iPhone: A visual history

From iPhone to iPhone 6, seven years of Apple’s iconic smartphone

by Tom Warren

Sep 9, 2014, 7:24 PM UTC

Tom Warren is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.

In early 2007 Steve Jobs announced the very first iPhone. Designed to “reinvent the phone,” Apple’s iPhone has revolutionized smartphones and shaped the industry into what it is today. The first iPhone mixed a capacitive 3.5-inch multi-touch display with touch-optimized software in a simple package that was unlike anything else on the market. Over the last seven years, Apple has refined and tweaked its iPhone into what it is today: the iPhone 6.

Apple has used combinations of metal, plastic, and glass to shape and form its ideas of what a modern smartphone should look like throughout the history of the iPhone. Major redesigns with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 saw Apple push the boundaries of smartphone hardware, all while competitors were catching up. Now that the smartphone industry is moving to larger screens, Apple has been forced to respond with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Read on to see exactly how Apple evolved its iPhone hardware over the years, in our history of iPhone.

1/9

Where it all began

Apple’s first iPhone debuted in 2007 with the trademark home button, a metal rear casing, and just a 3.5-inch display. Its capacitive touchscreen laid the foundations for modern smartphones.

Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.