Meet The New iPhone 7 And 7 Plus

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus share a similar design to their predecessors, but that’s where the similarities end. Apple’s latest smartphones have been upgraded in nearly every way possible, from its cameras, to speakers, processors, storage capacity and even the way the phones are built. It’s time to meet the new iPhone.

- James Lu & Alvin Soon

When a button isn’t a button

Instead of a button that physically moves, the iPhone 7 has a solid state Home button that uses Apple’s Taptic Engine to simulate a click. “Taptic” is Apple’s trademark for the concept of combining capacitive finger taps and haptic feedback to create an experience that emulates interaction with a physical device. In other words, vibrations delivered through the home button feel like you’re clicking a button but there’s no longer any moving parts to wear out or get damaged. Try pressing the Home button when the iPhone 7 is off, nothing happens! The solid state button also means that Apple has been able to integrate the Taptic Engine into more parts of iOS 10. You’ll get vibration feedback as you navigate around the OS and when you get notifications too. During the setup process, you can choose between three levels of haptic intensity for the Home Button. This setting can be changed at any time in Settings.

This isn’t the first time Apple has dropped a mechanical part in favor of a digitized version. Apple’s newer MacBook Pros use a solid state Force Touch trackpad instead of a mechanical one. While some people prefer the feel of the old Home Button, there are definitely benefits to a non-moving system. Getting rid of mechanical parts means less breakages and allows Apple to create a sealed enclosure — necessary to make the iPhone 7 water resistant.

Apple has also released a new haptic API for developers targeting the new hardware on the iPhone 7, enabling them to incorporate haptic feedback into their own apps. We’ve already seen this with rumble feedback on some games.

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