The most talked about mobile device for 2016 made its official debut last night, as Apple unveiled the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus to the world. Already early on last night, Apple christened these two devices as the most powerful and advanced iPhones they've ever made.

What makes them so, according to Apple? First, the design has been improved. The 4.7" iPhone 7 and 5.5" 7 Plus still look very similar to last year's iteration, but the Cupertino-based company has gone to some lengths to make this version harder wearing. To that end, they both sport IP67 rated waterproofness and dust resistance. The aluminium unibody has also been refined to enclose the primary camera housing more subtly.

Moving to the nitty gritty, the iPhones sport an all-new quad-core A10 Fusion CPU internally. Apple says this new processor efficiently splits phone tasks between its two dual cores to not only perform better, but also improve battery life. To that end, Apple says a full charge can deliver up to 40 and 60 hours of wireless audio playback on the 7 and 7 Plus respectively.

Flipping the phones over, Apple says it has refined the 12 MP iSight camera on these two devices. As such, it features a larger f/1.8 aperture and six-element lens to improve shooting. The real talking point, however, is on the 7 Plus, which features a dual lens setup. With a wide angle and telephoto lens at its disposal, Apple notes that it now offers up to two times digital zoom and ten times optical zoom.      

One of the more contentious issues leading up to the device's unveiling where rumours of the 3.5 mm headphone jack being done away with. The reports turned out to be true, as the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus now come sans headphone jack. Consequently, users will either need a wireless pair of earphones, or one that has a compatible Lightning port connection. To offer the slightest bit of respite, Apple will include a pair of Lightning supporting EarPods, as well as a 3.5 mm adapter with the purchase of an iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.   

As reported early yesterday, when it comes to colours, Apple has added two new choices to the mix. Named Jet Black and Black respectively, the latter offers a matte finish and former a glossy one, harking back to the first few generations of iPhone. Both versions of Black, will be joined by the usual Silver, Gold and Rose Gold options when the iPhone hits retailers in 32 GB, 128 GB and now 256 GB onboard storage variants.

Speaking of release dates, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will go up for pre-order on 9 September in the States, arriving later in other select regions throughout the month. As has happened previously, South Africa has not featured on either the first or second batch of countries receiving the devices. They should, however, land before the end of October, like previous iterations have.

In terms of Stateside pricing, the iPhone 7 starts at $649 (32 GB), with the Black and Jet Black models only coming in 128 Gb and 256 GB options.