iPhone 7 Plus price | iPhone 7 Plus release date | iPhone 7 Plus specs UK
We investigate the iPhone 7 Plus release date and the iPhone 7 Plus price in the UK. Also check out the iPhone 7 Plus specs from rumours and leaks.
iPhone 7 Plus is actually the rumoured Pro model with dual cameras and Smart Connector
By Jim Martin1 | 9 hours ago
Not all of Apple’s forthcoming products are leaked prior to launch as heavily as the iPhone. And with the iPhone 7 there have been more than usual. While it appears that the iPhone 7 Plus (or should that be iPhone 7 Pro?) will retain the overall look of its predecessors, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, it will have quite a few upgrades that are sure to have serial upgraders reaching for their wallets. We’re expecting big things from the new phablet including the possibility of dual-cameras and wireless charging, and it’s all but confirmed by Apple that it will arrive in September of 2016. Read on to find out all of the latest rumours including iPhone 7 Plus release date, iPhone 7 Plus price, iPhone 7 Plus specs and potential new features. You might also like: Best smartphones 20165 and Best new phones you should be excited about6.234
Lastest rumours: The naming system for this year’s iPhone has been ‘confirmed’, not by Apple of course but by ‘reliable sources’ via Mac Otakara. It will be the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus despite minor upgrades to avoid the confusion of consecutive ‘S’ models. It seems the ‘Pro’ model was actually just one of two Plus options with the single lens option a fall back if the dual camera technology didn’t work out.
7
According to a report by Bloomberg8, Apple has decided to ditch one of its three new iPhone 7 models. Rumour has it that the single-lens 5.5in iPhone 7 (below left) has been canned and only the dual-camera model will go on sale alongside the 4.7in iPhone 7. It means that what we previously thought would be called the iPhone 7 Pro is now likely to be the iPhone 7 Plus – a straight replacement for the iPhone 6S Plus. However, it could also mean there will be no iPhone 7 Plus and instead we’ll see only the standard iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Pro. The report also says the home button will be new and, instead of being a traditional push button, will be more like the trackpad on a new Macbook with haptic feedback.
The below photos (from MyDrivers9) appear to show the rumoured black iPhone 7 Plus from different angles. We can see the dual-cameras, Smart Connector and the lack of a headphone jack. It’s not clear whether the home button is push like previously or a new touch only version.
YouTube channel Unbox Therapy got hold of a mockup of the 7 Plus from headphone company Besound. If the mockup is correct, the phone really will have protruding dual cameras, no headphone jack and a three-pin dock connector for accessories. You can watch the video comparison here10, and an image showing the old and new phones side by side is below. Whether or not the dark blue colour is correct remains to be seen: other rumours say the iPhone 7 Plus will be available in darker ‘Space Black’11 not dark blue as previously rumoured. A new photo shows the alleged dual-camera module and a whopping 256GB storage capacity. Take a look12. Will the base model finally be 32GB13?
However, while the dual-camera seem like a certainty, a Weibo user14 citing sources at Foxconn (Apple’s manufacturing partner) says that workers have been told the dual-camera technology is too immature to include. In other words it’s not ready for the iPhone 7 Plus but there’s still plenty of time left between now and the launch so don’t take this as concrete just yet. Naturally, we’ll have a full iPhone 7 Plus review for you once we get our hands on the phone following its launch. The latest info coming through on the iPhone 7 Plus suggests it will feature both waterproofing and wireless charging15. Retailer MobileFun tells us that the sensors are now in the right hand side of the front facing speaker and that the iPhone 7 has ‘more of a curved edge than the iPhone 6/6S’.
Read: .
iPhone 7 Plus release date UK rumours: When will the new iPhone be released?
iPhone 7 Plus release date (TBC): 7 September (launch), 9 September (pre-order), 16 September (on sale)
With the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus unveiled on 9 September 2015, and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on the 9 September 2014, one might think the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will come on 9 September 2016. Except that will be a Friday, and it’s much more Apple-like to unveil new products on a Tuesday. Our money is on either Tuesday 6 September 2016, or Tuesday 13 September 2016 – probably the latter. It seems we weren’t too far off as Evan Blass17 (evleaks) suggests, and he is usually right, that the iPhone 7 release will be week of 12 September. We’re talking when you’ll be able to buy it and it’s likely the exact date will be 16 September.
He says that you’ll be able to pre-order the iPhone 7 on 9 September which means we expect Apple to hold the launch even on 7 September. The previous day would be more likely but it follows Labour Day in the US which makes the Wednesday more likely. However, we’ve since seen reports that the actual on sale date could be as late as 23 September. A leaked AT&T retail schedule (via 9to5Mac18) detailing merchandising reset hours calls out 9 September and 23 September as significant dates, suggesting they might want to stick up some fancy new iPhone 7 graphics.
iPhone 7 Plus price UK: How much will the iPhone 7 Plus cost?
We’re expecting Apple to keep the pricing for its iPhones the same when it launches new models next year. For the past two iPhone releases, Apple has kept pricing the same, which would mean the iPhone 7 Plus will be priced at 619 for the 16GB model, 699 for the 64GB model and 789 for the 128GB model. There’s also rumours19 that the iPhone 7 Plus might feature a 256GB SanDisk NAND flash chip, which might mean we could be getting more storage for less; where the 16GB model might be scrapped and the base price of 619 might be for the 64GB variant.
However, Apple makes a premium on higher capacity storage models so keeping the 16GB model in order to tempt users to upgrade is certainly likely as a continued strategy.
That said, an analyst at IHS Technology has posted online stating that the base model iPhone 7 will come with 32GB of storage for £199 (on contract). We assume this will apply to the iPhone 7 Plus and IHS has a good track record on these kinds of things. Pricing has been revealed, supposedly, via a Weibo user20 who claims to know the pricing for the entire iPhone 7 range all three phones. The prices are in Chinese Yuan but the important thing is that Apple won’t introduce a price increase for the iPhone 7 Plus. The source claims the iPhone 7 top-model will be the only one with a price increase and the iPhone 7 Pro will start at the same price as the cheapest new iPhone. They say that the iPhone 7 will be 32-, 64- or 256GB of storage while the Plus and Pro models will be 128GB instead of 64GB for the middle-level.
Remember that converting these prices to UK pound won’t help a great deal as the iPhone is more expensive in the Far East. Also bear in mind that these prices could be nothing more than a guess.
New iPhone 7: podcast discussion
iPhone 7 Plus rumours: Design & build
Back in July a leak via Nowhereelse21, showed the iPhone 7 Plus compared to the regular iPhone 7 (both dummy versions). Here’s another shot of the iPhone 7 Plus from the front.
Update 11 July: After so many leaks around the same things (mainly cameras and headphone jack), we have something new on the cards when it comes to the iPhone 7 range. A slide posted on My Drivers22 from an internal Foxconn (Apple’s largest manufacturer) presentation appears to reveal that the iPhone 7 Plus and presumably iPhone 7 will at long last be waterproof with an IP68 rating and will also have wireless charging. If true, the iPhone 7 Plus would match rivals like the Samsung Galaxy S7 which offers both these features. The IP68 rating means a device is fully dust proof and can be submerged in water for up to 30 minutes. The wireless charging would be a be deal if Apple does ditch the headphone jack as there would be no way of listing to music and charging the phone without using wireless headphones (or the built in speaker). Apple filed a patent for ‘Smart aluminium’ in December which uses “an imitation metal oxide layer” to allow the conduction charging to pass through the chassis.
Update 27 June: Contradicting a report released previously claiming that the iPhone 7 Plus will be available in deep blue instead of the traditional space grey, Mac Otakara now claims23 that Apple is working on a space grey finish. However, the colouring will be similar to that of the Apple Watch, providing a much darker colour than is present at the moment. Sources claim that it’ll be “formal black” which is apparently close to black, with a slight grey tinge.
This is ‘confirmed’ by24 a 9to5Mac source claiming that Apple is working on a “Space Black” finish for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus similar to the Apple Watch, although the source is fairly new with no track record, so we can’t be sure of its accuracy at this time. The source also claims that the Apple Watch 2 will feature on-board GPS, that Apple will be releasing a new MacBook Pro with an OLED Strip and Touch ID sensor built into the power button, however it’s a wireless earbud claim that intregues us. The 9to5Mac source claims that Apple is on track to release fully wireless EarPods alongside the iPhone 7, which apparently will not feature a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Rumours of wireless EarPods circulated earlier this year, but were shot down fairly quickly with claims that we won’t be seeing them until the 2017/2018 iPhone so it’s interesting that this is mentioned by the source. Again, as noted above, this source has no track record so it’s best to take these rumours with a pinch of salt – for now, at least.
On 12 May 2016, U-Switch (along with OnLeaks) showcased a video of what is claimed to be CAD renders of the upcoming iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus (which some are now calling the iPhone 7 ‘Pro’). While the video was basic, it has confirmed a number of features of the iPhone 7 Plus – the dual-camera setup, removal of the headphone jack and the introduction of a Smart Connector on the rear of the smartphone. The video can be found below:
embedded content
While we can’t confirm or deny that these are renders of Apple’s upcoming smartphones, OnLeaks has a great track record when it comes to smartphone leaks and if any leaks were true, we’d bet on it being from OnLeaks. Two days earlier, On 10 May 2016, the ever-so-trustworthy nowhereelse.fr (with the OnLeaks stamp on it) leaked an image showcasing an iPhone, presumably the iPhone 7 with the identical dimensions as the iPhone 6s, thus measuring 67.12mm wide and 138.3mm tall.2526
If we base the same dimensions as the iPhone 6s Plus, we could assume the 7 Plus will be 77.9mm wide and 158.2mm tall. We weren’t informed of its thickness, but the 6s was 7.1mm thick, whilst the 6s Plus was 7.3mm thick.
The image above, does also suggest that the dual-camera design might be exclusively used with the iPhone 7 Plus. A schematic pictured below gives you a better idea of how the iPhone 7 Plus might look like:
On 9 May 2016, Macrumours saw an iPhone 7 that was pictured without a headphone jack and a different back plate design. In the picture, there are three small dots for the smart connector, suggesting the rumours around the smart connector to be true. However, as we can’t verify the source, take the image below with a pinch of salt.
On 3 May 2016, an image leak by French site Nowhereelse.fr27 shows a number of components, including the much-talked about headphone jack. Below are internal component images from Weibo28 and iFixit29 (iPhone 6s) – from the images, we can see there’s a slight difference in the components, but yet the headphone jack remains present.
The trusted KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, dubbed as one of the most reliable and well-known Apple insiders suggests that Apple will return to an iPhone 4/4s glass design in 2017. The reason this applies to iPhone 7 and 7 Plus rumours is that Apple will stick to its current metal design.
Image render courtesy of Martin Hajek from nowhereelse.fr.
Apple’s iPhone cycle tends to follow a ‘tick’ and ‘tock’ sort of model, with the tick being the main iPhone update such as the iPhone 6, which generally looks quite different from the previous model, and then the secondary iPhone update such as the iPhone 6s, which looks almost identical to the iPhone 6 but has some big spec changes. That’s why we think the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will look quite different from the current iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus design. We think it’ll still come in Silver, Gold, Space Grey and Rose Gold colour options, but we might see some other changes when it comes to the overall look and feel of the phone. Apple could well decide to bump the screen size up from 5.5in on the iPhone 6s Plus to 5.7in on the iPhone 7 Plus, with the smaller model bumping up from 4.7in to 5in, but rather than increasing the overall size of the phone itself, we expect Apple will aim to increase the screen-to-body ratio. This could be achieved by an edge-to-edge screen, perhaps, something that’s been rumoured to be in the works at Apple for a while now and Apple has actually patented. Apple called the technology “Sidewall displays” and describes how parts of the display would be on the side of the phone a lot like the Galaxy Note Edge, S6 Edge and S6 Edge Plus.
The iPhone 7 Plus may also be thinner thanks to a new headphone jack that’s rumoured to be coming with the next iPhone. According to30 Apple Insider, Apple has patented a new, slimmer headphone jack technology called D Jack, which has a diameter of just 2mm to allow the iPhone to be thinner overall. This could also allow the iPhone 7 Plus to feature a dual speaker design. We might also see a complete removal of the headphone jack, where the audio output would be from the Lightning port or over Bluetooth. Apple might provide a set of wired headphones in the box which have a Lightning connector and sell a Lightning-to-3.5mm minijack as an option if you want to use conventional headphones. Apparently, Apple has registered the name AirPods, which could be a new wireless set of headphones for the new iPhone.
Adding to this possibility are some new Lightning accessories from Axpro31 which include headphones and a Lightning to headphone jack converter.
The iPhone 7 Plus could be completely flush on both the front and back, removing the infamous camera bump present on the current iPhone flagship. The bump stops the iPhone from laying perfectly flat and also breaks up the ‘clean’ design aesthetic, something Apple holds dear. The iPhone 7 Plus could be waterproof, too, as Apple has recently patented waterproofing technology that doesn’t compromise design. Instead, it coats all of the important components inside the phone to make it waterproof without requiring outer armour.
There’s more on the design front from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, well known for revealing details of new iPhones who told Mac Rumours32: “We expect the 2017 new iPhone model to adopt a structural design similar to that of iPhone 4/ 4s, meaning it will be equipped with glass on both the front and back sides, and a metal frame surrounded the edges. The difference is that the new model will likely come with a curved screen and curved glass casing, with other important features including a 5.8-inch AMOLED display, wireless charging, and more biometric recognitions (facial or iris). Given the curved design, the new model may look smaller than an existing 5.5-inch iPhone.”
Although he’s talking about the 2017 new iPhone this could still be the iPhone 7 since most of its time as the flagship phone will be spent in 2017 following a late-2016 launch.
iPhone 7 vs iPhone 7 Plus vs iPhone 7 Pro
As we’ve looked at in the article, rumours suggest that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will have a bigger difference than previously. The below cases which are available to pre-order show that the regular iPhone 7 won’t get the dual camera setup nor the Smart Connector. The cases also show that the new iPhone won’t have a headphone jack.
More recently, this photo appears to show all three rumoured iPhone 7 models. It seems to suggest that the iPhone 7 Pro will be the only device to get the dual-cameras and the Smart Connector but the Plus will be the same size.
iPhone 7 Plus specs and new features
Update 3 May 2016: A user on Weibo33 leaked an image (see below) of the new battery capacity that will be found within the new iPhone 7 Plus. According to the image, the iPhone 7 will feature a 1735mAh battery, whilst its bigger brother the 7 Plus will have a 2810mAh capacity, both of which are slightly larger than the 1715 and 2750mAh batteries found on the 6s and 6s Plus respectively.
The iPhone 6s Plus saw the introduction of an impressive new 12Mp iSight camera, up from 8Mp in the previous model. We think that the 12Mp camera will remain in the iPhone 7 Plus, as it’s already an impressive snapper for a smartphone. However, it has been rumoured that the iPhone 7 Plus will feature dual-cameras, based on tech acquired in 2015 from LinX Imaging. This could follow in the footsteps of Huawei, which has put twin cameras on the P9. If true, you can expect improved noise reduction, indoor photos, low-light photos and 3D depth mapping. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo told MacRumors he thinks both single- and dual-camera versions of the phone are in development, and that a 2-3x optical zoom function is likely to feature in the iPhone 7 Plus. Pictured below is an image render from Feld & Volk, a premium iPhone modification company.363435
Adding the rumours of the dual-camera setup is this photo, via Weibo, which appears to show the module which will be used in the iPhone 7 Plus or possibly the Pro (or even both if Apple goes for all three). The lenses look different so each camera could serve a different purpose. The image also shows that Apple may be about to offer a 256GB iPhone for the first time, backing up other rumours we’ve already mentioned. If it’s correct, the iPhone 7 Plus will come in at least 16-, 64- and 256GB storage capacities. A Weibo37 user claims that the entire iPhone 7 range will come in 32-, 128- and 256GB storage options, thefore scrapping both the 16- and 64GB options.
An area Apple might improve is screen resolution. At present, the iPhone 6s Plus offers 401ppi, but rivals such as Samsung and LG have with Quad- and Ultra-HD screens with pixel densities well above 500ppi, However, we suspect Apple will stick with 400ppi, which is plenty for sharp-looking images. There’s only minor benefits to higher densities, and plenty of disadvantages such as the cost of manufacturing, higher battery drain and slower 3D performance (if running apps and games at the native resolution). We’ve already got the 3D Touch functionality in the iPhone 6s, which has opened up a whole new way of interacting with the iPhone, but it’s possible that the display could become a Touch ID display too, which could sense your fingerprint and securely unlock the phone wherever you touch on a screen and therefore remove the need for the Home button. However, recent reports suggest38 that the Home button will make an appearance on the iPhone 7, but may be touch-sensitive like many Android smartphones, and not a physical button as it has been up until now. It’s very likely that the processor will be improved, too, with a new A10 processor and M10 motion co-processor likely to make an appearance, and we could see a bump up from 2GB RAM to 3GB, although that seems less plausible as the iPhone 6 and earlier all had 1GB.
The IHS analyst mentioned earlier has backed up this saying that it will be the Plus model which will get more RAM. We assume this will be down, at least in part, to the dual camera setup.
There are some rumours stemming from Bloomberg that suggest the next iPhone will feature wireless charging, yet the truth is this is much more likely to come in 2017 with the iPhone 7s Plus. According to the site, “Apple is exploring cutting-edge technologies that would allow iPhones and iPads to be powered from further away than the charging mats used with current smartphones.”39
As for software, iOS 10 is expected, and this’ll be shown off at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2016 and could give us some iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus clues.
Specs summarised:
iOS 10
A10 processor
16/64/128/256GB storage
5.5in IPS Force 3D Touch display, Full HD (1920×1080), 401ppi
Wi-Fi 11ac dual-band, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS, NFC (for Apple Pay), wireless charging
LinX dual camera: 12Mp rear camera
5Mp FaceTime HD camera, with ‘flash’
Fingerprint scanner Touch ID 2nd gen
Smart Connector
LTE Advanced
Nano-SIM
Battery size: 2810mAh capacity
Silver, Gold, Space Grey and Rose Gold colour
iPhone 7 Plus rumours: User Poll
Podcast: hear our predictions about the Apple event prior to March 21
References
^ see more by Jim Martin (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^ iPhone 7 rumours (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^ iPhone 6s release date (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^ iPhone 6s Plus review (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^ Best smartphones 2015 (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^ Best smartphones coming in 2015 (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^ Mac Otakara (www.macotakara.jp)
^ report by Bloomberg (www.bloomberg.com)
^ MyDrivers (news.mydrivers.com)
^ watch the video comparison here (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^ darker ‘Space Black’ (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^ Take a look (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^ 32GB (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^ Weibo user (weibo.com)
^ waterproofing and wireless charging (www.pcadvisor.co.uk)
^