The History And Evolution of The iPhone

Even though we can’t give Apple’s iPhone credit for being the first telephone with a touch-screen or even for being the first smart cell phone – IBM’s Simon was the first in 1994 – the iPhone has undoubtedly played a significant role popularizing the technology. Ever since 2007, Apple has continually upgraded both its software and hardware, always trying to make the iPhone better.

How did Jobs come up with the idea?

We all know about the competition between Microsoft and Apple, and the first iPhone was created as a result of it. One of the employees at Microsoft told Steve Jobs about a plan to make a tablet computer which would use a stylus. Irritated by the idea, Jobs decided to create Apple’s version instead. In the process, the designers concluded that the device could become smaller, lastly becoming a smartphone. Apple finally released the iPhone in 2007 while putting aside the vision of making a tablet. The first tablet they did make was the iPad, and it was released in 2010.

Introducing applications and the App Store:

Before the introduction of smartphones, the idea that a phone could handle different tasks was almost science fiction. So much that Stephen Colbert made fun of it on one of his shows. He said that Apple could forget about him as a customer until he gets a free iPhone. However, we need to mention that on the first iPhone, you weren’t able to download new applications. Instead, you could only use the ones that had initially been installed on it. It contained a few apps such are Calendar, Safari, and Calculator. Then, in 2008, Apple managed to make a revolution by introducing the App Store. In the beginning, the App Store contained just 552 apps, but in 2013 they passed the one million mark.

Yearly upgrades:

Apple has been releasing one or more models yearly since the first model came out. As the iPhone developed through various edition, the developers improved the processor, expanded the phone’s storage and enlarged the screen. Besides, Apple is constantly releasing new versions of the operating systems that can work even on some of the older phone models. Some of the well-known features such as Siri and iCloud synchronization came with the system updates. Furthermore, Apple releases a couple of patches annually to repair various software bugs and patch security issues.

Display evolution:

The main difference between Android phones and iPhones is the screen size. Android smartphones have changed their screen size over the years, while the iPhone maintained their 3.5-inch screen until the release of iPhone 4s. Apple increased the screen size on iPhone 5, making it a 4-inch display, with the idea of adding another row of icons. This screen size was kept until the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were made available in 2014. The iPhone 6 comes  with a 4.7-inch display, and the iPhone 6 Plus has a large 5.5-inch screen, which makes it more of a tablet than a phone.