Is the iPhone 7 the Right Choice for Your Business?

by Stephanie Faris on Monday, September 19 6:00

Each year, Apple launches a new version of the iPhone, along with an accompanying update to its operating system. Both consumers and businesses follow news of the launch, eager to hear what changes have been made. At a base cost of $649, many businesses may find widespread smartphone replacement falls outside of their annual IT budget. However, if you have aging equipment, it might be time to make the upgrade. Here are a few things to consider before you purchase an iPhone 7 for your business.

Missing Headphone Jack

A great deal of the initial publicity was dedicated to Apple s decision to eliminate the headphone jack. For business purposes, this may seem like a non-issue initially, but consider the daily habits of your employees. Some employees use headphones for phone conversations or to drown out noise so they can work. The good news is, each new phone comes with an adaptor that lets iPhone owners plug existing headphones into the lightning port, which is the port that is also used for charging. You can also offer your employees the option of purchasing wireless headphones for their new iPhones, which will cost $149 when they debut in late October.

Improved Camera

The improvement in the iPhone s camera makes it a dramatic improvement, even for those who occasionally snap photos for fun. You ll get an even bigger benefit if you use photos for your social media marketing efforts or to demonstrate your products to potential clients. It s important to note, though, that even though the iPhone 7 camera is an improvement, it still doesn t do as well in expert tests as Samsung s Galaxy S7.

Water Resistance

For your accident-prone employees, the iPhone 7 offers a level of protection against water damage, similar to that offered by competing smartphones. The new phone has a rating of IP67, which means it can survive submersion for up to 30 minutes in water up to a few meters in depth. This could provide a small amount of extra protection for the new phones you re buying, but it likely won t be enough to prompt you to upgrade unless you need to. Instead of a new phone, it might be worthwhile to invest in water-resistant cases for your existing phones.

Additional iMessage Features

One of the biggest changes brought by the new iPhone is within the phone s text messaging interface. iPhone users can now animate their text bubble and quickly react to messages with one of six icons. They can also reply to a message within the app they re currently in without disrupting their current activity in that app. However, it s important to note that you don t have to purchase a new iPhone to get these features. Simply updating to iOS 10 will update your existing phones.

The hardware changes in the iPhone 7 are slight, but they could be enough to encourage businesses to upgrade outdated phones with the newer version. For those businesses that have functioning existing iPhones, upgrading to the latest operating system could be enough to take advantage of the exciting new iMessage features.