There you go. It has happened. Apple has now shown off its new iPhones at its annual event in San Francisco – the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Apple has revealed an upgraded iPhone that, let’s face it, follows pretty much everything I put in my rumour round-up.

While the disappearance of the headphone socket will not be a surprise (I believe Apple ‘leaked’ this so everyone got used to the idea) there are a few things that should make the Apple faithful smile.

iPhone 7 design

Not much really of note on first glance. Apple has introduced two new colours for the iPhone 7 to replace space grey. The new models are available in five different colours including two new shades of black.

A matte “black” and a glossy black will join silver, gold and rose gold in the colour options for the iPhone. The new shiny “jet black” finish will be offered exclusively on the 128GB and 256GB models.

The new handset look very similar to the current iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, but with the antenna bands moved from the back of the device to the edges.

iPhone 7 under the hood

The model will be powered by a new Apple A10 Fusion which has a 64-bit 4 core CPU.

40% faster than A9 of iPhone 6s and double the speed of the A8 processors. It also has a ramped up graphics performance which is also 40 percent more powerful than the A9.

iPhone 7 new features

As well as the headphone socket-ectomy, the most significant changes on the new phone include the upgraded camera and a new home button.

Because Apple has lost the socket, iPhone packages will now come with earphones that fit into the phone’s Lightning port, currently used for charging and data transfer.

AirPods

You will have the option of buying some wireless Apple AirPods if you want to fully embrace the future. Oh, and a proprietary wireless system. These aren’t Bluetooth, boys and girls!

Infared sensors detect when each pod is in your ear and motion sensors control the headphones to use Siri and detect your voice.

These buds are loaded with Apple’s W1 chip, which is nothing to do with the standard Bluetooth way of wireless connectivity. Apparently it produces extremely efficient wireless for a better connection and improved sound. It also sips at the battery. Oh, and it costs $160 for the AirPods.

The AirPods provide five hours of listening which, with the compact charging case, delivers 24 hours of total battery life. If this sounds kinda familiar, check out the Motorola VerveOnes+ or even the Samsung version.

In the usual Apple way, the Cupertino giant will supply an adaptor that enables traditional headphones to continue to plug into the iPhone, but it will not allow for charging at the same time.

The pods can connect to Apple watches, laptops and iPads.

The iPhone 7 will also come with stereo speakers for the first time, with speakers now placed at the top and bottom of the device. So, catching up with HTC, Huawei, etc.

Upgraded camera

The camera has been revamped to enhance low-light capabilities and take even sharper photos.

The smaller 4.7-inch device has a f/1.8 lens that lets 50% more light onto the lens. There’s also a new 12MP sensor that’s 60% faster and 30% more energy efficient.

The 5.5-inch Plus version has the much rumoured dual-lens camera. This allows a huge increase in quality when zooming in on a photo, a problem that has plagued Apple for years.

Those two 12MP cameras have specific duties. Unlike the Hauwei P9/Honor 8 way of splitting mono and colour duties, these deal with distance. One has a wide angle lens and the other a telephoto lens that can zoom 2X in high quality without using any software. The telephoto lens means the camera can zoom to 10X with optical and soft zoom.

Both models have 4K video recording capability. You also get live editing of video files and with wide colour capture.

Other snapper improvements are image stabilisation and a new camera flash to improve photos shot in low-light. Apple has also doubled the number of LEDs to four – two cool, two warm – in order to create a more effective flash. That gives 50% more light. It also has a flicker sensor that makes the flash look like natural light. Again, already predicted.

The front camera has also been upgraded to 7MP from 5MP for FaceTime and selfies.

Battery life

Apple has improved the iPhone’s stamina. According to the company, the iPhone 7 lasts, on average, two hours longer than an iPhone 6s and an hour longer than iPhone 6s Plus.

The battery on the iPhone 7 lasts 14 hours when using WiFi and 12 on 4G. The iPhone 7 Plus meanwhile lasts 15 hours on WiFi and 15 on 4G.

Water-resistant

The new iPhones are also water-resistant with an IPX67 rating which means that they can survive immersion in up to 1 metre of water for 30 minutes.

Apple’s high standards for waterproofing have impacted the supply chain and lowered total production of iPhone 7.

The Twitter storm regarding the predicted drop in rice sales overshadowed this somewhat. Placing your phone in a bowl of rice is a proven way of drying out soggy handsets.

Home button

The home button has been given a vibration-based ‘taptic’ feedback system so it now vibrates when touched to give users feedback.

This means that apps can give you three levels of pressure and haptic feedback, like a light or strong buzz.

The feature is already in use on the firm’s MacBook laptops.

iPhone 7 release date and prices

Friday September 9th will be the time for orders. Shipping will start on September 16.

Reports have suggested that supply could be limited at launch.

For the last two years the cheapest model of the latest iPhone has cost £539 but the new iPhone 7 price will start at £599 for the 32GB model.

According to T3, the prices are as follows:

The iPhone 7

• £599 for 32GB
• £699 for 128GB
• £799 for 256GB

The iPhone 7 Plus

• £719 for 32GB
• £819 for 128GB
• £919 for 256GB