The newest generation iPhone, the iPhone 7, came out on September 7th, 2016. The response has been somewhat underwhelming compared to past Apple releases due to the limited changes from previous models. Both the battery life and camera quality remain virtually unchanged. The elimination of both a home button and headphone jack, as well as it now being water resistant are the only three noticeable changes from the 6S model.

As an owner of the newest iPhone, I can attest to the insignificance of the absence of the home button. The new version does not go down when pressed, instead it vibrates to give you the feeling that it moved without actually doing so. This change is barely noticeable except for the fact that it has to be your finger making contact with the button, not a fingernail or touchscreen glove, which may prove inconvenient this winter. This change arose as an attempt to make the new phone fully water resistant, which they accomplished.

As for the reliability of the new water resistant feature, it has yet to be determined. Hidden in the fine print of the descriptions of the iPhone 7 on Apple’s website, they claim that “liquid damage [is] not covered by warranty,” which makes us question how much water the phone can really handle. The only relief brought by this feature is that you can now relax more if an accident were to happen involving water and the phone; however, I wouldn’t go to great lengths to test out how they stand up to the H20.

The elimination of the headphone jack was the biggest, most controversial change to the iPhone 7. It is inconvenient to have a separate set of headphones that are incompatible with other devices, and it has affected me numerous times while at school when I need to listen to my computer. The phone only comes with one dongle, which adapts the lightning port to a normal headphone port to give you the ability to use normal headphones instead of the new ones. This is also an inconvenience due to the fact that the dongle is only about four inches long and easily lost. Additional dongles as well as ones that give you the capability to charge and listen to music simultaneously are available online.

The iPhone 7 is underwhelming compared to previous models, and as a result, Apple’s earnings are down from what they were this time last year. There are new rumors that next year’s iPhone 8 may come with wireless charging as a big push for the iPhone’s 10 year anniversary. We can only hope that those rumors are true to avoid getting another model with the same features as the past few models.