How will 2016's biggest flagships compare? Taking a look at the rumors behind Apple's iPhone 7 & Samsung Galaxy S7

So, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge last night - Sunday 21 February - and lo and behold much of what we'd been seeing from the rumour mill for months and months turned out to be correct. Meanwhile, the iPhone 7 is a long way off being launched, but what happened with the Galaxy S7 proves that the rumour mill is so far reaching, thorough and accurate these days, that when we consistently hear a particular buzz from particular sources often enough, then these are things to be paid attention to, and are likely on the money.

The iPhone 7 will almost certainly launch in its usual bracket of September, but we've been hearing rumours now for a good long while, with many of them coming from repeatedly reliable sources such as KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Samsung Galaxy S7 vs iPhone 7: Major Specs

Samsung Galaxy S7

• Display: 5.1in Super AMOLED 2560x1440 pixels (QHD), 577ppi (Galaxy S7 edge: 5.5in, 534ppi)

• Storage: 32GB onboard (larger capacity models MAY be available), microSD slot

• CPU and RAM: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820/Samsung Exynos 8890 processor (region dependent), 4GB RAM

• Front Camera: 5MP

• Rear Camera: 12.2MP, f/1.7 aperture, 1.4um pixels, dual-pixel 100% phase detection sensor

• IP68 water and dust proofing (1.5m submersion up to 30 minutes)

• Battery: 3,000mAh (Galaxy S7 edge: 3,600mAh) NON-removable

iPhone 7

• Display: 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch Force Touch, but likely with a QHD display of 2560 x 1440 resolution

• Storage: 32GB/64GB/128GB/256GB

• CPU and RAM: A10 processor, 3GB RAM

• Front Camera: 5MP with wide angle lens

• Rear Camera: 12MP, 4K video recording, optical image stabilization

• Waterproofing?

Samsung's muddied the waters somewhat by taking a leaf out of Apple's playbook and not disclosing much information about the processor hardware at launch. We already know from earlier rumours that both the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and Samsung Exynos 8890 SoC's are inside various iterations of each Galaxy S7 model, and we know 4GB of RAM was rumoured too. However, all Samsung has said is that the Galaxy S7 has a 30% CPU performance uplift over the previous generation, and a 64% speed enhancement to the GPU, along with the introduction of a liquid-cooled heatpipe and heatsink setup to help in high-performance situations.

The iPhone 7 will run Apple’s next-generation A10 mobile chipset and, if previous versions are anything to go by, it should be an alarmingly powerful chipset. Apple’s A8 and A9 chipsets dominated the mobile space in 2014/15 showcasing just what was possible with processing power when you have complete control over specs, hardware and software. And this is no doubt the reason Samsung invested so heavily in its Exynos solution — it wants more control over its devices’ performance and capabilities. 

However, this year’s iPhone will likely be the most spec-heavy release Apple has ever pushed to market, providing it features a QHD panel. How much RAM Apple uses is also a deciding factor in the spec battle between the two handsets as well, but mostly this is just academic — the A10 and new Exynos will be super fast, regardless for whether they’re paired with 2GB or 4GB. Apple has consistently shown it can get plenty of performance out of very little memory, so the addition of more inside the iPhone 7, alongside the A10 chip makes for a pretty monstrous phone. 

One thing that can be expected for sure is that the iPhone 7 will likely come in 32, 64, and 128GB models. Thankfully Apple should drop the 16GB iPhone version this time around. However there are rumors the iPhone 7 could also come in a 256GB model…something that seems far too good to be true at present. Nevertheless, should Apple get rid of the 16GB version — something it really needs to do, as 16GB is just pathetic these days — then it stands to reason it will have to replace it with something at the top-end to bump everything down a peg and make 32GB the standard model, before 64GB and then 128GB and finally 256GB. 

Again, Samsung has sort of glossed over storage capabilities, aside from the microSD slot, and even then it hasn't disclosed how big the cards can be. We believe, based on earlier benchmarks and leaks, that the Galaxy S7 series starts at 32GB onboard, and may have 64GB and 128GB models too, but Samsung is yet to confirm this.

What we do know is each Samsung model packs a hefty battery pack, either a 3000mAh cell inside the Galaxy S7 or a 3600mAh setup in the Galaxy S7 edge - both should provide plenty of juice on a single charge. There's little info about Apple's battery hardware at this stage.

Samsung Galaxy S7 vs  iPhone 7: Design

At this stage information on the iPhone 7's possible design is fairly limited. Given Apple's usual MO we're fairly confident it will be a significant overhaul, as the firm tends to keep things incremental on the 'S' models (like 2015's iPhone 6s) and then puts in big changes on the lone number models, with the iPhone 7 of course being one of the latter. On top of this we've heard rumours Apple plans on making the handset incredibly thin, thin enough to warrant the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack and the adoption of built-in stereo speakers and a proprietary set of headphones (Bluetooth and/or Lightning connector compatible, allegedly), if the rumours are true.

There’s also strong hints that Apple is working on doing away with the physical home button and embedding a virtual home button and Touch ID in the screen itself, but that might not come until the iPhone 8. The iPhone 7 will almost certainly retain the same size display as this year's models with 4.7in and 5.5in models to choose from - although there is talk of a 4in iPhone 6c dropping in April. 

Other whispers say we'll see a "streamlined" design with fewer obvious antennae bands, a thinner bezel around the display, and the absence of any camera bump whatsoever - the sensor will reportedly fit flush. There are also some murmurings about waterproofing.

Generally though we're expecting an extremely sleek and distinguished new iPhone that's super-thin and entirely made out of metal.

Although different from their predecessors in some ways, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge are, on the whole, quite similar to the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge in terms of design. The overall shape, build quality, and materials (metal and glass) are all pretty much a repeat of last year - not that this is a bad thing of course, as last year's Galaxy S6 series was gorgeous. The most notable improvements include the addition of IP68 waterproofing and a microSD card slot. It's also worth noting that while the Galaxy S7 is pretty much the same size as the Galaxy S6, the Galaxy S7 edge is not only distinguished by its unique curved edge display, but also by being much larger than both the Galaxy S7 and the last-gen flagships, with a 5.5in display.

Samsung Galaxy S7 vs iPhone 7: Display

The big news for iPhone fans is the iPhone 7 will probably get a higher resolution display, specifically a QHD one with a resolution of 2560 x 1440—as many Android handsets already have. This will match the resolution of the Galaxy S7. As far as sizes, the iPhone 7 should come in the standard 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch (Plus) models.

Both Samsung's Galaxy S7 handsets to indeed have QHD display resolutions for their Super AMOLED panels. For the 5.1in Galaxy S7 this results in a pixel density of 577ppi, and for the larger 5.5in Galaxy S7 edge an ever-so-slightly lower, but nonetheless sharp, 534ppi. Both also feature Samsung's new Always On Display (AOD) capabilities, which is where the OLED display selectively powers on a few specific pixels to show certain information while in a sleep state. This is a low power solution and allows it to show the time, date, and a few notifications.

The Galaxy S7 edge naturally has the curved display edges we've seen on a few Samsung phones now. With Android Marshmallow and the new TouchWiz build Samsung has literally expanded how much of the edge of the screen utilises the edge functions for things like shortcuts and widgets. It has also allowed you to store more applications in the hotbar.

Samsung Galaxy S7 vs  iPhone 7: Camera

The iPhone 6s received a major camera upgrade over the iPhone 6—getting a 12MP rear camera and 5MP front one. Don’t expect any megapixel boosts in the iPhone 7 since Apple usually holds the MP-rating for a few years. However, year-on-year Apple has consistently tweaked other parts of the camera setup to incrementally improve imaging performance, and that's not something we expect it to stop.

There aren't many rumours at this stage about the iPhone 7's camera hardware, but we can perhaps expect things which seem to be trending in the industry such as wider apertures, larger pixel sizes, and more complex sensors with higher-quality lenses. One rumoured feature though is the introduction of optical image stabilisation (OIS). If the rumours of a flush-fitting camera sensor are true, what we may see is Apple simply keeping its camera hardware similar to the current-gen, but making it thinner to fit in with the new design.

Samsung has made some big changes to the Galaxy S7 camera. For one thing, the megapixel rating has actually gone DOWN to 12MP, but this is a deliberate choice and Samsung is instead focusing on other areas of the hardware to improve image quality. Things like a wider f/1.7 aperture, a larger 1.4um pixel size, and the world's first dual-pixel sensor with 100% phase detection autofocus. Correspondents at MWC are raving about this new camera setup, and the low-light performance as well as focusing speed is reportedly quite remarkable.