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iPhone 7 vs. iPhone 7 Plus: What are the differences between Apple’s 2016 flagship smartphones?

Published Sep 7th, 2016 3:30PM EDT
iPhone 7 vs. iPhone 7 Plus Specs
Image: Apple Inc.

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Most iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus leaks we’ve seen in the past months were accurate. Apple took the wraps off its 2016 iPhone handsets, confirming most of the leaks and filling in the gaps with additional information about the two devices. Just as expected, Apple stuck with the same screen sizes and overall design for both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus — but for the first time since 2014, the phones are not created equal.

Here are the differences between them.

DON’T MISS: The 12 best new features of Apple’s iPhone 7

Size

The 4.7-inch iPhone 7 and 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus have the exact same size as their predecessors, no surprises there.

Screen

Apple stuck with 1334 x 750 resolution for the smaller iPhone and 1920 x 1080 for the phablet. Again, no surprises here.

Batteries

The iPhone 7 has a smaller battery than the iPhone 7 Plus, but battery life has been bumped up across the board. We’ll have to wait for an official teardown to see exactly what has changed. The iPhone 7 gets two more hours of battery life than the iPhone 6s, while the iPhone 7 Plus gets and an hour of extra life compared to its predecessor. The iPhone 7 Plus will still have the better battery life than the smaller 7, of course.

RAM

Apple never mentions how much memory there is in its iPhones, so a teardown will clarify this. But the iPhone 7 is expected to have 2GB of RAM, while the iPhone 7 Plus will get 3GB of RAM. It’s all because of the camera upgrade the phablet is receiving.

Main camera

The iPhone 7 has a single-lens upgraded camera. But the star of the show is the iPhone 7 Plus dual camera that has several tricks up its sleeve compared to the iPhone 7.

Price

The iPhone 7 Plus is $120 more expensive than the iPhone 7, which is slightly changed compared to previous years when the Plus model has been a $100 upgrade at each tier.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.