Within the first 30 minutes of Apple's Macworld 2007 keynote in early January, Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone. However, an hour later, the tech press and enthusiastic fans learned that they would have to wait until June to get their hands on it. Fifteen years ago today that wait was over.
With June 29, 2007 marking a milestone in the history of not just smartphones, but consumer technology in general, we thought it would be fun to see how this new phone has become the most established smartphone on the planet. , serving up a handful of facts from the history of the iPhone's 15-year existence.
The iPhone did not meet its first sales target
When the iPhone launched in 2007, Jobs said the company aimed to sell 10 million units, or 1% of the mobile phone market at the time. Despite a successful launch on time and generally positive reviews (according to Statista (opens in a new tab)), the original iPhone only sold 1,39 million units in 2007 and a total of 6,2 million phones before being released. discontinued in July 2008.
Apple did not own the "iPhone" trademark at launch
Apple was reportedly in talks with networking giant Cisco for years before the iPhone was unveiled in a bid to secure rights to the brand. Cisco took ownership of the iPhone name when it acquired a company called InfoGear in 2000, which in turn trademarked the "iPhone" name in 1996 (as reported by CNBC (opens in a new tab)).
According to TheComparison's US editor, Lance Ulanoff, at that time speculation began to form (*15*) about the possible alternatives that Apple might have to accept if an agreement with Cisco could not be reached. Hints like "Apple Phone" and even "Steve Phone" have apparently been discussed; however, Apple and Cisco settled their dispute in late February 2007, just four months before the iPhone was released.
iPhone didn't start with App Store or selfie camera
While the idea of having an iPhone without the App Store is unthinkable these days, this is exactly how the original device came to market. It wasn't until July 10, 2008 that the App Store launched, at which point it only offered 500 apps.
There are 1,96 million apps on the App Store today (according to Statista (Opens in a new tab)) and that's after Apple removed all 32-bit apps that are no longer compatible with iOS.
Other notable iPhone staples have also been slow to materialize: The iPhone 4 was the first in the line to house a front-facing camera; Siri only arrived in 2011, as part of iOS 5 on the iPhone; and the iPhone's signature Lightning port didn't replace the 30-pin connector, popularized by the iPod, until 5's iPhone 2012.
The iPhone 13 is up to 3,2 times more expensive than the original iPhone but at least 53 times more powerful
The original iPhone, with its 4GB of storage, costs $499 on a two-year plan from AT&T, in the US (the 8GB model is $599), while the current iPhone 13 lineup ranges from €699 and €1,599, that's for the base 128GB iPhone. 13 Mini and higher-end 13TB iPhone 1 Pro Max, respectively. As prices go up, that's not too bad, especially considering how far features and performance have come.
Speaking of performance, damn Moore's Law; According to figures from GadgetVersus, the A15 Bionic chipset in the iPhone 13 lineup is around 53 times more powerful in single-core comparisons, compared to the iPhone's unclocked ARM 1176JZ(F)-S v1.0 RISC SoC. Original iPhone and, naturally, the gains made to multi-core architecture further widen the chasm.
(*5*)Apple has shipped more than 2.800 billion iPhones to dateWhile Apple hasn't officially released global iPhone sales figures since November 2018, when the total was officially 2200 billion, multiple sources (compiled by Business of Apps (opens in a new tab)) correct units shipped to end of 2021. , with a total of 2.800 billion iPhones.
According to Counterpoint Research (opens in a new tab), Apple also currently owns 62% of the premium smartphone market and the top four spots for the most popular phones on the market (as of April 2022), globally.
What future for the iPhone?
While it's clear that Apple has made monumental strides in the iPhone's illustrious history thus far, it's also no secret that a successor is already waiting in the wings.
Our iPhone 14 hub has the latest updates (*15*) on the upcoming iPhone lineup, including leaks, rumors, and news.