People still use the Apple iPhone 7 Plus in 2026. It sounds crazy, right? We’re talking about a device that launched back when "Pokemon Go" was a fresh obsession and the world was first processing the loss of the headphone jack. Yet, if you walk into a budget repair shop or browse secondary markets in emerging economies, this specific slab of aluminum is everywhere. It’s the "cockroach" of the smartphone world. It simply refuses to die.
Honestly, the iPhone 7 Plus wasn't just another incremental update. It was a pivot point. It was the moment Apple decided to stop playing it safe with single lenses and started the "Pro" trajectory, even if they hadn't coined the name yet. When Phil Schiller stood on stage in 2016 and called the removal of the 3.5mm jack "courage," the internet melted down. People hated it. They mocked the dongles. But looking back, that controversy overshadowed what was actually a massive leap in mobile engineering.
The camera that changed everything (literally)
Before the Apple iPhone 7 Plus, mobile photography was mostly about "good enough." You had one lens. If you wanted to zoom, you used digital crop, which basically meant your photos looked like a blurry mess of pixels. Then came the dual-camera system.
Apple slapped a second 12-megapixel telephoto lens next to the wide-angle one. This gave us the first taste of "Portrait Mode." It used machine learning—early, rudimentary stuff compared to today’s neural engines—to map depth and blur the background. It was janky at first. It would accidentally blur out people's ears or wisps of hair. But it changed how we perceived phone cameras. Suddenly, your phone could mimic a DSLR with a wide aperture lens. It made everyone a "photographer," for better or worse.
The telephoto lens provided a 2x optical zoom. It doesn't sound like much now when we have 10x periscope lenses and 100x digital "space zooms," but in 2016, it was magic. You could finally take a photo of a concert stage or a bird in a tree without it looking like a Minecraft screenshot.
That weird "Home Button" that wasn't a button
You probably remember the click. Or rather, the fake click. The Apple iPhone 7 Plus was the first to ditch the physical, moving home button in favor of a solid-state glass circle. This was powered by the Taptic Engine.
It was a brilliant bit of trickery. When you pressed down, a tiny linear actuator fired a vibration so precise it felt like the button was moving. If the phone was turned off, the button was just a dead piece of glass. It didn't move a millimeter. This change was actually a huge deal for reliability. Older iPhones, like the 4S or the 5, had notoriously flaky home buttons. They’d get stuck or lose their "clickiness" over time. By making it solid-state, Apple removed a major mechanical failure point. Plus, it was the key to finally getting an IP67 water resistance rating. You could finally drop your phone in a shallow pool or a sink and not have a heart attack.
The A10 Fusion: A weirdly powerful chip
We need to talk about the silicon because the A10 Fusion chip was a beast. It was Apple's first quad-core chip. It had two high-performance cores and two high-efficiency cores. This "Big.LITTLE" architecture, which ARM had been peddling for a while, was perfected here.
Why does this matter now? Because it gave the phone legs. It’s the reason the Apple iPhone 7 Plus was able to support iOS updates for way longer than anyone expected. It handled the shift to 64-bit apps with ease. While Android competitors from the same era—like the original Google Pixel or the Samsung Galaxy S7—started to stutter and lag within three years, the 7 Plus kept chugging. It’s also worth noting the 3GB of RAM in the Plus model. The smaller iPhone 7 only had 2GB. That extra gigabyte was the secret sauce that kept the Plus snappy during multitasking long after its smaller sibling started to struggle.
Build quality and the "Jet Black" nightmare
The design was the peak of the "unibody aluminum" era. It felt dense. Expensive. But man, do you remember the Jet Black finish?
Apple spent a ridiculous amount of time explaining the nine-step anodization and polishing process for that high-gloss black look. It looked like a piano. It also scratched if you even looked at it wrong. Within a week, most Jet Black units looked like they’d been cleaned with steel wool. It was a beautiful disaster. Most people ended up getting the Matte Black, which was arguably the coolest color Apple ever produced. It was stealthy. It didn't show fingerprints. It felt like something a spy would carry.
What most people get wrong about the 7 Plus
There’s this myth that the 7 Plus was just a "boring" version of the iPhone 6s. That’s just wrong.
- Display: It introduced Wide Color (P3) support. The colors were more vibrant and accurate, even if it was still an LCD.
- Speakers: It was the first iPhone with stereo sound. One speaker at the bottom, one in the earpiece. It made watching YouTube without headphones significantly less annoying.
- Battery: Because the chassis was bigger, the battery life was actually stellar for its time. You could legit get through a full day, which was a luxury back then.
It’s also the phone that killed the physical "clicking" mechanism, which paved the way for the haptic-heavy interface we have now. If you like the way your iPhone 15 or 16 vibrates when you toggle a switch, you have the 7 Plus to thank for that development.
The reality of using one today
If you’re thinking about buying an Apple iPhone 7 Plus today as a "dumb phone" or a secondary device, you need to be realistic. It’s a legacy device.
The biggest hurdle is the software. It officially topped out at iOS 15. While Apple still pushes occasional security patches for older versions, you're going to hit a wall with app compatibility eventually. Most major apps—banking, social media, work tools—still run on iOS 15 for now, but that window is closing.
Then there’s the battery. Most 7 Plus units out in the wild have degraded batteries. Since lithium-ion chemistry has a shelf life, an original battery from 2016 is likely sitting at 60% capacity or less. It’ll throttles the CPU to prevent shutdowns. If you’re going to use one, you basically have to budget for a $50-$70 battery replacement.
But for basic tasks? It’s still surprisingly capable. The 5.5-inch 1080p display is still sharp. The Touch ID sensor is arguably faster and more reliable than many under-display fingerprint sensors found on modern mid-range Androids. It doesn't feel like a toy. It feels like a tool.
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Technical Specifications: The Raw Numbers
To understand why this phone was a tank, you have to look at the internals.
The A10 Fusion chip clocked in at 2.34 GHz. The 5.5-inch Retina HD display had a pixel density of 401 ppi. Compare that to the standard iPhone 7’s 326 ppi. It was a noticeable difference in crispness. The rear camera setup consisted of a 28mm wide lens with an f/1.8 aperture and a 56mm telephoto lens with an f/2.8 aperture. Both had 12-megapixel sensors.
It was also the first time we saw a 256GB storage option. At the time, that felt like an infinite amount of space. Now, with 4K video and massive app sizes, it’s just the baseline for many users. But back then, it was a "power user" dream.
Why collectors still want it
There’s a niche group of tech enthusiasts who hunt for the Red (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition. It was the first time Apple did a bright red aluminum finish, and it was stunning. It had a white front plate, which some people hated (they wanted black), but it remains one of the most iconic iPhone designs ever released.
Actionable Steps for Owners and Buyers
If you currently have an Apple iPhone 7 Plus or you're looking at one on the used market, here is the pragmatist's roadmap.
1. Check the Battery Health immediately
Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health. If it’s below 80%, the phone will feel slow because the OS is literally slowing down the processor to save the battery. Replace it. It's the cheapest way to make the phone feel brand new.
2. Audit your apps
Since you’re stuck on iOS 15, don't bloat the device. Stick to the essentials. The A10 chip is good, but it will struggle with heavy modern games or complex video editing apps. Use it for what it’s good at: communication, light browsing, and music.
3. Use a high-quality dongle
If you’re a music nerd, don't buy the cheap $2 knock-off Lightning-to-3.5mm adapters. The official Apple one actually contains a surprisingly decent DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) that sounds better than most built-in jacks on modern budget phones.
4. Storage management
If you have the 32GB base model, you’re going to have a bad time. High-resolution photos and system data will eat that up in a week. Use iCloud Photos and set it to "Optimize iPhone Storage" to keep the local footprint small.
5. App "Legacy" versions
If you try to download an app and it says it requires iOS 16 or 17, don't give up. If you’ve previously "purchased" or downloaded that app on your Apple ID, you can often go to your "Purchased" list in the App Store and download the last compatible version for iOS 15.
The Apple iPhone 7 Plus represents the end of an era. It was the last "classic" design before the iPhone X changed everything with the notch and Face ID. It was the peak of the Home Button. It proved that a phone could be a serious photography tool. It’s not just a piece of tech; it’s a benchmark for how long a well-made device can actually last if you treat it right. Even in 2026, its influence is visible in every "Pro Max" model Apple ships. It set the blueprint.