Apple iPhone 10th anniversary

On January 9, 2007, Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco. It has subsequently sold over one billion units

Jobs demonstrates first iPhone

IPHONE ROOTS

Aug 2, 1993: Apple Newton MessagePad. Much-maligned for poor handwriting recognition. Later models improve it. Discontinued 1998

Sep 7, 2005: Motorola ROKR E1 mobile phone, includes Apple’s iTunes *
music software. Jobs unhappy with lack of control over handset design

Widescreen iPod with touch controls

Revolutionary mobile phone

Breakthrough internet communicator

How Steve Jobs introduced iPhone

Jun 29, 2007: iPhone (using 2G technology) goes on sale at 6:00pm in U.S. Apple stores, to huge public demand

Design overseen by Chief Design Officer, Jony Ive and his 15-strong
international team

iPhone was developed secretly with AT&T  (then Cingular) over
two-and-a-half years. Telecom giant has five-year U.S. sales
exclusivity deal with Apple. In return it pays tech firm $10
per month from every iPhone customer’s bill

Sep 10, 2007: iPhone sales surpass one million

Nov 12, 2007: iPhone lands on cover of Time magazine for “changing
phones forever”

Nov 2007: iPhone begins international roll out starting with UK, France and Germany

Jul 8, 2008: iPhone 3G goes on sale to even greater acclaim. Similar to first device but with GPS, 3G data and tri-band functionality added

App Store opens, allowing iPhone owners to buy/download applications.
Developers receive 70% share of app earnings

Jun 19, 2009: iPhone 3GS arrives, with “S” standing for “speed”. Other
improvements include higher resolution 3MP camera and video capability

Apr 3, 2010: iPad goes on sale, featuring 9.7in touchscreen

Jun 24, 2010: iPhone 4 hits retail with new high- resolution Retina Display and Facetime video chat using additional front- facing camera

Oct 5, 2011: Steve Jobs dies of pancreatic cancer. His last words are,
“Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow”

Oct 14, 2011: iPhone 4s delivers major internal upgrades and 8MP camera with 1080p video recording. iOS 5 introduces iCloud and iMessage

Sep 21, 2012: New Apple CEO Tim Cook oversees iPhone 5, with taller screen

May 16, 2013: App Store marks 50 billionth download. Customers are downloading more than 800 apps every second

Sep 20, 2013: iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c go on sale. Former includes major internal upgrades, latter offers cheap, colourful plastic chassis

Sep 19, 2014: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus arrive in stores, with bigger 4.7in and 5.5in displays respectively. They feature faster chips,
improved Wi-Fi, upgraded cameras and Apple Pay †

Apr 24, 2015: Apple Watch released

Sep 25, 2015: iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus go on sale. Upgrade improves hardware and introduces 3D Touch, which enables pressure-sensitive touch inputs

Mar 31, 2016: iPhone SE (Special Edition) squeezes workings of iPhone 6s into iPhone 5s form factor

Sep 16, 2016: iPhone 7/ iPhone 7 Plus released. Removes headphone jack,adds water resistance and 12MP camera

2017: iPhone 8 rumoured to be major departure. No Home Button,
with all-display front surface

IPHONE PRODUCTION CYCLE

Apple designs iPhone in Cupertino, California

Components sourced mostly in Asia and shipped to Foxconn (Zhengzhou, Shenzen) and Pegatron (Shanghai). Factory “cities” assemble millions of iPhones while Apple finalises iOS operating system in Cupertino

Zhengzhou CHN Shenzhen Shanghai Pacific Ocean USA Cupertino

Completed iPhones flown to global distribution centres – one FedEx Boeing 777 can carry 450,000 iPhones 

Apple announces new iPhone at media event, making them available to customers worldwide almost immediately

IPHONE GLOBAL SALES
250 million units
200
150
100
50
0
Total units: 1,033.7m

2007 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1.4 11.6 20.7 40.0 72.3 125.0 150.3 169.2 231.2 211.9

IPHONE HISTORICAL LINEUP
2007 2G
2008 3G 
2009 3GS
2010 4
2011 4s
2012 5
2013 5s
2013 5c
2014 6
2014 6 Plus
2015 6s
2015 6s Plus
2016 SE
2016 7
2016 7 Plus

*Reworking of Casady & Greene’s SoundJam software, bought by Apple and released as iTunes on Jan 9, 2001

†Mobile payment and digital wallet service

Sources: Apple, Lifewire, MacRumors, Time, Statista, Wikipedia, wire agencies

Pictures: AP, Apple, NASA/ESA, ConceptsiPhone