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Consumer Reports: Putting the new iPhone 7 to the test

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Consumer Reports: Putting the new iPhone 7 to the test

The iPhone seven arrived in stores on Friday and Consumer Reports' secret shoppers were there to buy them! The phones were delivered to Consumer Reports' electronics labs where testing is underway.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The iPhone seven arrived in stores on Friday and Consumer Reports' secret shoppers were there to buy them. The phones were delivered to Consumer Reports' electronics labs where testing is underway.

Consumer Reports began testing the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus on Friday.

The phones tout a number of upgrades including an enhanced camera and for the first time, Apple says the iPhone 7 is water-resistant - up to one meter of water for 30 minutes.

So Consumer Reports put those claims to the test in pressurized tank.

"Our water immersion tests indicate that the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus passed, but we will continue to check them for functionality," explained Maria Rerecich with Consumer Reports.

What's missing from the new iPhone is getting a lot of attention. With no headphone jack, audio testers examined the new headphone connection using the lightning-charging port.

"As far as sound quality goes, we found no significant differences with the new wired headphone connection," said Rerecich.

Apple is claiming the iPhone 7 Plus is a photographer's dream with more megapixels on the selfie camera and the addition of a second lens allowing for optical zoom on the main camera.

"In our preliminary testing, we found the telephoto lens was sharper and had better overall image performance than the primary lens, but that primary lens was pretty comparable to previous iPhones," she said.

Consumer Reports testers are still evaluating the new phones' voice quality and battery life.

Full results of those tests along with Consumer Reports exclusive ratings on the iPhone will be available in the next few weeks.

Consumer Reports is published by Consumers Union. Both Consumer Reports and Consumers Union are not-for-profit organizations that accept no advertising. Neither has any commercial relationship with any advertiser or sponsor on this site.