History of the iPhone

The original iPhone came out in 2007, and in the 17 years since then, the product has changed dramatically. So let's find out how that happened.

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Now let's start with the original iPhone model, which was simply called iPhone but is now referred to as iPhone 2G since it ran on AT&T's 2G Edge Network. It was incredibly expensive at the time, starting at $499 with a 2-year contract, which put the total cost somewhere around $1,200. It was also incredibly slow since the 2G network had average speeds of about 200 kilobits per second. This model was missing a front camera, video recording, and even copy and paste. It was also only available in the US and restricted to AT&T, which limited its sales potential.

Despite this, Apple managed to sell over 6 million iPhones, capturing 62% of the worldwide smartphone market. The following year, in 2008, Steve Jobs revealed iPhone 3G. It had a much lower starting price of $199 and was available in more than 70 countries. It had a plastic back that was slightly thicker than the previous iPhone and ran on AT&T's 3G network, making its cellular speeds 3 to 4 times faster. Apple accomplished this without sacrificing battery life.

iPhone 3G actually had more standby time and 2G talk time than the previous model while also adding GPS for more accurate location tracking. This is also when Apple made a push into the enterprise market by adding a long list of data and security features that companies needed. Apple went on to sell almost 12 million iPhone 3G units, doubling the previous model.

In 2009, Apple introduced iPhone's first S update with iPhone 3GS. Apple claimed the S stood for speed, although it would be used later on to signify minor updates in between major iPhone releases. The 3GS was 2 to 3 times faster at a variety of tasks like launching apps, opening attachments, and loading web pages. This was due to a new Samsung processor that Apple was using while they continued to work on their own custom chip.

iPhone 3GS was the first model to receive a camera upgrade, going from 2 to 3 megapixels with tap to focus, autofocus, auto white balance, and auto exposure. It also received video recording for the first time, capturing footage in 480p resolution at 30 frames per second. Apple went on to sell 35 million units of iPhone 3GS, almost triple iPhone 3G.

By 2010, Apple had prepared their biggest update yet with iPhone 4. Despite its radical new design, most people had already seen it since one of Apple's employees accidentally left the prototype at a bar, and it was discovered by a local, then sold to a tech journalist who posted photos online. That's why Jobs said this during its introduction: "Now stop me if you've already seen this."

But what people hadn't seen were its new features, like the Retina display with four times more pixels, making images and text unbelievably sharp. The stainless steel frame featured an integrated antenna system, which went on to cause problems for customers who experienced dropped calls when covering the antenna with their hand. A user actually emailed Steve Jobs about the issue, and he famously replied, "Just avoid holding it in that way."

As calls for a recall over this antenna issue grew, Apple held a press conference defending themselves, where they offered free cases for all iPhone 4 users. Despite these issues, the model featured crucial additions like a front camera, FaceTime, LED flash, and Apple's first custom-designed chip called A4. It quickly became the most popular iPhone ever, selling 50 million units in one year.

In 2011, Apple released a minor iPhone upgrade with the 4S. Its biggest selling point was a technology originally developed by a company called Siri Inc., which was a spin-off from the Stanford Research Institute. Siri was initially available as a third-party app in early 2010, but by April, Apple acquired Siri Inc. and integrated the feature into iPhone 4S. It was the first virtual AI assistant of its kind on a smartphone, understanding the context of a user's command and responding appropriately.

But other than a new A5 chip, higher quality camera lens, and improved antenna system, there wasn't anything else new with iPhone 4S. But iPhone 4 had already been such a major release that customers were still clamoring for the device. In total, over 60 million units were sold, outselling even the previous iPhone 4.

But in 2012, Apple revealed a dramatic upgrade with iPhone 5. It had a completely different design with a glass and aluminum back plate, reflective diamond chamfer edges, and for the first time ever, a larger display. Android phones had been adopting much bigger screens during this time, and this put pressure on Apple to do the same. But they didn't want to lose the ability to use iPhone one-handed, so they kept the same width of iPhone 4 but made iPhone 5 taller, allowing an extra row of icons to be displayed on the home screen.

They even made an ad showing a thumb reaching every corner of the display. This gave users more screen real estate without making it difficult to use one-handed. In fact, even though the display was larger, the overall size of the device was 12% smaller by volume, mainly because it was 18% thinner than iPhone 4S. The aluminum back also helped it become 20% lighter.

But there were internal improvements too. iPhone 5 supported 4G LTE, which reached speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, faster than most users' home Wi-Fi. The front camera was upgraded to capture 720p HD video, and panorama mode was introduced. But the last change was its most controversial: Apple replaced the 30-pin iPod connector that had been on every iPhone with the lightning connector, which was proprietary and offered few benefits other than being reversible.

This frustrated customers since they could no longer use their existing accessories, charging cables, and adapters. Despite this, iPhone 5 went on to sell 70 million units. By 2013, customers had gotten used to Apple's release pattern, and they were expecting an iPhone 5S rather than an iPhone 6. But what surprised them was a second model of iPhone introduced alongside the 5S called the 5C.

It was the first time Apple released two new models simultaneously, and each was aimed at a different market. The 5S was Apple's typical top-of-the-line smartphone, and its main feature was a fingerprint reader called Touch ID, allowing users to use a finger to unlock their device and make App Store purchases instead of typing a password. It also had two LEDs for flash and slow-motion video, plus a new motion co-processor that tracked activities like walking, running, or cycling while using very little battery.

But more interestingly was Apple's new strategy with iPhone 5C. It was a lower-cost alternative to the flagship 5S, targeting the more budget-conscious market whose customers typically chose Android over iOS due to affordability. The 5C itself was essentially the previous iPhone 5 in a colorful plastic instead of metal. It even had the previous generation A6 chip, so customers assumed it would be substantially less expensive than the 5S.

At first glance, it was priced at $99, half the cost of the 5S. But this was at a time when iPhones were still being subsidized by phone carriers and therefore locked into a 2-year contract. The true price of the 5C with no contract was $549, while the 5S was $649, a difference that's much less significant considering spending just $100 more would get you the latest technology with a premium design. Most customers chose the 5S over the 5C.

This caught Apple by surprise, and while they never released specific sales numbers, analysts estimated 24 million 5C units were sold compared to 52 million for the 5S. In total, the combined sales of iPhone 5S and 5C hardly broke the previous year. iPhone sales had slowed dramatically year-over-year, and many blamed it on Apple's refusal to compete with Android on screen size.

The display on the Samsung Galaxy 4 was 5 in, the HTC One measured in at 4.7 in, the Google Nexus 5 was 4.95 in, and the LG G2 was 5.2 in. These made iPhone's 4 in display look tiny in comparison. So in 2014, Apple made a statement by introducing iPhone 6 and 6 Plus with the biggest displays yet. Not only was this the first time we saw an iPhone with a screen larger than 4.4 in, but it was the first time we saw Apple introduce two flagship models: the 6 with a 4.7 in display and the 6 Plus with a 5.5 in display.

This meant the devices would be nearly impossible to use one-handed, a design goal that was important to Apple. So they implemented a software solution called reachability, where double-tapping the home button would slide the display content down, putting it in reach of your thumb. But these models did more than add larger displays; they featured higher resolution panels with improved contrast ratio and color accuracy, and a design that would be the thinnest ever, even today, at just 6.9 mm.

Because the devices themselves were larger, they could fit bigger batteries, which delivered four more hours of talk time and two more hours of internet usage. An NFC chip was added to enable wireless payments with Apple Pay, and for the first time ever, users could navigate the home screen in landscape mode. The iPhone 6 started at the same $649 unlocked price as before, while the 6 Plus set a new high of $749.

After these devices hit the market, some users began posting online that their iPhones had bent, usually after putting it in their front or back pockets. The reports showed visibly warped iPhones, particularly around the volume buttons where the aluminum frame was thinner. The issue quickly gained traction on social media, with #BendGate trending on Twitter.

The drama escalated when popular YouTube channel Unbox Therapy posted a video titled "iPhone 6 Plus Bend Test." It went viral, garnering millions of views and fueling the controversy. Apple eventually issued a statement claiming the bending issue was extremely rare and that only nine customers had formally reported a bent iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. They invited third-party labs to test the product's robustness, and that's exactly what Consumer Reports did.

They used a three-point flexural test in which devices were placed horizontally with two points of contact supporting the phone on each end. Then force was applied in the center to simulate bending. They tested several smartphones, and the results were interesting since the most bendable phone was the HTC One, although the 6 and 6 Plus were weaker than average. So Apple focused their efforts on strengthening their phone's chassis.

In 2015, when they released iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, these devices featured 7000 series aluminum, a new alloy that was 60% stronger than before, easing concerns about accidental bending. The 6S and 6S Plus also introduced a completely new way to interact with iPhone called 3D Touch. This technology added pressure sensitivity to the display, letting users preview content before opening it and access app shortcuts from the home screen.

Third-party developers actually discovered a way to use the display as a digital scale, but Apple eventually disabled this capability since it was used for illicit purposes. Its front camera was upgraded to 5 megapixels, and Retina Flash was introduced, improving low-light selfies. Touch ID became twice as fast at recognizing fingerprints, and users could say "Hey Siri" to summon the assistant hands-free.

Since 3D Touch was the 6S's headlining feature, Apple created custom tables in their stores to demonstrate it, with a display running across the surface and iPhone 6S units on top. Visitors could press on the iPhone screen to create a ripple effect that extended out onto the table. It was an interesting way to demonstrate the feature, but many people wondered, "What's the point?" This turned into a persistent issue for 3D Touch.

Apple sold over 200 million combined units of the 6S and 6S Plus, but usage of 3D Touch remained relatively low. Third-party developers were slow to support the feature, and many users didn't even realize the capability existed. Six months after iPhone 6S, Apple released their second attempt at a low-cost iPhone, the SE, which corrected many of the mistakes Apple made with the 5C.

It had the latest A9 chip, a premium metal design, Touch ID, and the same 2 GB of RAM as the flagship 6S and 6S Plus, all for almost half the price at $399. This was the affordable budget iPhone customers had been waiting for, and its sales numbers reflected that. Despite being released in the middle of iPhone's update cycle, Apple sold an estimated 30 million SE units, beating market expectations and helping the company break into emerging markets like India and China, where the average amount spent on smartphones was $250 to $300.

With the low-cost market satisfied, anticipation built for the upcoming iPhone 7, 7 Plus, and 7 Plus. Many customers were expecting a major update but were disappointed when iPhone 7 was revealed near the end of 2016. It had virtually the same design as iPhone 6S, which was unchanged from iPhone 6. There was a new glossy jet black color, and the antenna lines had been rearranged, but that was it.

Its new features weren't convincing enough to make iPhone 7 a must-have device. It had a solid-state home button that no longer clicked; instead, a new haptic engine vibrated to simulate a press. This allowed users to customize how much pressure was needed to register a button click. It also had improved cameras, stereo speakers, a brighter display, and improved water and dust resistance.

But all this came at a cost because starting with iPhone 7 is when Apple removed the headphone jack. It was a very controversial decision. Not only did this make charging iPhone while using wired headphones impossible, but it meant using an adapter to connect non-Lightning headphones, something that was inconvenient to carry around and easy to lose.

But Apple made matters worse first by introducing AirPods immediately after removing the headphone jack, giving people the impression that Apple created a problem just to sell the solution: a $159 pair of wireless headphones. Second, their justification for removing the headphone jack was, to put it mildly, underwhelming. Just watch Phil Schiller explain: "Well, the reason to move on, I'm going to give you three of them, but it really comes down to one word: courage. The courage to move on, do something new that betters all of us, and our team has tremendous courage."

Now, he does go on to give one good reason: that internal space comes at a premium, and the headphone jack took up too much of it. But the third reason he gives is that Apple wants to deliver a better audio experience with AirPods. Despite the backlash, they were estimated to have sold over 210 million iPhone 7 units.

But the major update everyone wanted would arrive in 2017. This was a year when Apple did a few things differently with iPhone. First, they introduced two completely different models: iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, and iPhone X. Next, they skipped a number for the first time, with no iPhone 9 ever existing. Finally, they dramatically increased their flagship iPhone's price.

The 8 and 8 Plus were like the 7, a bit disappointing. Their design changed slightly with a glass back to accommodate wireless charging, but everything else looked the same, and there wasn't much else new aside from faster charging, slightly louder speakers, and a True Tone display. Despite this, its price increased from $649 to $699.

The real update came with iPhone X, which represented the biggest change in the product's history. Apple used stainless steel instead of aluminum, removed the home button, removed the top and bottom bezels, and added a notch, allowing for the biggest iPhone display ever at 5.8 in on a device almost as small as iPhone 8 Plus. That display was OLED, delivering pure blacks in a 1 million to 1 contrast ratio.

It also introduced swipe navigation to access the home screen and app switcher, which made the experience faster and more fluid. The purpose for the notch was not just to house the front camera but a new TrueDepth camera system that included an infrared camera, flood illuminator, and dot projector to accurately scan the user's face. That way, instead of using their fingerprint for authentication, their face could be used instead.

This made unlocking iPhone X effortless since it no longer required you to rest your thumb on a home button; just a glance at the screen unlocked the device. With so many major new features, Apple had an opportunity to charge a major new price of $1,000. iPhone X was the most expensive phone Apple had ever made, and that was for 64 GB of storage. The model with 256 GB cost $1,149, more than a MacBook Air.

This, along with the notch, caused the most backlash of any iPhone release ever. There were countless YouTube videos criticizing the price and calling it the ugliest iPhone Apple made, claiming they only included the notch to give iPhone X a recognizable appearance because if it had no notch, it would look like every other Android device on the market. Most of these videos were baseless, but there was legitimate concern over iPhone's dramatic price increase, jumping from $649 in 2016 to almost $1,000 in 2017.

Sure, iPhone X was the most premium device Apple had ever made, but were customers willing to pay 50% more for it? Well, the short answer was yes because Apple sold an estimated 63 million iPhone X units, making it one of their bestselling models ever despite its high price. So Apple built upon this success in 2018 with iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max.

They all featured the same design pioneered by iPhone X, with large edge-to-edge displays, a notch, and swipe navigation, although the XR had a lower-cost aluminum chassis, LCD display, and slightly thicker borders. But it came in six different colors, something Apple hadn't done since iPhone 5C. Despite the XR's slightly higher $749 price compared to iPhone 8, Apple sold an estimated 77 million units, making it the bestselling smartphone of 2019.

The XS and XS Max were largely unchanged compared to iPhone X, except for some small camera enhancements, slightly increased battery life, and a new chip. The star of the show was the XS Max, which had the biggest display ever at 6.5 in and the highest price ever at $1,100. In 2019, Apple introduced a new naming system with iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max.

This decision itself was controversial since people thought the term "Pro" should only be used for professional-grade products like the MacBook Pro or Mac Pro. To them, there was nothing professional about an iPhone. But Apple disagreed. With the A13 Bionic chip, 11 Pro had a faster CPU than an Intel Core i7, a processor used in several top-of-the-line PCs.

Its camera system was also upgraded with an ultra-wide lens, delivering a four times optical zoom range, while Deep Fusion utilized a new machine learning technique for photo processing that produced images on par with professional camera lenses. For Apple, this was enough to give it the Pro name, while the iPhone 11 was updated with new colors, a wide-angle lens, a higher quality selfie camera, and a lower $699 startup price.

All these models also had improved battery life. The 11 Pros lasted 4 hours longer than the XS, while the 11 lasted 1 hour longer than the XR. But all these models were missing a feature introduced with the 6S: 3D Touch. Instead, Apple replaced it with Haptic Touch, which provided a similar experience by holding down on the display, which would trigger the same app shortcuts and content previews as before.

In spring 2020, Apple updated their successful low-cost iPhone SE. It kept the same $399 price while receiving a larger 4.7 in display, improved selfie camera, larger battery, wireless charging, a True Tone display, and the latest A13 Bionic chip. Later that fall, Apple introduced four new flagship iPhone models, the largest lineup ever, with iPhone 12 mini, 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max.

This was the first generation to include MagSafe and 5G, which Tim Cook wasn't afraid to mention: "Today we're bringing 5G to iPhone! 5G! 5G! 5G! 5G! 5G! 5G!" This was also the first time Apple made a mini iPhone, caving to pressure from users who complained mostly online about iPhones growing larger with each passing year, making them less portable and less comfortable to hold.

The 12 mini delivered a fairly large 5.4 in display in a chassis almost as small as an iPhone 5. While communities online embraced its small size, customers in the real world didn't. Its sales performance fell below Apple's expectations. They cut production of the 12 mini at the beginning of 2021 and ended production altogether by June, all while the 12 and 12 Pro models saw success.

By fall 2021, very few people expected Apple to release an updated 13 mini since the previous model had sold poorly, but they released one regardless and addressed many of the issues customers had with the previous model by increasing battery life and giving it more storage. But again, sales were disappointing, with customers opting for models with larger displays, and with 120 Hz ProMotion on the 13 Pro models, there was even more incentive for customers to abandon the 13 mini.

In 2022, Apple updated the iPhone SE once again, giving it 5G, two more hours of battery life, more range, and a higher $429 price. While in the fall, the 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro, and 14 Pro Max marked a new lineup strategy. Apple had officially discontinued the mini in favor of larger models with displays ranging from 6.1 to 6.7 in.

The Pro models no longer had a notch, being replaced by the Dynamic Island, which would grow and shrink to accommodate app multitasking features, while its always-on display meant users could see lock screen information without ever waking the device. The Pro models also featured a 48-megapixel camera lens for the first time.

In 2023, iPhone 15 and 15 Plus were updated with the same Dynamic Island and 48-megapixel camera lens as the 14 Pro models in 2022, while the entire lineup switched from the Lightning connector to USB-C, a move Apple made reluctantly due to a new law in the EU. The 15 Pro models were made from titanium instead of stainless steel, which made them lighter, and a new action button let users quickly access the flashlight, camera, translation app, and more.

While the 15 Pro Max had a special tetraprism lens capable of five times optical zoom. Finally, iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max all support a host of new AI features powered by Apple Intelligence and feature a new camera control button, which lets users quickly open the camera and adjust various controls with just a swipe.

All models have longer battery life, feature the action button, and can capture spatial video, which can be viewed in 3D on Apple Vision Pro. The 16 Pro models are capable of recording 120 frames per second slow-motion video in 4K resolution, and they have a new four-microphone array to capture studio-quality audio. Their displays are larger at 6.3 and 6.9 in, with even thinner borders, and a new 48-megapixel wide-angle lens means more detail in macro shots.

So that is the history of the iPhone. This is Greg with Apple Explained. Thanks for watching till the end, and I'll see you in the next video.