Released September 7,  Apple’s iPhone 7 made a splash with creative innovations that are causing controversy even among the company’s most avid fans, according to The New York Times.
The new iPhone, available as both the iPhone 7, $649, and 7 Plus, $769, displays revolutionary new features including water resistance and an improved dual-lens camera that is able to take more professional photographs. Apple has also done away with the physical home button, replacing it with a vibration unit that jolts when users apply pressure.

Additionally, the 7 has a new stereo speaker system that projects two times as loudly as the iPhone 6 and does not connect to a headphone jack, according to The New York Times.
Instead, the iPhone 7 connects to AirPods, Apple’s new wireless headphones. These headphones sync with all Apple devices that run iOS 10, watchOS 3, and macOS Sierra. AirPods need to be habitually charged, due to their wireless nature. While the AirPods themselves can only hold five consecutive hours of charge, the portable charging case can store up to 24 hours of charge for easy access, according to apple.com. However, Apple sells each iPhone 7 with an adapter for users partial to conventional wire earbuds.
Many Convent of the Sacred Heart students are concerned that AirPods will not improve their experience with Apple products, but, rather, diminish it.
“I have always been a supporter of Apple over Android, but if they are not going to let me have my headphone jack, or my aux cord in my car, then I might have to make a switch,” senior Jenna Whelan said.
For the first time, Apple’s earbud upgrade does not come with the new generation of smartphone, and the $150 price tag is a turnoff for prospective customers according to usatoday.com. 
Apple stock prices throughout 2016 further reflect consumers’ current views of the company. According to investorplace.com, Apple stock fell 30 percent in 2015, and had made no recovery this year until the company released its new product.
While Apple’s loss of momentum cannot be attributed to a sole factor, according to CNN, the company’s large price tag may be turning customers towards cheaper brands that are equally as innovative.
Other companies, including Samsung and Android, are producing smartphones with new features that Apple has not yet explored. Android phones, unlike iPhones, are virtually indestructible, sporting a bulletproof Kevlar casing. Samsung phones have the new Edge display and Fast Charge Wireless Charging Stand,  and also have their own version of AirPods, Gear Icon X Headphones, which came out earlier this year.
Despite the creativity of other companies, Apple is still the brand on everyone’s lips and in everyone’s pocket. It represents 43 percent of all smartphones owned in the US, according to digitaltrends.com. 
“I have been a huge Apple fan from the start, and our generation pretty much grew up with the smart phone,” senior Francesca Lippolis said. “I think the headphone jack is just another step towards new technology, we just have to accept it, because Apple is going to be around for a long time.” 
-Elizabeth Bachmann, Content Editor