How The New iPhone Is Different From The Last

With one of the biggest tech events of the year came the launch of the newest generation of the Apple iPhone. So: just how is the iPhone 7 different from the iPhone 6? Apple has taken quite a few leaps when it comes to the new model. The biggest design differences that the user will notice will likely be the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack, the introduction of a dual-sensor back-facing camera system, and the addition of two new tones: matte black, and what appears to be a high-gloss black finish just called "black."

You can nowuse "optical zoom" with the brand-new back camera features on the iPhone 7. You can also switch from Camera 1 and Camera 2 with a touch of the button on the iPhone 7. "This is the best camera ever made in any smartphone," Apple's marketing VP Phil Schiller said on the stage.

The phone also features a Retina display, first brought out in the brand's MacBook line. In addition, there are stereo speakers in the new iPhone. "One is at the bottom; one is at the top," Schiller said.

While the loss of the 3.5mm audio jack could present a new adventure for users who want to hang on to their old headphones, at the end of the day, the design reboot was made with the end user in mind. And now, without a 3.5mm audio jack, the iPhone 7 will be a whole lot more water-resistant (and dust-resistant, to boot) than its predecessors. That'll surely be a relief to users who have had to order replacement phones due to water damage.

The upgrade to the rear-facing camera will also be augmented by the way that the iPhone 7 processes color on the screen — which should help the device take better photos under low-light conditions. The color processing technology will also be getting a facelift, using imaging processing technology from the newest 9.8 inch iPads to render incredibly detailed images on screen.

So, what does all of this mean for the end user? The iPhone 7 should offer faster in-app speeds and truer-to-life image processing capacity while being a lot more water-resistant than previous models. That alone should make the iPhone 7 a tempting upgrade for most, if not all, users.