experience one of the biggest upgrades to come to iPhone in a long, long time. It’s being touted as the highlight feature of the two new handsets.

iPhone 7: features a rear-facing 12-megapixel iSight shooter with a larger 1/2.6” sensor, ƒ/1.8 aperture, and 1.3 µm pixels for improved low-light performance and OIS (optical image stabilization) to counter shaky shots and clips. The FaceTime HD camera has also been updated to a 7MP sensor compared to the 5MP found on the iPhone 6s.

iPhone 7 Plus: the larger iPhone 7 Plus features an iSight Duo dual-lens system that offers the most impressive camera performance and range of capabilities on any iPhone, or probably any smartphone, to date. There is one wide-angle lens (ƒ/1.8 aperture) and one telephoto lens (ƒ/2.8 aperture). Each of the two six-element lens pack a 12MP unit of course. The iPhone 7 Plus also includes 2X optical zoom capability, again a first for an iPhone. Just like iphone 7, it packs a 7MP FaceTime HD camera.

It will be interesting to see what tangible improvements this dual-lens arrangement has to offer but for now we know that this will allow the iPhone 7 Plus to create depth-of-field, allowing it to really focus in on the subject while blurring the background.

In addition to this, there’s a new Quad-LED True Tone flash on the back of both the phones which now packs four LEDs to make taking photos in low light conditions, more natural.

Force-sensitive Touch ID/Home Button

This is the first time in iPhone’s history since 2007 that an iPhone isn’t featuring a mechanical Home button. Apple has opted for a force-sensitive Touch ID/Home button on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus along with a Taptic Engine haptic feedback system, which provides different vibration feedback for various alerts.

Water and dust-resistant

This one has been a long time coming for the iPhone, and certainly something that users have been crying out for. The overall design and display may be the same as the outgoing devices but there’s now an official IP67 water and dust resistant rating that goes along with the device. This makes it possible to use the new iPhone 7and 7 Plus 1m underwater for up to 30 minutes long.

No 3.5mm Headphone Jack

Apple has removed the 3.5mm headphone jack from the bottom of the phone, but as expected that space hasn’t been occupied by a second speaker. Apple said removing the headphone jack free up valuable space to enable significant camera improvement, increase battery size, and implement Water Resistance Improvements.

You can now use Bluetooth for headphone connectivity, or the included new Lightning-enabled EarPods, or the included Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter to connect your regular old headphones to the new iPhone via the Lightning port.

AirPods

For those who does not want to get the occasional tangle with the headphone cable can opt for Apple’s innovative new wireless headphones – the Airpod. It weave simplicity and technology together to reinvent the wireless experience making headphones easy to use. Featuring the new Apple W1 chip, AirPods have extremely efficient wireless communication for a better connection, improved sound and industry-leading battery life.  The AirPods will be available in late October.

Dual Stereo Speakers

The removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack means that there is now room for Apple to integrate an additional speaker for an enhanced audio experience. The iPhone 7 range is the first iPhone model to actually ship with a dual-speaker audio experience, but the second speaker isn’t at the bottom but on the top.

Battery

The iPhone 7 battery is now 14% bigger and the iPhone 7 Plus battery is now 5% bigger. This gives iPhone 7 users an additional two hours of battery life and iPhone 7 Plus users an additional hour more than iphone 6s and iphone 6s Plus respectively.

Storage Capacity

With iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Apple has finally killed the 16GB base model and replaced it with 32GB as base model while keeping it at the same price range. In addition to this, 64GB has been axed in favor of 128GB as mid-tier option while a new 256GB option has been added as top-tier model. Interestingly, the new Jet Black color will only be available in the 128GB and 256GB variants.

Colors

The other visual change is the colors the new iPhones are being offered in. Apple has replaced the Space Gray with two new options: Jet Black and Black, taking the total number of color choices up to five.

• Jet Black
• Black
• Silver
• Rose Gold
• Gold

Release Date

Apple has confirmed that pre-orders for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will begin September 9, with shipping starting one week later on September 16th, 2016 in the following countries as outlined by Apple: “Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UAE, the UK, US Virgin Islands and the US.”

Customers in other countries are expected to start receiving their order from September 23 onwards.