Apple unveils water resistant iPhone7

The next generation of the iPhone has been revealed, with the technology giant doing away with the headphone port and adding a second camera on the rear of the device.

The lightning port of the iPhone 7 is shown during an event to announce Apple's new products. Picture: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

A new version of the Apple Watch, called the Series 2 and with greater focus on health and exercise tracking, was also announced, including a special Nike+ version for ­runners.

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The Watch, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will go on sale on 16 September, with pre-orders for the devices beginning tomorrow. The iPhone 7 will start at £599 in the UK for the 32GB model, which makes it £60 more expensive than the iPhone 6s.

Apple has sold more than one billion iPhone handsets. Picture: John Devlin

Instead of the traditional headphone connection, iPhone packages will now come with earphones that fit into the phone’s Lighting port, currently used for charging and data transfer.

However, Apple also revealed new wireless earphones, called AirPods, that will connect to both iPhone and Apple Watch remotely. An adaptor that enables traditional headphones to continue to plug into the iPhone will also be included in the box.

The iPhone 7 has also had its camera redesigned, with a much-rumoured second lens being added to the larger iPhone 7 Plus that will enable users to capture more zoomed images without losing picture quality. The lenses across the two phones now contain a 12 megapixel sensor.

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Apple has sold more than one billion iPhone handsets. Picture: John Devlin

Mr Cook said of the smartphone: “It has become the industry gold standard.

“iPhone is the phone by which all others are measured and it has become a cultural phenomenon.”

In July, the tech giant said it had sold the one billionth unit of the device, while Mr Cook said the Apple Watch was now the world’s second most popular watch brand and most popular smartwatch.

Analysts said last night the new iPhones could help Apple recover modestly from a recent dip in sales. But with few expected dramatic changes from previous models, Apple watchers aren’t expecting the kind of big spikes in consumer demand that the company saw two years ago, when it introduced larger screens.

Apple sold nearly 92 million iPhones during the first six months of this year, about 15 per cent fewer than the same period last year.

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