Apple iPhone: The Gadget That Rewired Modern Life

The iPhone needs no introduction – yet it deserves a proper one. In 2007, Steve Jobs pulled a small, glossy rectangle from his pocket and casually rewired modern life. Today, an entire generation has come of age without memory of a world before everyone carried either an iPhone or an Android phone on its hands. But what kind of a world was it, then?

It was a world of gadgets. People commuted with tangled earbuds connected to dedicated music players. Nights out were documented with pocket-sized digital cameras. Some toted a Palm Pilot, or the younger ones, a Nintendo DS. And, of course, there was the cell phone: the most mainstream of all devices, but still a utilitarian object that focused solely on communication, with tiny screens and physical keypads.

Smartphones existed – clunky, stylus-driven bricks running Windows Mobile or Palm OS – but they were the domain of businesspeople and tech diehards. BlackBerry reigned for a time, with its full QWERTY keyboard and modern texting capabilities, it was the smartphone we knew and came to love before Apple’s revolution.

Then came the iPhone.

The iTunes Phone?

By 2005, Apple had once again become a cultural juggernaut, dominating the portable music market with the iPod and its infamous click wheel interface. That same year, Steve Jobs took the stage at a special event to unveil the Motorola Rokr E1 – the first phone to run iTunes.

It was a disaster.

Limited to 100 songs and devoid of Apple’s design DNA, the Rokr was the anti-iPod. When Jobs failed to resume a song after a phone call during the demo, the writing was on the wall.

Click on the video above to watch Steve Jobs’ presentation. Also how we loses patience when the demo doesn’t go exactly as planned towards the end.

This “new” phone was just a rebranded Motorola E398. It didn’t have a scroll wheel, didn’t support USB 2.0, and was limited to storing 100 songs, as Apple didn’t want to make the iPod redundant. At the same event, Jobs presented the flash-based iPod Nano, replacing the affordable iPod Mini and overshadowing the Motorola phone.

Inside Apple, Project Purple had already begun. Two teams raced: one tried to graft phone functionality onto an iPod (yes, using the scroll wheel as a rotary dial). The other, led by Scott Forstall, imagined something radically different – a touchscreen device running a pared-down version of Mac OS X.

“Project Purple” was so secretive that engineers working on it told family and friends they were working on the next Mac. Apple created a locked-down floor at its headquarters, plastered with “Fight Club” rules like: “First rule of Project Purple: you do not talk about Project Purple.” New hires often had no idea what the project was until they were fully onboarded.

Even then, Apple wasn’t sure what it was making.

A supercharged iPod? A pocketable Mac? What they built was both, and neither. In early 2005, Apple quietly acquired FingerWorks, a small company specializing in touch-sensitive keyboards and trackpads with multitouch support. At first, the technology was tested in prototypes for a tablet computer. But as work progressed, the phone project quickly took precedence. Within six months, even Team P1 – the group still clinging to the scroll-wheel-as-dialer concept – admitted multitouch was the future.

Jobs famously loathed styluses. Early prototypes of the iPhone actually used them, but Jobs insisted the perfect pointing device was the human finger. His iconic line from the keynote – “Who wants a stylus? You have to get ’em, put ’em away, you lose ’em. Yuck!” – became a rallying cry.

Choosing how users would interact with the device was only the beginning. Even after multitouch won out, Apple’s leadership remained divided on what the iPhone should be. Some envisioned it as an accessory – an iPod that could make calls – running a stripped-down version of Linux. Others argued it should be a full-fledged handheld computer powered by a modified version of Mac OS X.

Once OS X was successfully ported to the ARM architecture and paired with a custom-built user interface, the debate was over. The iPhone would not be a mere accessory. It would be a computing platform.

But building a phone came with complications that Apple had never faced. Before the iPhone, cellular carriers like Verizon and Sprint dictated much of a phone’s design, marketing, and software updates – conditions Steve Jobs found unacceptable. Negotiations began with Cingular Wireless. In a deal that defied industry norms, Jobs secured Apple full control over the iPhone’s hardware and software in exchange for four years of U.S. exclusivity.

Weeks before the iPhone’s unveiling, Cingular was acquired by AT&T. The baton had been passed – but the terms remained intact.

An iPod, a Phone, an Internet Communicator

In January 2007, Steve Jobs stepped onto the Macworld stage and announced that Apple was unveiling “an iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator.” He repeated the line until the audience caught on – these weren’t three separate products. They were one and the same.

At a time when most smartphones sported cramped QWERTY keyboards and a maze of physical buttons, the iPhone presented a radically clean design: a single Home button and a 3.5-inch touchscreen. Its display boasted twice the resolution (480 x 320) of most rivals, yet remained small enough for a thumb to navigate edge to edge – no pinky support required. It used the familiar 30-pin iPod connector for charging and syncing.

Near the end of the keynote, Jobs coolly demonstrated what had eluded Apple during the Rokr debacle two years earlier. He answered a call, emailed a photo, browsed the web – and seamlessly resumed his music.

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at Macworld 2007, what the public didn’t know was that the prototype was incredibly fragile. Engineers called the device used in the demo the “Golden Path” phone – it could perform a precise sequence of tasks (call, email, Safari, etc.) but was prone to crashing or freezing outside that path. If Jobs had deviated even slightly, the iPhone might have failed in front of millions. The team even boosted the radio power behind the scenes to prevent dropped calls during the demo.

The original iPhone launched with a 4GB model priced at $499 (roughly $800 today), with an 8GB version for $100 more. Critics quickly noted its biggest shortcoming: no support for 3G networks, which made internet use sluggish without Wi-Fi.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer famously dismissed the iPhone as irrelevant to the business world: “That is the most expensive phone in the world, and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine.” In hindsight, his words were less wrong than revealing – he failed to grasp that the iPhone wasn’t courting enterprise users. It was courting everyone else.

Yet even as public anticipation swelled, Jobs wasn’t fully satisfied. The very first iPhone prototypes used plastic screens, which was standard at the time. Jobs carried one around to test it – and within days, it got scratched by the keys in his pocket. Furious, he insisted the screen be made of glass.

Apple’s engineers initially thought this was impossible. But Jobs reached out to Corning, which had developed a chemically strengthened glass called Gorilla Glass back in the 1960s but had never commercialized it. The company retooled a Kentucky factory to meet Apple’s needs, and in June 2007, the first iPhones shipped – gleaming, glass-fronted, and ready to disrupt.

Also, during the development of the first iPhone, Jobs had a specific demand regarding battery life: the iPhone had to have at least 5 hours of real-world battery life for calls, video, and web browsing. Early prototypes barely managed three hours. Panic ensued. The solution wasn’t just better batteries – it was a complete overhaul of the Safari web browser.

The web team, led by Don Melton, realized that rendering full desktop websites was draining the battery far too quickly. So they developed advanced power-saving techniques like pausing animations, reducing refresh rates, and lowering JavaScript execution frequency when Safari wasn’t actively in use. These weren’t just software tricks – they became foundational to iOS’s energy management philosophy for years.

The Best iPod Ever

When the iPhone finally hit shelves in June 2007, customers waited for hours – sometimes days – outside Apple and AT&T stores. In its first weekend, Apple sold 270,000 units. Yet after the initial frenzy, sales reportedly slowed.

Apple seemed to anticipate a potential ceiling: for some, the “phone” part of the iPhone might be a dealbreaker. So, that September, the company introduced the iPod Touch. It was, essentially, an iPhone without the cellular modem, speaker, or camera – making it thinner and cheaper.

The 8GB model retailed for $299, with a 16GB version at $399. It became a runaway success, offering the touchscreen revolution to those who didn’t want – or couldn’t yet justify – an iPhone. Competitors took notice. Microsoft launched the Zune HD in response, but the iPod Touch held its ground. By 2013, Apple had sold over 100 million of them.

At the same time, Apple discontinued the unpopular 4GB iPhone and dropped the price of the 8GB model to $399 – just $100 more than the iPod Touch. Early adopters who had paid full price were offered $100 in store credit, soothing any resentment. Days later, Apple proudly announced it had sold its one-millionth iPhone.

Initially, Jobs resisted opening the iPhone to third-party apps. He encouraged developers to create interactive websites. Obviously, these “web apps” would be more complicated to enter than native apps and offered no offline functionality. By the end of that year, Jobs had reversed course, announcing that an official developer kit – and a full App Store – would arrive in 2008.

Another anecdote of the early iOS days had some designers proposing that the iPhone dock (the row of icons at the bottom) could hold five or more icons. Jobs was a stickler for visual simplicity and he insisted on four – no more. He thought five icons felt crowded and broke the clean aesthetic. That’s why, to this day, the iPhone’s default dock only displays four apps (though users can change it now).

The iPhone expanded overseas for the 2007 holiday season, launching in Britain, France, and Germany. Sales were modest; European users had already embraced faster 3G networks, which the first iPhone lacked. Even so, by January 2008, Apple had sold four million units. Within a year, that number would hit six million.

Enemy of My Enemy

Apple launched the iPhone 3G in July 2008: a sleeker, faster model with GPS and support for high-speed mobile data. Even more significant was the simultaneous release of iPhone OS 2 and the App Store, which opened the floodgates to a new generation of mobile software.

The response was explosive. The iPhone 3G sold one million units in its first three days. By that quarter’s end, it had dethroned the Motorola Razr V3 as America’s best-selling phone.

But Apple didn’t yet have the market to itself. The iPhone was overtaken in the US by the BlackBerry Curve in 2009. For many the physical keyboard remained a desirable feature and BlackBerry Messenger service kept it popular among both business users and teens.

That same year, Apple released the iPhone 3GS, boasting faster internals and the ability to record video – but BlackBerry was still holding on.

Meanwhile, another contender was rising.

Android had been quietly in development for years, first as a startup and later as part of Google. However until about 2006, Android resembled BlackBerry OS, with a focus on hardware keyboards and small screens. But once the iPhone debuted, Android pivoted sharply toward a touchscreen-centric design. Jobs viewed Android as an existential threat – but in reality, it became a catalyst for the modern smartphone boom and the full development of app ecosystems.

HTC Desire, Nexus One, Desire Z and Desire HD – Image credit: leo341500

The Motorola Droid became the first Android phone to gain serious traction, thanks in part to its slide-out keyboard, in 2009. By the following year, devices like the HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy S had embraced full touchscreen designs and looked a lot like the iPhone.

A new generation of mobile gaming emerged alongside them. Titles like Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Cut the Rope helped establish smartphones as the preferred platform for casual gamers.

The iPhone Grows Up

A bar near Apple’s headquarters became the unlikely setting for one of Silicon Valley’s most famous leaks. In 2010, an Apple software engineer accidentally left a prototype iPhone at his table. The man who found it, failing to locate the owner, took it home. Peeling off its disguised case, he quickly realized this was no ordinary phone.

Unable – or perhaps unwilling – to return it, he sold the device to Gizmodo for $5,000. When the publication revealed the prototype’s secrets, Apple demanded its return. Soon after, police raided the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, confiscating several computers in a move that ignited debates about press freedom and overreach. No charges were filed as the legality of the search was questionable, but a precedent had been set: the iPhone was now a cultural artifact, not just a gadget.

That summer, Apple unveiled the iPhone 4 – the last model introduced by Steve Jobs. It wasn’t just an upgrade; it was a statement.

The iPhone 4 featured Apple’s first in-house chip, the A4 SoC that had previously debuted in the original iPad. The display had four times the resolution of its predecessor: 960 by 640 pixels. For the first time, the iPhone had a front-facing camera and with it came FaceTime. Yet the real beneficiary wasn’t Apple’s video-calling app. It was a little photo-sharing startup called Instagram.

Visually, the iPhone 4 marked a dramatic departure. Thinner, flatter, and sheathed in glass and steel. Its antennas were ingeniously integrated into the metal frame – a design choice that led to an unexpected flaw. Holding the phone a certain way could disrupt the signal.

In a rare concession pushed by the bad press, Apple was forced to address “Antennagate,” offering a free case or a refund for Apple’s $29 Bumper case to everyone who purchased the iPhone 4 in the first few months. The suit was settled two years later, with Apple agreeing to pay $15 or provide a case to everyone who purchased the phone.

How I Met Your Mother – Before the Smartphone

More changes followed with the reveal of the iPhone 4s, which introduced Siri as a built-in assistant on October 2011. The rebranded iOS 5 brought iCloud, iMessage, and Notification Center to millions of users. The very next day, Steve Jobs passed away. The iPhone 4s became not just a product, but a memorial – and a triumph. Four million units sold in its first three days.

Bigger, Bolder… and Controversial as Usual

The iPhone 5 debuted a taller, 4-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, perfect for widescreen video and games. Despite the larger screen, it was lighter than the iPhone 4s, thanks in part to the new, compact Lightning connector, which replaced the aging 30-pin dock.

However, the shift toward larger smartphones was already underway before the iPhone 5 launch in September 2012. Many Android flagships had already crossed the 4.3 to 4.7-inch range, and the Galaxy Note had broken new ground with its 5.3-inch screen, introducing the “phablet” category. Apple was merely joining the trend its own way.

The iPhone 5s, launched a year later, introduced Touch ID – a fingerprint sensor built into the Home button – and the first 64-bit processor ever seen in a smartphone. Instead of continuing to sell the iPhone 5 at a discount (Apple’s usual practice), the company introduced the iPhone 5c: essentially the same internals in a polycarbonate shell, available in bright colors.

But competitors weren’t standing still. Android manufacturers were releasing phones with 5-inch full HD displays, making the iPhone’s screen feel cramped by comparison. Sales remained strong, but the pace of growth was slowing. Apple needed a bigger move.

In late 2014, Apple made it. The company released not one but two new models: the iPhone 6, with a 4.7-inch screen, and the iPhone 6 Plus, stretching to 5.5 inches. The iPhone 6 was the thinnest iPhone ever at just 6.9mm. The gamble paid off. In 2015, Apple sold a record 231 million iPhones.

The iPhone 5s was discontinued in early 2016 in favor of the iPhone SE, which offered the same form factor with the internals of the iPhone 6s.

Then came controversy.

The iPhone 7 was unveiled in 2016, and with it, the end of the headphone jack. The explanation – that it freed up space and improved water resistance – rang hollow to some. Critics accused Apple of forcing consumers toward its new AirPods wireless earbuds. Whether out of frustration or inevitability, rivals soon followed. The headphone jack became another relic of the pre-iPhone era.

X Marks the Destination

Apple released the high-end iPhone X in 2017, redefining various aspects of smartphones, including a new $999 base flagship price that other makers would happily try to follow. The iPhone 8 also made its debut, but everyone’s attention was on the X. It eliminated the Home button entirely, introduced Face ID, and debuted the infamous notch.

In 2018, Apple became the world’s first trillion-dollar company. It was a milestone not just for Apple, but for the smartphone itself – no longer a gadget, but the central hub of modern life. The iPhone’s dominance no longer needed to be measured in units sold.

The design sparked immediate debate but quickly became the new industry template. A year later, the more affordable iPhone XR brought the look to the masses, while the iPhone XS and XS Max catered to the premium market.

That same year, Apple became the world’s first trillion-dollar company. It was a milestone not just for Apple, but for the smartphone itself – no longer a gadget, but the central hub of modern life. Quietly, Apple also stopped reporting iPhone sales numbers. The iPhone’s dominance no longer needed to be measured in units sold.

Yet by the time the iPhone X launched, observers started to question whether Apple’s innovation ethos had shifted. What began as a company obsessed with design purity and user-centric breakthroughs was becoming something different: a walled garden meticulously engineered not just for simplicity and privacy – but for revenue.

Critics argue that Apple’s ecosystem is purposely designed to keep customers locked into its hardware, services, and the App Store’s tight profit-sharing model. Still, millions continued to embrace each new iPhone. If the early years were about disruption, the later years became about refinement – and maintaining Apple’s status not just as a design leader, but as one of the most profitable companies in history.

Later on, with the following iPhone release, the current naming scheme solidified with the iPhone 11 series, introducing the Pro and Pro Max tiers.

A second-generation iPhone SE followed, combining the iPhone 8’s familiar design with the internals of the iPhone 11. The iPhone 12 and 13 briefly flirted with smaller devices, offering a “Mini” version. By the iPhone 14 series, however, consumer preference for larger screens led to the introduction of the Plus model for non-Pro devices. In 2023, the iPhone 15 series marked another major transition: the iconic Lightning connector was replaced by USB-C, complying with European Union regulations.

By early 2025, both the Home button and the Lightning port were officially retired as Apple discontinued the iPhone 14 and the third-generation SE, making way for the iPhone 16e.

The Shape of What’s Next

So, what’s next for phones? Some predict they will fade into the background, replaced by some form of augmented reality device. Others imagine phones shrinking back to early iPhone proportions, their screens becoming portals to wearable tech ecosystems.

One thing is certain: whatever shape the future takes, the iPhone’s cultural influence will outlast the device itself. The smartphone revolution led by the iPhone didn’t just consolidate our gadgets; it connected our lives.

From the beginning, the iPhone wasn’t just about convenience. Before it arrived, most single-purpose gadgets – music players, cameras, GPS units – required syncing to a computer, the so-called “digital hub.” Buying songs on iTunes or uploading photos to Flickr often meant waiting until you got home.

The iPhone made everything immediate. It turned everyday moments into shareable stories, shrank distances between loved ones, and gave millions a creative canvas right in their pocket.

For those who carried one in the late 2000s, it felt like holding magic. Compared to users still clutching “feature phones,” iPhone owners seemed to possess near-supernatural abilities. Yet with that power came a new kind of dependency. The iPhone was not just empowering – it was engrossing, sometimes overwhelmingly so. By 2008, psychologists coined a term for the unease people felt when separated from their device: nomophobia – the fear of being without a mobile phone. It was a harbinger of a society where constant connection became both a blessing and a burden.

The iPhone wasn’t the last device to change the world. Just the first to fit in your pocket.