How iPhone 7 and 7 Plus stack up against the hottest Androids

Now that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are official, you’re probably wondering whether you should make one of them your next smartphone.

Before making your decision, find out how they stack up against the hottest Androids — such as the Galaxy S7, and Galaxy Note 7, the new LG V20, and the affordable OnePlus 3 — right here.

Choosing between smartphones can be a pain in the butt — especially if you have your eye on a few different models. But we’ve taken the hard work out of it for you by comparing Apple’s latest offerings with the biggest competition in the chart below.

So, if you’re looking for the sharpest display, the latest processor, the most RAM, or the biggest battery, it’s easy to find which phone delivers it.

Click the image to view it at full size.

Design

One thing we can’t see in this chart is design — and that’s an important factor for many smartphone buyers. No one wants tacky plastic phones anymore, so manufacturers are turning to more premium materials like metal and glass.

What’s great about that is that no matter which smartphone you choose on this list, you’re going to end up with an attractive device and great build quality. Of course, what’s most attractive to you all depends on what you’re into.

If you like smooth aluminum, Apple’s new iPhones are a terrific choice. If you want glass, it doesn’t get much better than the Galaxy Note 7, which has curved panels on both sides. If you want something more durable, check out the Moto Z.

Specifications

Specifications can be deceiving. While it always looks like the iPhone is lacking on paper, with processors that appear slower than their rivals, speed tests of previous Apple smartphones have proven they have no problem beating the competition.

That’s going to remain the case with iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which boast Apple’s new A10 Fusion processor. It’s the fastest processor ever made for a smartphone, the company says, with up to 40 percent greater performance than iPhone 6s.

But no matter which of these devices you buy, you’re going to get great performance. What you really want to focus on are things like storage and battery capacity.

Apple has increased the iPhone’s internal storage this year, so you get a minimum of 32GB and up to 256GB. That’s great, but many Androids let you carry even more by giving you the option to add additional storage with a microSD card.

If you carry a lot of music, movies, and photos, then, this might be something you will appreciate later on. If you’re a long-time iPhone user who’s used to not having this luxury, then it’s probably not going to matter too much.

Battery capacity will matter to most users, and once again, it looks like the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are lacking here. The efficiency of iOS makes up for the lack of mAh in some cases, but many Androids do offer better battery life these days.

Cameras

Like performance and battery life, software plays a big part in camera performance. Don’t be fooled by the numbers here, then.

Samsung’s latest Galaxies are widely regarded as the best smartphone cameras available right now, but of course, that could change later this month when the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus go on sale. Apple firmly believes its new sensors will take that crown.

They have new 12-megapixel sensors, six-element lenses, and larger f/1.8 aperture that captures more light. iPhone 7 Plus also offers a second telephoto lens that allows for 2x optical zoom and stunning depth of field effects.

We won’t know if the iPhone 7 series is really capable of beating Samsung’s cameras until they make their way into the hands of users and reviewers and those cameras are put through their paces.

One thing we can be sure of is that they’ll take excellent pictures.

Features

In recent years, iPhones have lacked a lot of the features that you can find on rival devices. That’s still the case, but thanks to the addition of water-resistance and stereo speakers, the list of missing features is at least a little shorter now.

Unfortunately, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus still lack things like wireless charging, expandable storage, and fast charging, which are commonplace on high-end Android devices. If those things are important to you, iPhone 7 is a tough sell.

Software

To lots of iPhone fans, everything above is irrelevant. iOS is the reason they buy an iPhone, and if you’re one of those people, then you’re going to want to pick up an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus when your upgrade is due.

If you’re familiar with both iOS and Android, and you don’t mind which one you use next, then the decision becomes a little more difficult.

iOS 10 brings some nice new features, including a redesigned Music app and lots of new features for Messages — but Android 7.0 Nougat now offers things like split-view multitasking and the excellent Doze.

The only problem is, while you can guarantee your next iPhone will run iOS 10, it’s unlikely the next Android you buy will ship with Android 7.0 Nougat (unless you buy a Google Nexus or the new LG V20).