[HotHotHeat]

A few thoughts 24 hours after the launch...

- The 7 is not a new design, as much as Apple will say it is.
- This is the first time in the iPhone's history Apple have maintained the same form factor beyond a two year cycle.
-A lot of the headphone jack criticism is coming from the fact that they removed something from a device that otherwise looks the same, there is no obvious explanation for why they had to remove a port that exists on other phones with the same form factor. The 'why now' question...
- Home button changes also are not essential to the design of the 7, the mechanism in place on previous models could have worked.

To me, the missing headphone jack and changes to the home button have nothing to do with this version of the phone, and everything to do with what Apple releases 12 months from now and beyond, when the design physically could not accommodate either the jack or the home button. Apple seems think consumers need to be eased into change. They're also tightly tied to healthy profit margins... Either way there are realities that hold them back to an extent.

Surely, $12 billion in R&D has to buy you more than IP67 and depth of field live preview.

TLDR; The 7 will be the last iPhone see that looks anything like we're used to, 3.5mm headphone jack and taptic home button changes have nothing to do with this year's release.

And now, back to more comments from non-Apple users about proprietary ports, corporate greed, Apple's doomed by 2026, etc.