Forget the iPhone 8 and iPhone X - here are 7 reasons you should buy the iPhone 7 instead

The iPhone X's front-facing camera is complemented by an all-new TrueDepth camera system, which includes a set of sensors required to operate the new Face ID system to unlock the phone and make purchases via Apple Pay, but the front-facing cameras across all three iPhone models — 7, 8, and X — are almost identical.

Again, here are the specs from Apple's website:

Based on Apple's data, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 — as well as their respective "Plus" models — all have near-identical front-facing camera systems. The iPhone X obviously has a more sophisticated front-facing camera system overall, which also helps achieve some of those newer features like Face ID, Portrait Lighting and Animoji, but none of those iPhone X-exclusive features on the selfie camera are must-haves just yet.

If you care at all about photography, the rear cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X are nearly identical. The smaller iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 are also great shooters, but the larger "Plus" models include a second telephoto lens so you can zoom in without losing image quality.

This is how Apple breaks down the camera specs of the iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X. As you can see, all three camera systems are almost identical from a hardware perspective — the newer iPhone 8 and iPhone X have "Slow Sync" on the True Tone flash, for better flash pictures, and the iPhone X has a slightly different aperture in the telephoto lens, but that's about it.

The only other difference here is that the iPhone X rear camera has optical image stabilization for both wide-angle and telephoto lenses — this helps with sharper images and video, especially in low-light settings. The iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 8 Plus only have OIS the wide-angle lens, not the telephoto lens. But again, this doesn't make much of a difference for the user experience; iPhone 7 owners won't feel like they're "missing" anything.

The iPhone 8 and iPhone X support the Qi wireless-charging standard and fast-charging for the first time, but you’ll need to buy Qi charging pads, which aren’t exactly cheap, and another $25 to $75 worth of equipment if you want to try fast-charging.

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus charge using Apple’s standard lightning cable, and that works perfectly fine.

Apple added glass to the backs of the iPhone 8 and iPhone X so those phones can support Qi wireless charging — but as a side effect, those glass backs made them more susceptible to smudges and fingerprints, as well as fall damage. With the new iPhone 8 and iPhone X, you'll need to worry about both the front and the back of the phone cracking if you drop it.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 7 has the same aluminum unibody frame as the iPhone 6 line, which means you'll only need to worry about the phone's display cracking if you drop it. The metal backs on the iPhone 7 line are also more resistant to smudges and fingerprints compared to the glass backs of the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.

The iPhone 8 comes in three colors: silver, gold, and space grey.

The iPhone X comes in just two colors: black and white.

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, meanwhile, come in five different colors: jet black, matte black (the best color), silver, gold, and rose gold.

The first but most important reason you should consider the iPhone 7 is its price tag relative to the other new iPhones.

The iPhone 8 starts at $699 — $150 more than the starting price of the iPhone 7, for a very similar phone. The larger iPhone 8 Plus starts at $799, and the high-end iPhone X, if you can even find one when it becomes available on November 3, will start at $999.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 7 starts at $549 — almost half the price of the iPhone X — and the larger iPhone 7 Plus starts at $669. Don't get me wrong, these phones are still definitely considered "expensive," but they're much more reasonable than the prices of the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.