Apple held their September keynote today in San Francisco and, like most of you had already guessed, unveiled the next iteration of their smartphones, the highly anticipated iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. We shared a list of features that were leaked by a top Apple analyst this last weekend, and although it was all conjecture at that point, it appears that most of the features on that list were right on the money, including the big one, the dual wide-angle/telephoto camera.
Here are the features mentioned at the keynote:
iOS 10
- Lift phone to wake
- Siri updates
- Home automation with HomeKit
- Biggest iOS update ever
iPhone 7/7 Plus
Design
- New shiny "Jet Black" design
- Force sensitive, solid state home button (think the MacBook Pro trackpad)
- Home button features taptic engine API and is programmable
- Water and dust resistant enclosure (meets IP67 protection standard)
- Better battery life
- 32GB/128GB/256GB
- Looks similar to the iPhone 6
Audio
- 3.5mm headphone jack removed
- Lightning EarPods and a 3.5mm-to-Lightning headphone adaptor included in the box
- Stereo speakers
Camera(s)
- Optical image stabilizer
- Shoot RAW DNG files
- Wider F1.8 aperture
- 6-element lens for sharper images
- All new high speed 12MP sensor (60% faster)
- Quad-LED True Tone flash: 50% more light, light flicker sensor reads flickering of artificial lights
- Apple designed image signal processor: auto exposure, focus,color, noise reduction, and cinema standard color and white balance
- 7MP front-facing camera (up from 5MP)
- iPhone 7 Plus features the rumored dual camera system: built-in zoom feature, 2x optical zoom, 10x software zoom, depth map for shallow depth of field (forthcoming free software update allows users to select "portrait" camera option and select "depth effect")
- Retina HD display: wide color gamut, end-to-end color management, 25% brighter, cinema standard
Price
- iPhone 7: starts at $649
- iPhone 7 Plus: starts at $769
Here are some images captured with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus:
Clearly the newest versions of the iPhone doesn't really compete with good DSLRs and all of their advanced features and tools, but Apple adds a little bit more (not as much, again, as we would've liked) to their smartphone camera that may appeal to smartphone filmmakers. Features like the 6-element F1.8 lens, ISP, and the dual camera system in particular are all a step in the right direction in terms of versatility and professional-grade aesthetics.
But the feature I found most interesting is actually the iPhone 7 Plus' software upgrade which adds a special shooting mode that allows users to add depth-of-field in real time. Though it's not technically "real" DoF, the depth map Apple engineers are working on keeps subjects in focus while blurring the background artificially.
The ability to capture sharp images with vibrant colors, even in low-light situations, is something that makes smartphone filmmaking more of a possibility with an iPhone. (And all in RAW DNG!)
Preorders start on Friday, September 9th.
