The world received on June 29, 2007 the 1st iPhone , which was a device similar to a pocket computer, with a touch screen, Wi-Fi, bluetooth and other tools. Although the concept was not born there, that was the product that started the popularization of the traditional — nowadays — smartphones.
Turning 14 years old this Tuesday (29), the cell phone line has become one of the most important names in the technology market. To recall a little of this history, TecMundo listed some curious facts and records broken by Apple products .
Influence
Even being accused of copying innovations and functions that were already in products from other companies, which is a fact, the iPhone changed the market. The first model, for example, shaped what is meant by a smartphone today.
Despite the variations, and more recently the return of folding models , cell phones are basically a touchscreen with buttons on the sides. Furthermore, the influence also exists in the bar with apps at the bottom, for example.
The very popularization of smartphones , which ceased to be luxury pieces to become absolutely essential, also happened in part because of the iPhone’s success. According to the GSMA consultancy, around 5.1 billion people worldwide used some type of cell phone in 2019.
Market value
In addition to the mobile sector, the iPhone has also changed the global economy. The product is primarily responsible for making Apple the most valuable brand in the world . From a mere supporting role, Apple became the first US company to be worth US$ 1 trillion. It broke its own record and is currently worth the “trickle” of more than $2 trillion (almost R$10 trillion at the current price).
To give you an idea, the value is greater than the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Brazil in 2020, which was R$7.4 billion.
active devices
Virtually every number involving Apple’s cell phone line is superlative. In addition to the company’s figures, which reach trillions, the number of devices circulating around the world is also high.
Despite not releasing the number officially, market analysts suggest that today around 1.5 billion devices of the iPhone line are active worldwide.
Antennagate
The iPhone’s 14-year story isn’t all positive things, however. A design issue with the iPhone 4, released in 2010, caused the device to fail to call, and users of the device complained that calls were missed or that the cell phone simply had no signal to call.
The case was called ” Antennagate ” by the international press and became a major headache for the brand, causing the then CEO, Steve Jobs , to interrupt his vacation to speak at a press conference on the subject.
The technical explanation for the problem is that holding the cell phone in a certain position made the antenna, installed inside the device, unable to receive the telephone signal. In Jobs’s explanation, although the problem is not unique to the iPhone, Apple ended up giving away free rubber cases to improve signal pickup.
Endurance Tests
Despite personal tastes and preferences, it’s impossible to deny the iPhone’s quality. There are several case reports of devices that continued to work after incredible endurance tests.
We at TecMundo reported, in 2018 and 2019 , cases of devices that fell from planes and simply continued to work.
The waters have also already tested the product’s capacity, in 2018 and more recently in April this year . On occasion, cell phone models were found after being submerged and simply functioning.
bizarre leak
As if the Antennagate problem wasn’t bad enough, the iPhone 4 was the target of a completely bizarre leak in 2010. The device had not yet been released when a person found a lost model on a table in a bar in the United States.
While Gizmodo had access to the cell phone and released a review, Engadget published photos of the new smartphone. After much discussion on the internet and even information that the product was fake, it was actually discovered that it was a prototype.
Years later, Brian Hogan, the young man who found the device lost on the bar table, published a text on Reddit talking about how much the situation gave him a headache, as Apple even involved the police in the case.
All iPhones released
In these 14 years of history, Apple has released 29 iPhone models, according to The iPhone Wiki . In other words, the giant launches approximately 2 devices a year, on average, since 2007. Check out the complete list of each smartphone ever launched with the Apple seal.
1. iPhone (2007)
2. iPhone 3G (2008)
3. iPhone 3GS (2009)
4. iPhone 4 (2010)
5. iPhone 4S (2011)
6. iPhone 5 (2012)
7. iPhone 5c (2013)
8. iPhone 5s (2013)
9. iPhone 6 (2014)
10. iPhone 6 Plus (2014)
11. iPhone 6s (2015)
12. iPhone 6s Plus (2015)
13. iPhone SE 1st Generation (2016)
14. iPhone 7 (2016)
15. iPhone 7 Plus (2016)
16. iPhone 8 (2017)
17. iPhone 8 Plus (2017)
18. iPhone X (2017)
19. iPhone XR (2018)
20. iPhone XS (2018)
21. iPhone XS Max (2018)
22. iPhone 11 (2019)
23. iPhone 11 Pro (2019)
24. iPhone 11 Pro Max (2019)
25. iPhone SE 2nd Generation (2020)
26. iPhone 12 mini (2020)
27. iPhone 12 (2020)
28. iPhone 12 Pro (2020)
29. iPhone 12 Pro Max (2020)
All commercials
Apple marketing has always been praised for betting the iPhone is a “differentiated” product. Over the 14 years, many of the company’s advertising videos highlighted this bias, including the first commercial, which clipped several famous series and movies to say hello to the new product.
Check, below, all the commercials of the brand between 2007 and February 2021, right after the recent launch of the iPhone Line 12.