Apple announces the iPhone 7 – with new camera and better battery

As expected, Apple announced the brand new iteration of the iPhone at its press conference earlier this morning. While the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus feature the typical hardware improvements, much of the focus has been to improve the ways the phone is used every day – providing for a much better experience.

The phone includes a brand new quad-core Apple A10 Fusion chip, which promises to be one of the powerful and most battery-efficient processors on a smartphone. It also improves graphics performance, running up to three times faster than the iPhone 6 but with less power required.

Both phones will feature a 12 megapixel camera with optical image stablisation, a larger f/1.8 aperture and 6-element lens which Apple claims to produce brighter and detailed photos. The iPhone 7 Plus adds a telephoto camera that will allow it to have 2x optical zoom, and 10x digital zoom on photos. There is also a 7-megapixel front-facing FaceTime HD lens with image stablisation to produce “better selfies” (yes, I cringed when I heard that.)

As expected, the iPhone 7 dumps the 3.5mm headphone jack with a Lightning connector. If you wish to continue using your old headphones, then you will need to use the included headphone jack adapter.

Apple also notes that the phone water resistant, thanks to an entirely reengineered enclosure. However, it will only protect it from spills, splashes and dust. It will not protect the phone if you dropped into the pool.

The new iPhone 7 and iPhone Plus 7 will be available to preorder from tomorrow, and will be on sale from September 16 in Australia, most of Europe, New Zealand, the United States and Canada. The starting price for the iPhone 7 is AU$1079, and the iPhone 7 Plus is AU$1269; and comes in three storage varieties – 32GB, 128GB and 256GB.

And with a hefty starting price, expect your phone plans to include high phone repayment costs.