Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ iPhone 7 and 7 Plus Say 'Hit the Road, Jack' Josh Centers Yes, the rumors are true: the next generation of iPhone ' the [1]iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus ' get rid of the nearly universal headphone jack. Why? Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller summed it up in a word: 'courage.' Yes, 'courage,' hearkening back to Apple's prior decisions to abandon floppy disks, optical drives, and legacy ports. Or how Apple plans to deal with the inevitable criticism. [2][tn_iPhone-7.jpg] After we stopped giggling at this pronouncement of courage, we tried to focus on how Apple made up for the missing analog jack. Every new iPhone will ship with a Lightning-to-headphone adapter so you can still plug in your existing devices. Also, the new iPhones will be bundled with Lightning-connected EarPods. Sadly, neither the adaptor nor the new EarPods allow the iPhone to be charged when they're plugged in ' we hope third-party vendors fill in that gap. Fortunately, extra [3]Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapters will cost only $9 from Apple. However, Apple said the future is wireless, which begs the question of why the company doesn't have the courage to go whole hog and include its new wireless AirPods in the box (the price of courage would then be $159, in case you were wondering). The good news is that Apple isn't leaving you at the mercy of flaky Bluetooth audio: the new AirPods introduce Apple's proprietary W1 chip, which drives the AirPods and other headphones from Apple subsidiary Beats (see '[4]W1-powered AirPods Usher in a New Era of Wireless,' 7 September 2016). You may not need to plug in as much for audio, since the new iPhone will be the first to feature stereo speakers: one on the top and one on the bottom. Apple said that the new iPhone 7 models produce twice the volume of the iPhone 6s units. What else do you get in exchange for losing that headphone jack? Water and dust resistance. Apple claims the new iPhones are [5]IP67 compliant, which means they are completely protected against dust and protected against immersion in up to 1 meter of water. IP67 is the highest level of dust protection and the third-highest level of water protection. Realistically, your iPhone 7 should be fine if you drop it in the tub, but we wouldn't recommend tossing it in a pool. However, Apple [6]still claims that liquid damage isn't covered by the warranty, so you might not want to risk it. In terms of dust, we hope the Lightning port doesn't collect pocket lint like those in previous models ' a blast of compressed air is often the solution to odd charging problems. Apple has redesigned the Home button. Like the Force Touch trackpad and mouse, the Home button is now a 'force sensitive' software button that Apple claims is more responsive and more reliable. Apple also integrated the Home button with a new generation of the Taptic Engine, which also comes with an API ' we're curious to see how developers take advantage of the new hardware. Morse code, anyone? The biggest improvements to the iPhone 7 are its cameras. Yes, cameras, because while the iPhone 7 includes one dramatically improved rear-facing camera, the iPhone 7 Plus will feature two cameras on the back of the case. The camera in the iPhone 7 features a 12 megapixel high-speed sensor with an Æ/1.8 aperture six-element lens that Apple claims is 60 percent faster and 30 percent more energy efficient than the camera in the iPhone 6s. The flash now features four LEDs, which Apple says offer 50 percent more light, plus a flicker sensor to help the software correct for artificial lighting. Optical image stabilization, formerly a feature exclusive to the Plus model, is now standard in the iPhone 7. As noted, the iPhone 7 Plus features two 12-megapixel lenses: one a wide-angle lens and the other a telephoto lens with an Æ/2.8 aperture. Putting these together enables two new features: 2x optical zoom (up to 10x in software) and a new depth of field effect, which can produce photos in which the foreground is in focus while the background is blurred. While Schiller was quick to emphasize that the iPhone 7 Plus's camera isn't up to DSLR quality, it's a big step closer. The depth of field effect, which will be accessible in a new camera mode labeled Portrait, will not be available at launch, but will instead arrive in a free iOS update 'later this year.' Both iPhone models can also capture RAW images with wide-gamut color, and offer stabilization and editing for Live Photos. Apple is also releasing capture and editing APIs for Live Photos, so developers can create tools to work with them. The front-facing FaceTime HD Camera now offers 7-megapixel resolution, body and face detection, and automatic image stabilization. Complementing the new cameras is a new, 25-percent-brighter Retina display, with cinematic color and built-in color management, which will be welcome news for photographers. Instagram demoed new effects and filters that take advantage of the expanded color gamut. The new iPhones feature a new A-series processor, the quad-core A10 Fusion with an embedded M10 motion coprocessor. Interestingly, two of the four cores are dedicated to high performance, while the other two are optimized for power efficiency, using 20 percent of the power of the other cores. A new Apple performance controller automatically switches between the two, depending on what's needed. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will also feature 25 LTE bands, with theoretical speeds of up to 450 Mbps, though we doubt you'll see such throughput any time soon. The form factors of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are the same as the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, so most existing cases should continue to fit, but the color options are slightly different. The new iPhones will feature the now-standard gold, silver, and rose gold finishes, but space gray is gone, replaced by two shades of black: a shiny jet black finish and a matte finish, simply called black. (Apple cautions buyers that the [7]jet black finish can scratch.) The new models are 5 and 4 grams lighter than the previous models, respectively. Finally, Japanese models of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus (and the Apple Watch Series 2) will include FeliCa contactless technology, enabling Apple Pay to work in Japan. Also transit directions for Maps should arrive for Japan in October. Pricing of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus remains the same, but the storage amounts double, so 32 GB models cost $649 and $749, 128 GB of storage costs $749 and $869, and 256 GB will run you $849 or $969. The jet black color is available only in 128 GB and 256 GB sizes, oddly. Or you can choose the [8]iPhone Upgrade Program's payments of $32 to $46 per month for 2 years, depending on which model you want. You will be able to pre-order a new iPhone on 9 September 2016, with availability coming a week later. As is common for Apple, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus remain available, but in doubled 32 GB and 128 GB capacities. As Apple always says, these are the best iPhones the company has ever made. This statement, while banal, is always true too, although we can imagine some people delaying an upgrade or purchase until they've had a chance to think through the implications of losing the headphone jack. Photography lovers, at least those with small hands or pockets, will also have to weigh the appeal of the dual-camera iPhone 7 Plus against its larger size. But if you're ready for a new iPhone, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are appealing. References 1. http://www.apple.com/iphone-7/ 2. http://tidbits.com/resources/2016-09/iPhone-7.png 3. http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35-mm-headphone-jack-adapter?fnode=97 4. http://tidbits.com/article/16737 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code 6. http://www.macrumors.com/2016/09/07/iphone-7-7-plus-ip67-water-resistance/ 7. http://www.dailydot.com/debug/apple-iphone-7-jet-black/ 8. http://www.apple.com/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program .