iPhone 7 Plus audio measurements

The first signal is merely a test of how loud the iPhone 7 plus will go. It will go what I'd classify as "brutally loud" (at least for phone speakers). The above image is a C-weighted SPL log for a -20 dBFS pink noise signal, measured at 1m. This means that you can add about 20 dB to that signal. A 1 kHz 0dBFS sine wave managed 92 dB (unweighted) at 1m.

A warning for the young: At a (short-ish) arm's length, with typically compressed pop music with the speakers at full volume, this is plenty loud to cause permanent hearing damage with about an hour's listening daily.

This is a windowed on-axis measurement of the iPhone in 2pi space (In other words, with the phone lying flat on the floor). Distance to microphone is 0.5 m (in all measurements). Please note: The dip at 2500 Hz is entirely an artifact of the measurement technique chosen - I measured with a dual mono signal (so it was playing from both speakers). Had I played a signal from either the left or the right speaker, this would not have been there.

On-axis, the iPhone 7 Plus speakers have a significant rising treble response. In theory, this is bad, but in practice not so much.

This is with the iPhone 7 Plus propped up against a table/wall corner. This is pretty much the _worst_ position you can have the iPhone in - while there is some boundary gain in the lower frequency range, slightly extending its bass response, it comes at the expense of the 1-3 kHz range, which is now for all practical purposes missing. You also get to enjoy the same rising treble response (albeit less severe), and a slightly earlier treble rolloff.

This measurement is a bit closer to how most people will listen: About 35 degrees off-axis, and the response is now even in the frequency range it covers, not only for an phone, but for any speaker. I've seen four-figure loudspeakers do worse than this.

At a slightly more inclined angle of 45 degrees, the iPhone's response is now +-3 dB from 550 Hz to 10800 Hz. I'm actually impressed by this. This would be a typical response with the phone lying on a desk, about an arm's length away.

"Bass" is -10 dB at around 450 Hz.

This is another typical usage scenario - with the phone lying on a table or shelf some distance away, and listening 70 degrees off the axis. Also a surprisingly even response. Note that in the prior responses, the responses were windowed, to eliminate room interactions - this one is not, and is thus influenced by the room it is in.

You want a conclusion you say? Well, if Apple is ever going to give us wireless charging from a tabletop device (none of that "power beaming nonsense"), I'd love for that charger to include a small woofer - with measurements like these, the iPhone 7 plus would then become a capable little audio device acting as a replacement for tabletop radios.