Buy an Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Learn more about the Apple iPhone 7 Plus
The Apple iPhone 7 Plus scores 4.5 out of 5 from over 47602 reviews
47602 reviews
Over 47,000 reviewers gave the iPhone 7 Plus 4.5 stars!
Some cool facts about the 7 Plus:
- The iPhone 7 Plus was released in September 2016 and by the end of the first sales quarter in 2018, the model had sold 17.4 million units worldwide
- A used iPhone 7 Plus’ price averages around R8,000. A new one averages around R12,000, making a used model approximately 30% cheaper
- It has a good resale value depending on its condition, it’s able to maintain 60% of its value if its sold within a year to two years
Camera
Better Photos, Clearer Video. This is what you get...
12MP Main Camera
The main camera has a 12-megapixel dual camera with an impressive aperture of ƒ/2.8.
7MP Selfie Camera
The 7 Plus has a 7-megapixels front-facing camera also known as a selfie camera.The camera also has an aperture of ƒ/2.2.
Portrait Mode
Portrait mode gives your photos more depth and subjects more focus, giving you much more professional looking photos. You also get various lighting effects such as natural lighting, studio lighting, contour lighting and stage lighting.
Time Lapse
The time lapse feature lets you record a period of time in a sped-up fashion. For example. Record a whole day into a few seconds by perching your iPhone on a tripod on your rooftop. You can choose how many frames per second you want, allowing you to control the speed of the time lapse.
Slow Motion
Capture those often fast, unseen moments with the slow motion feature. You can shoot up to 240 frames per second, so now you can slow-mo that video of you popping a water balloon, doing a move on your skateboard or surprising a friend for her birthday.
Optical Zoom
The 7 Plus also gives you 2x optical zoom which works the same way as a zoom lens on a traditional or DSLR camera. Optical zoom is much better than digital zoom at taking photos from far away as it does not degrade image quality. The model also includes a 10x digital zoom
Video
Record video up to 4K. The main benefit of 4K video is you get much smoother, sharper and clearer video that’s just beautiful to look at. The iPhone 7 Plus’ video also gives you extra features like time lapse which condenses an entire day into a few seconds, slow motion to catch every detail of that action shot and optical image stabilisation that removes that “shaky hands” look.
Augmented Reality and your Camera
One of the biggest features in the 7 Plus is Augmented Reality (AR). At its essence, AR is digital information overlaid with the real world using your camera. The best way to understand how it works is through the new Measure app: You hold your phone up to an object or area and use a virtual tape measure to give you the length and height of it. Both cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus, are individually calibrated with new gyroscopes and accelerometers to accurately track motion. For example, you can have a video chat with an animated face over your real face and as you blink your eyes, your animated face also blinks. It’s the same with mouth and tongue movements. At a restaurant and need help choosing a bottle of wine from the menu? Via the Vivino app, Hold your camera up to the wine list and it will give you ratings on each wine! AR games like the global phenomenon Pokemon Go create new and exciting worlds via your camera.
Flash
Your night shots are about to get LIT. The 7 Plus has Quad-LED True Tone flash, giving your photos well-lit backgrounds and foregrounds. The front-facing camera also has a flash for great selfies!
Tap-to-Focus
Just tap the part of the photo you want in focus and the camera will automatically bring focus to that part on the screen, allowing you to quickly capture moments more accurately.
Screen and Display
- The display features a 1920×1080 pixel resolution HD screen
- The screen makes use of True Tone, which automatically adjusts and matches the surrounding light and color balance for a more natural viewing experience.
- The screen has fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating so a simple rub against your shirt will remove the day’s finger marks
- The screen has 401 pixels-per-inch (ppi) density, which means more clarity and detail on your screen
- 3D Touch is integrated, which is a pressure-sensitive feature that can pick up three different kinds of pressure applied by your fingers for various tasks. The device responds differently according to each degree of pressure.
- The 7 Plus has wide colour display, which means you more colour for your photos and videos. This leads to better colour reproduction than any other iPhone that came before it.
- The screen is made of Gorilla Glass 5
Battery Performance
How does the battery perform? Let’s look at the numbers…
- Battery capacity of 1960 mAh
- Wireless talk time: Up to 21 hours on 3G
- Internet use up to 15 hours on Wi-Fi
- Video playback: Up to 14 hours
- Audio playback: Up to 60 hours
- On standby: Up to 16 days
- USB Charging
Dimensions
- The iPhone 7 Plus weighs 188 grams
- It's height is 15.8 cm
- It's length is 7.7 cm
- It's width is 0.73 cm
Chip Set
We like chips - The iPhone 7 Plus A10 Fusion Chip, that is.
This iPhone 7 Plus features the A10 Fusion chip. The chip has four cores - two for energy-efficiency and two for performance. It has a 50% faster graphics processor and a 40% faster CPU than previous iPhones.
The A10 chip is smart. Depending on the kind of task you’re performing on your phone, it will decide in the moment which core needs to be used. This is all because the A10 chip is dedicated to faster performance and a better battery life.
Durability Test
The iPhone 7 Plus was tested for its durability in real-life situations such as being submerged in water or having excess pressure applied to the screen.
In the US, smartphone insurer SquareTrade conducted a pressure and bend test on the iPhone 7 Plus and found that it only bent when 180 pounds of pressure - approximately 90 kg’s - were applied. However, we would still recommend you not sitting on your phone!
All in all, we’ll give the iPhone 7 Plus an 8/10 for durability.
Specifications
Display
LED-backlit IPS LCD
Capacitive touchscreen
16M colors
Retina HD display
5.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen LCD Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
1920x1080-pixel resolution at 401 ppi
1300:1 contrast ratio (typical)
True Tone display
Wide colour display (P3)
3D Touch
Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
OS
Originally iOS 10, latest iOS 12, which includes new features
Faster performance
Screen Time to track time spent on your phone
Grouped Notifications for Multiple Messages
Memoji: Custom emojis that look like you
Group FaceTime
Sharing suggestions in Photos app based on who’s in the photo
A rebuilt stocks app
Apple News
A Shortcuts App that strings together multiple actions in one go through Siri
Activate “Do Not Disturb” to stop all notifications from alerting you, except emergency messages
Connectivity
Bluetooth 5.0
WiFi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac, ax, dual-band
USB 3.1
Location - GPS, A-GPS, Cell ID, WiFi positioning
Primary Camera
12-megapixel dual camera
ƒ/2.8 aperture
Wide-angle and telephoto lens
2x optical zoom; digital zoom up to 10x
Optical image stabilisation
Six-element lens
Quad-LED True Tone flash with slow sync
Panorama (up to 63MP)
Sapphire crystal lens cover
Backside illumination sensor
Hybrid IR filter
Autofocus with Focus Pixels
Tap-to-focus with Focus Pixels
Live Photos with stabilisation
Wide colour capture for photos and Live Photos
Improved local tone mapping
Exposure control
Auto HDR for photos
Auto image stabilisation
Burst mode
Timer mode
Photo geotagging
Image formats captured: HEIF and JPEG
Edit raw images on your iPhone
Import photos and videos from a traditional camera
Camera effects
Portrait mode
Portrait lighting
New filters
Editing tools
CPU
A10 Fusion chip with 2.34 GHz hexa-core 64-bit
Resolution
1080 x 1920 pixels
16:9 ratio (~401 ppi density)
Battery
1960 mAh
Talk time (wireless): Up to 21 hours on 3G
Internet use up to 15 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback: Up to 14 hours
Audio playback: Up to 60 hours
On standby: Up to 16 days
Dimensions
Height: 15.8 cm
Length: 7.7 cm
Width: 0.73 cm
Sim Type
Nano SIM
Chip set
Apple A10 Fusion chip
Secondary camera
7MP camera
1080p HD video recording
Retina Flash
ƒ/2.2 aperture
Wide colour capture for photos and Live Photos
Auto HDR for photos
Backside illumination sensor
Auto image stabilisation
Burst mode
Exposure control
Timer mode
Video
4K video recording at 24 fps, 30 fps or 60 fps
1080p HD video recording at 30 fps or 60 fps
720p HD video recording at 30 fps
Optical image stabilisation for video
2x optical zoom; digital zoom up to 10x
Quad-LED True Tone flash
Slo-mo video support for 1080p at 120 fps and 240 fps
Time-lapse video with stabilisation
Cinematic video stabilisation (1080p and 720p)
Continuous autofocus video
Take 8MP still photos while recording 4K video
Playback zoom
Video geotagging
Video formats recorded: HEVC and H.264
RAM
3GB RAM
Accessibility Features
These features help people with disabilities make full use of their iPhone 7 Plus
VoiceOver
This feature allows users to type a message on their screen and have the iPhone read the text out aloud.
Zoom
Zoom allows users to magnify their screen making text and the overall appearance larger and easier to read. One can magnify the screen up to 15 times its original size.
RTT
Real-time text (RTT) allows users with hearing impairments to type and send a conversational text while on the phone
Dictation
The dictation feature allows a user to verbally relay a message while the iPhone types it out. This may be helpful for users who have impairments with their hands or fingers.
Type to Siri
Type to Siri is useful for people unable to speak. One can type a query to Siri instead of saying it.
Switch Control
Switch Control is for users who have very little mobility and allows them to control their iPhone or iPad using moves as small as a blowing, blinking or clicking a button. Other devices such as a joystick can work with Switch Control.
Closed Captions
Closed captions were created for users who are deaf or hard of hearing. Closed captions are also known as subtitles for video or audio material.
Assistive Touch
Assistive Touch helps users who have difficulty pressing buttons, applying 3D Touch and pinch-to-zoom on an iPhone or iPad. The feature provides an onscreen button which can be tapped instead of having to physically press it on the side.
Speak Screen
Speak Screen reads anything that’s being displayed on your phone.
FAQs
Got any questions about the 7 Plus? We’ve got the answers for you
A brand new iPhone 7 32GB costs start at R12,000 and goes all the way up to R15,500 for the 256GB. A second-hand 7 Plus in excellent condition and a 12-month warranty ranges from R7,000 to R8,500 on Phonetradr.
- On Phonetradr, you can get one for between R7,000 - R8,500 with a 12-month warranty
- On trading platforms, the 7 Plus ranges from R5,000 - R8,000, however, these phones come straight from the seller, meaning they have not been certified or tested and have no warranty. In other words, you have no true reflection of the quality of the phone.
- On Gumtree, you can get one for between R5,500 - R8,000, but again you’ll also have to contend with an unknown seller, with no guarantees of what you’re getting and a possibility of getting scammed.
From top to bottom, the 7 Plus is 15.8 cm x 7.7 cm x 0.73 cm.
You can get it in black, silver, space grey, gold and rose gold.
The iPhone 7 has a 4.7-inch retina display and single-lens camera, whereas the iPhone 7 Plus has a 5.5-inch retina display and dual-lens camera system.
The phone comes protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and, according to a durability test conducted by SquareTrade, the phone can take 90 kg’s of pressure before bending.
The rating for the 7 Plus is “IP67” which means it can handle being under freshwater for up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1 metre.
The 7 Plus has the A10 Fusion processor. The chip has four cores - two for energy-efficiency and two for performance. It has a 50% faster graphics processor and a 40% faster CPU than previous iPhones.
You can get the iPhone 7 Plus with 32, 128 or 256GB of space. For a better picture on how much 256GB is, it equates to an average amount of 73,224 photos!
The phone comes with 3G of RAM.
It has a 12-megapixel dual camera at the back and a 7-megapixel selfie camera at the front. The dual camera means you get more range in your photos.
Yes, portrait mode is available on the iPhone 7 Plus. Portrait mode focuses on the subject of the photo and blurs the background, providing more depth. For photography enthusiasts, portrait mode makes use of the phone’s 56mm-equivalent "telephoto" lens.
Open your Camera app, then select ‘Portrait” on the right side. Your lighting options will appear on your screen such as Natural Light, Studio, Contour and Stage Light. After selecting your lighting, hold up your phone and focus on the person you’d like to photograph.
When taking a photo, there is a 2x zoom option on the screen. Taping this will give you 2X optical zoom. If you hold the 2x button, it will expand to give you further digital zoom options. In other words, anytime you use zoom up to 2x, it will automatically be optical zoom.
You can easily record a demonstration of something from your phone using the built-in screen recorder.
- Make sure your phone is updated with iOS 12
- Go to your Settings, then select Control Centre. Tap into ‘Customise Controls’ then add “Screen Recording” to the list
- Exit your settings and then head to your homescreen. Swipe up the Control Centre and select the little white circle in the square icon. This is the Screen Recording icon.
- The recorder will count down from 3 and then whatever actions you take on your iPhone will be recorded.
- Once you’re done, tap the red recording timer at the top of your screen to stop the recording. You can find your recording in your camera roll and edit it just like a standard video such as trimming the start and end of it. Or, you can edit it in iMovie which comes free with your iPhone.
We would recommend that you invest in a case or cover. A good cover can protect your phone from cracked screens, from drops, dents, dirt, scratches and help keep it looking like new for when you’d like to sell it.
Regular use of your iPhone 7 Plus gives you about 15 hours of battery life while it’s connected to Wi-Fi.
It weighs 188 grams, which is slightly less than a can of tinned tomato and onion mix.