The iPhone 7 looks largely the same as the iPhone 6/6s, but introduce two new colorways: black and jet black. While black has a matte finish, jet black is pure gloss. There hasn’t been a truly black iPhone since the iPhone 4, so we’re excited to see black make its comeback.
Can you tell if this is the black or jet black finish? If you can’t, don’t blame yourself, because the glass front on both black iPhones look exactly the same.
It’s when you glance at the back and the sides that the iPhone’s finish reveals itself. The iPhone 7 Plus in jet black has an inky depth and glossy sheen that you need to see to appreciate. It brings to mind the black iPhone 3G, except where that phone’s back was made of plastic, the iPhone 7’s back is made of aluminum.
The black antenna lines have virtually disappeared into the jet black finish. The jet black iPhone 7’s antennas are the most imperceivable, followed by the black. The other colorways have silver (for the silver iPhone) and white antenna lines that are still starkly apparent.
The iPhone 7 Plus has dual cameras, while the iPhone 7 has one. The two cameras have different lenses, a 28mm f/1.8 for the wide-angle, and a 56mm f/2.8 for the telephoto (or ‘normal’), switching between both gives you true 2x optical zoom. The camera bulge is bigger as a result of having two cameras, and it’s almost like having a pair of eyes looking out at you.
If you’re looking for the headphone jack, you won’t find it here, because neither the iPhone 7 nor the 7 Plus has one. Instead, the iPhone 7 ships with earphones using Lightning connectors, and a Lightning adapter for your 3.5mm connector. While it looks like the old 3.5mm jack has been replaced by a set of speakers, apparently the holes on the left are just machined into the body for visual symmetry – the new stereo sound feature comes from using the phone’s earpiece as a second speaker.
Apple says the 3.5mm headphone jack had to go to make space for new features, like a bigger battery, a four-core processor, and this – a Taptic Engine. Instead of a physical button that goes up and down, the iPhone 7’s Home ‘button’ is now a solid piece that doesn’t actually move. Instead, the Taptic Engine, similar to the ones in the MacBooks and MacBook Pros, vibrate to give you the illusion that you just pressed down on something.
Now let’s look at the black iPhone 7. Couldn’t tell whether this was the 7 or the 7 Plus? Don’t worry, I almost couldn’t either – and I took these pictures.
Turn the iPhone 7 onto its side or back, however, and the blackness becomes clear. Whereas jet black reflects light generously, the matte black finish keeps the light to itself.
Here’s one way to think about the two: the jet black iPhone 7 is James Bond in a tuxedo, holding a dry Martini, seducing a beautiful woman in an exotic lounge. The black iPhone 7 is James Bond in combat fatigues, holding a Walther PPK/S, executing a stealth op in the night.
Typographists will note that the name ‘iPhone’ has changed from Myriad Pro to San Francisco, Apple’s in-house font family.
The matte black iPhone 7 has a sheen that’s altogether different from the jet black’s. While the antenna lines are slightly more visible than the ones on the jet black iPhones, they blend in so tightly with the iPhone’s body that you’ll hardly notice them unless you look for them.
I checked, but this one doesn’t have a headphone jack either.
The iPhone 7 has a single camera, and thus no optical zoom, but it’s the first smaller iPhone to have optical image stabilization for both video and stills. It makes a big difference, especially when you’re shooting video. The singular camera bulge is smaller in comparison to the iPhone 7 Plus’s dual cameras, and also looks cleaner – one eye, instead of two differently-sized eyes.
Don’t be fooled by their almost pristine appearance in these photographs – the jet black iPhone easily becomes a mess of fingerprints when you handle it. Apparently, it’s also prone to micro-abrasions. Suffice to say, unless you pop it into a case right away and/or carry a wiping cloth with you, the first time you see your jet black iPhone is probably the last time you’ll see it that immaculate.
I wasn’t keen on the iPhone 7, but just handling these new colors for a morning has made me reconsider. The jet black iPhone’s inky finish is gorgeous, and I can easily see how the rumored “piano black” name would have been a more apt description for it. But it’s really the black iPhone with its matte finish that’s something else; a solid block of dark matter that’s almost murderous in stealth-fighter monochrome. Watch out for our review of the new iPhones, which is dropping later today.