Here’s What You Need To Know Before The iPhone 7 Is Officially Launched In The Philippines

While we were sleeping last Wednesday, Apple unveiled to the world the brand new line of iPhones that will hit the shelves in the new few years. “Courage,” according to Apple marking head honcho Phil Schiller, has been the main driving force behind the new features of Apple’s smartphone lineup.

Like every iPhone announcement made since they released the phone, this one has polarized both fans of the technology and detractors, who said the Cupertino-based tech company is just trying to create a more secluded ecosystem to milk the customers.

iPhone 7 Philippines

But before we even decide whether or not the new iPhones—namely the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus—is worth your hard-earned money when they get launched in the Philippines, let’s see how the new phones stack against each other and against previous iPhones.

The tale of the tape

Boasting of better, more improved features like a more colorful display, longer battery life, lighter weight, water resistance, and so much more, the new line of iPhones may look like a steal. If you want a closer look at the new iPhones, here are the specs of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus:

iPhone 7 iPhone 7 Plus
4.7-inch IPS LCD @ 1334 x 750 pixels, 326ppi 5.5-inch IPS LCD @ 1920 x 1080 pixels, 401ppi
3D Touch 3D Touch
64-bit A10 Fusion chipset 64-bit A10 Fusion chipset
M10 motion coprocessor M10 motion coprocessor
32GB/128GB/256GB internal storage 32GB/128GB/256GB internal storage
12MP f/1.8 autofocus rear camera w/ OIS, Quad-LED True Tone flash, 4K recording 12MP f/1.8 wide-angle + 12MP f/2.8 telephoto autofocus rear camera w/ OIS, Quad-LED True Tone flash, 2x optical zoom, 4K recording
7MP front-facing camera 7MP front-facing camera
4G LTE-A 4G LTE-A
VoLTE VoLTE
Wi-Fi 802.11ac w/ MIMO Wi-Fi 802.11ac w/ MIMO
Bluetooth 4.2 Bluetooth 4.2
GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS
NFC NFC
Fingerprint sensor Fingerprint sensor
IP67-certified IP67-certified
iOS 10 iOS 10
138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm 158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm
138 g 188 g
Up to 14 hours of talk time on 3G Up to 14 hours of talk time on 3G

Judging by the specs, it seems like the new iPhone 7 line is a significant leap from its predecessors, even with the iPhone 6 line that was released last year. Apart from the absence of a 3.5mm audio jack, the iPhone 7 is better than its predecessors in the following ways, as per their side-by-side bout on comparison website Versus:

  • Better front camera
  • Lighter
  • Better flash with quad-LED flash
  • Has stereo speakers
  • Dustproof and water resistant
  • With built-in optical image stabilization
  • Bigger internal storage at 256GB max
  • Faster downloads
  • Weather sealed
  • Can shoot RAW
  • Uses USB Type-C

Meanwhile, the iPhone 7 Plus offers a bigger screen and comes with two cameras; one has a telephone lens for enhanced zooming capabilities as well as depth mapping.

The Apple iPhone 7 will arrive on September 16 in the US, and they will be priced at $649 (32GB), $749 (128GB), and $849 (256GB). The iPhone 7 Plus, with bigger screen and two cameras, will be sold at $769 (32GB), $869 (128GB), and a whopping $969 (256GB).

Read: Should You Go For The Samsung Galaxy S7 Or Wait For The iPhone 7?

iPhone 7 availability in the Philippines

Last year, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus reached the Philippine market in the first week of November, roughly two months after it was released in the US.

When Globe announced the arrival of last year’s iPhone to their stores, they bundled the 6s 16GB and 6s Plus 16GB on plan 1799 with a monthly cash-out of P450 and P650, respectively.

Meanwhile in 2014, the iPhone 6 16GB was offered with plan 1299 with monthly cash-out of P800 and the 6 plus at the same plan with P1,000.

Competing network Smart has a different take on the iPhone 6s when the company first offered the smartphone: the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus 16GB were both free on plan 2000 and 2499, respectively.

For the 2014 version of the iPhone 6, Smart bundled the 16GB version on plan 999 with a monthly cash-out of P800, and the 6 Plus with a monthly cash-out of P1,050.

For both years’ release, the networks started offering the new iPhones in November, two months after they were released in the US.

While the prices for the iPhone bundles have yet to be announced, just imagine the price to be much steeper, considering the trend shown on two smartphone sets.

What do you think of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus? Share your thoughts in the comments.