This year’s iPhone wasn’t going to be an S version but that didn’t stop Apple from using the same design all over again, save a few small changes. Even though the Tim Cook-led company did make some bold decisions like the removal of the headphone jack, it was more of an iterative approach than a revolutionary one.
Known for its originality and creativity, Apple went for the “courageous” approach this time. However, most of the iPhone 7’s new features have been in Android phones for years. Admittedly, Apple does have a reputation of doing stuff better than others but it doesn’t give them the title of being the first one to do it (sorry Apple fanboys).
Also Read: Comparison of iPhone 7 Price in Pakistan
Keeping up with the theme of originality vs. copying off features, we take a look at 4 features that have been in Android phones before the iPhone 7 came along:
1. No Headphone Jack
Even though it is iPhone 7’s most talked-about feature (or lack of one), Apple is not the first one to do it. It’s not even the second or the third. It was all the way back in 2014 when Oppo’s R5 became one of the first smartphones to have completely ditched the headphone jack.
A Chinese company, LeEco, also ditched the headphone jack earlier this year in favor of higher quality audio over USB-C and Lenovo followed suit with its latest Moto Z smartphones.
Unlike Apple, Oppo also had a much better reason for its removal; an ultra-thin 4.85 mm chassis that made it almost impossible to pack in a headphone jack. Compare to that the iPhone 7’s 7.1mm thickness, which makes Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack seem meaningless.
2. Dual Camera System
The dual camera system in the iPhone 7 Plus? LG did it first in 2011 with the LG Optimus 3D (although for a different purpose).
Starting with the HTC One M8 in 2014, HTC has been doing it since ages for the very same purpose. The LG V10 had it, so did Xioami’s Redmi Pro and Huawei has also been using dual cameras to improve picture quality.
The One M8 came with a dual-lens setup, dubbed Duo Camera, and came with after-capture effects like bokeh, focus, etc. The execution wasn’t really up to the par but still, HTC was one of the first major smartphone manufacturers to bet on dual-cameras for smartphones.
3. Water Resistant
This one, Apple ripped off straight from Samsung’s Galaxy S series. To be fair, Samsung copied it over from Sony’s Xperia Z series in the first place.
Water-resistant smartphones have existed since ages but the Japan-based smartphone giant was one of the first smartphone giants to make their flagship phones water resistant and they have been doing so since the start of the Xperia Z series.
But it might have been Samsung’s water defying feature which pushed Apple to go for water-resistance. Starting with the Galaxy S5, and now the S7, Samsung has had some pretty good implementations against water damage.
While Apple may have done a better job with the dual camera system than HTC, it didn’t live up to Samsung’s or Sony’s execution in water resistance. The S7 has an IP68 rating and so do Sony flagships since ages, while the iPhone 7 has an IP67 rating. It means the S7 can be submerged in water as deep as 1.5 meter for up to 30 minutes, compared to the iPhone 7’s one meter. Sony phones have even been used undersea at depths over 20 meters without incurring any damage.
Unfortunately though, unlike Samsung and Sony, Apple did incorporate the water-resistance but does not offer any warranty if you try it out in real life, showing Apple’s lack of confidence in its implementation. Apple clearly misled users into believing the new models are water safe, when clearly they aren’t in case you incur water damage even due to a manufacturing fault.
We can’t really blame Apple on copying this one. Smartphones are a part of our daily lives and water-resistance is simply a must-have these days! Though, some warranty would have been the right way to go about for such an expensive flagship.
4. Home Button
Apple has finally let go of the physically clickable home button. The iPhone 7 comes with a “taptic engine” that gives you the feel of a physical feedback when you press it.
Android phones have been using capacitive touch buttons from the very start. These buttons would respond with a small vibration to give the feel of a button but they aren’t really as good at giving the same feel. The technology Apple uses is like the Force Touch trackpad in the latest MacBook Pro. The concept may be quite similar to Android’s capacitive buttons but not only is it considerably better, it also provides a much more “physical” feel.
Did we miss any other features that Apple copied/improved from other phone makers? Sound off in the comments below.
Ganda hai per Dhanda hai yeh!!!!!!
This is the way the industry works. Only one person invents something, others simply use it. No need to reinvent the wheel. Besides, Apple never said that it was the first one to do any of these things. And again, almost all of these points are absurd. It would make sense if Apple had copied a ‘feature’ from any other company but none of the features you mentioned is copied. The removal of the headphone jack is not a ‘feature’. Although Apple included a dual lens setup in their phone and other manufacturers had it before them, they didn’t say it was an industry first. Water resistance is not exclusive to any manufacturer that is why IP ratings exist, as for your claim that water damaged iPhones are not covered by warranty, let me tell you that samsung doesn’t offer warranty on water damaged phones either, not unless you buy and accidental damage plan. And lastly iPhones have had home buttons since a very long time and the taptic engine they used was created by them in the first place.
Extremely sad to see that the standard of Propakistani has fallen to a level that you are accusing a company of copying the removal of the headphone jack
P.S: Not a Apple fanboy, just a neutral person who is saddened by this post.
You should admit, they took these 4 things from Android let’s just not hurt the feelings of Apple Fanboys by saying the word copy!
P.S: I myself using iPhone 5S!
+1, you are right bro.
Doesn’t matter for me as you said “This is the way the industry works..”. Plus Android can never get the level of responsiveness iPhone/iOS has. And one thing more, people using Android can switch to iPhone in future but ones using iPhone will never ever switch to Android :-)
Android fanboys! THIS is the reality.
After using all of the mobile platforms, I can agree that the optimizations of iOS are miles ahead of android and if someone wants a phone that is simple, fast and easy to learn, iPhone is the way to go.
thats what you think, and fanboy-esm is stupid, no company actually giving you anything to make statements for them or go fight.
saying android can never get responsiveness is just plain ignorance and a lie [nexus AOSP]
one can argue over smoothness but that too falls when you have nexus.
ive seen many many who goes from one eco system to other and saying no one go back from apple to android is again a BIG ignorance
and guess what IGNORANCE is a BLISS
Sorry mate, I hurt you. But ignorance is what you are typing here without having proper knowledge of other OS.
I have used both platforms, rather I had been super critic of iPhone/iOS before I truly experienced it.
99% Android smartphones go slow as you keep putting new apps. Nexus maybe exception, but getting better hardware doesn’t prove that OS is good. You may end-up running Android with 16GB of RAM without lagging and then claiming the OS’s performance isn’t fair I think.
why do you think you’re hurting me… strange thought.
funny you say ‘knowledge of other OS’ and than written all that.
[email protected]
Propakistani bloggers are true fan of Android. I noticed that they always try to manipulate iPhone. They never missed a chance to express their anger towards apple.
I don’t think Propakistani blog itself would be biased as it’s just an individual (author) research.
@Proakistani
Suggestion: You should have end note saying something like “The article is an opinion/research of author and doesn’t relate to Propakistani”.
AsalamuAlaikum. …
I think the serious note to me is technology,it’s access,it’s usage…etc.
It’s not a matter of being a fan of android or apple or windows. The serious note is its accessibility.
Like left and right every thing has pros and cons…so are pros and cons of technology.
Technology is a science and it’s keep changing on its pace.
Take a example of medicine as many medicines are used for some reasons previously they were used for others so is example of technology or anything other than this.
Be fan be partner be proud of some inventions..but don’t be hard or serious.
Give way…create space..be admitting and the biggest be positive for all and ur self..
So I welcome all opinions..because what we know is not the end and even some times not a start…?
I mentioned this point earlier this week as well “ProPakistani ka standard wo wala na raha ab”
Note: I am not a fanboy of any phone, I jump around from phone to phone to check all of them.
That being said, if these Android nuggets say that Apple copied this and that then I think one can say it confidently that all of these companies copied Apple in making a touch smartphone or Google copying iOS to create Android, right?
Anyway, there are only two Android phones that I’ll try (if I ever thought of using Android again, after ruining my last year of campus) it’d be Nexus or OnePlus either. Even OnePlus founder said that “our competitors has this plastic-y product feel except iPhone”
Samsung, on the other hand, just goes for the highlighted features like Screen, Camera and Build, everything else is pure crap in their phones. I mean like, tell Apple to use 4gb RAM in their phone and they’d run a freaking web server over it and what is Samsung achieving with 4gb RAM?
all things described in the article are correct, but is a fact that if some feature is available in the smartphones (any feature) from years but when apple make it, it make is the best way.
look into apple watch, sony,samsung and many other companies were making watches from almost ten years but when apple released watch 1, it was what it should be.
other companies work on what features and devices peoples are asking for.
but apple work what people actually need but people dont know it, once apple launch it people say oh we really needed it.
eve though for me iPhone 7 have not a attraction nor major appealing change.
I am already using iPhone 6s 128GB I will wait for the next product aka iPhone 8 on tenth anniversary of 1st iPhoneG 2007,
I never say andriods are bed, andriods are also great phones off course.
are you for real, watch 1 was so bad and was only able to sold this much because of loyal fans, gen 2 is what a watch should be an apple watch, not comparing to android wear no need to.
Dear bro, please accept facts, Android wear watches were from two years when Apple watch 1 released, and in two years these were not soled one million and Apple watch was booked 2 Million in one hour, I hope u understand booking, coz booking is done by paying advance payment. So there is no comparison b/w Apple watch and Android Watches, including Samsung and Moto.
Personally I like Moto 360 alot by its design, I bought Apple watch 1 in June 2015, and it is still on my wrist and its batter works more that 1.5 Day,
One of my friend bought Moto 360 in March 2016, in june 2016 I observed that my friend is not wearing it, I asked him to give me Moto360, I charged it 100% wear in wrist used normally but after 1.5 hour it is batter empty, I again charged it (remember I used Original Chg) and keep it on charger abt two hours again I got 1.5 to 2 hrs battery backup, I asked the owner abt battery he said that is the reason he is not wearing it.
But my Apple watch is still working more than 1.5 days almost 2 days
And now I upgraded it to Watch oS3 and its battery time is better than os2.
in Android Samsung s2 is a good watch.
before release of Apple watch 1 Android watchs didnt support apple Os, and sale of android watches was not in a good number, but after apple watch 1 release Google given android wear app in apple store to use android watches on iPhone and that decision boosted android watch sale, but still not enough as Apple watch.
I am not against android watches actually I liked the design of Moto 360 and some Huwaei Model.
but is reality that apple really knows how to make things
after reading this no need to argue…. as what ive written is fallen on deaf fanboy ears….
in short u have no logical reason to defend….. :)
Samsung made Wireless charging.
is it really a wilrelesssssssssssss
u have to put ur set on a pad.
at leaset with lightning canle we are free to move our set up to 3 Meters. is ur Samsung wireless chg work at 5 inches?
One day when Apple introduce wireless charging u would know what is wireless.
I can give u alot of such examples of the dumbness of the Samsung but I dont like to criticize any other, but I only defend with my opinion Dear.
Oh COME ON…………. REALLY REALLY REALLY!!!
Also the curved antenna lines copied from Meizu mx6 pro
How this article looks like to me xD
This made my day .. :D
batteries in smartphones have exploded before. Apple has had multiple products with exploding batteries
Android vs IOS in a nutshell.
An intelligent man’s perspective l.
IOS comes at price for all the best.
Android might not be the best but has best price to performance ratio.
Propakistani perspective.
Apple is good but copy from Droid.
I sheep perspective.
Androids are only numbers for cheap panhandle who wanna be apple but fail miserably #AppleMastahrace.
Sheepdroid perspective.
Owning an iPhone is like living in an overpriced jail, no customization or whatsoever, also less specs.
I’ve been an experiences tech-blogger for the past three years. Originally of Pakistani origin, I’ve done brief stints at a number of local and international publications and done extensive research of the past, present and future of the technological industry. I have also bookmarked ProPakistani on my browser for daily news consumption of local developments and normally have a high level of respect for the speed, accuracy and integrity they have shown in terms of their content.
This article, however, applies roughly the same level of thought, critical analysis and impartial judgement as a 12 year old child. The industry is what develops and the companies follow. Opinion pieces should not be touted as news articles. Today, I remove ProPakistani from my bookmarks.
*experienced