Apple at 50: a visual history

Bondi Blue iMacs, block-long iPhone lines, and other moments from the company’s first 50 years.

by Amelia Holowaty Krales and T.C. Sottek

Mar 31, 2026, 11:00 AM UTC

Steve Jobs with room full of computers, 1984.

| Image: Michael L Abramson / Getty Images

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This is part of our package about Apple’s 50th anniversary, read more here.

It’s difficult to picture a world without Apple. The company’s influence at the heart of technology and culture is so profound that even the era before the iPhone can now seem like a distant memory — and Apple existed more than 30 years before the iPhone.

So, on Apple’s 50th anniversary, here’s a trip down memory lane. Back when Steve Jobs was wearing a bow tie. Back in 1984, when, on behalf of the Macintosh revolution, a woman defiantly threw a sledgehammer at the face of IBM. Back when iMacs were beautiful giants with tinted plastic cases. Even back when, not so long ago, people were eagerly lining up outside of stores to be the first to get their hands on Apple’s latest and greatest devices.

Apple’s journey from rebel startup to global domination has been as colorful as its gadgets. Let’s take a closer look.

Image: macmothership.com

Advertisement for the Apple II released in 1977.

Image: macmothership.com

A vintage 1970s Apple II 8-bit home computer with the signature of Apple designer Steve Wozniak on the main unit, taken on May 21st, 2009.

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Students at an elementary school using an Apple computer, circa 1985.

Image: Vannucci Foto-Services / FPG / Archive Photos / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Apple Computer cofounder Steve Wozniak holding his Apple Macintosh PowerBook computer as he jubilantly leads a line of a dozen sixth and seventh graders carrying computers that he bought for them during his after-school computer class on October 22nd, 1993.

Image: Acey Harper / Getty Images

American NASA astronaut Terence T. Henricks sits at the adjustable workstation mounted on the Spacelab Deutsche 2 (SL-D2) science module, conducting a Crew Telesupport Experiment (CTE), with an STS-55 crew portrait on the screen of the Macintosh laptop in front of him.

Image: Space Frontiers / Archive Photos / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Children use Apple computers in their classroom on June 1st, 1994, in San Francisco.

Image: James D. Wilson / Liaison

Billboards for Apple computers and the movie Forces of Nature are seen on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood on February 10th, 1999.

Image: David Butow / Corbis via Getty Images

A poster featuring iMacs.

Image: Liz Hafalia / The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announces the new Mac OS X at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco in 2000.

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Customers arriving to the Grand Opening of the Apple Store at Fashion Island in Newport Beach were greeted by cheers and high-fives by Apple employees on November 11th, 2001.

Image: Bob Riha, Jr. / Getty Images

A model displays the new Apple iPod product at the Apple iPod Mini press launch on July 16th, 2004, in London.

Image: Steve Finn / Getty Images

About a dozen Apple resellers and supporters protest outside Apple’s headquarters as shareholders arrive to attend the annual meeting.

Image: Kim Kulish / Corbis via Getty Images

A young boy showed his enthusiasm for Apple computers by shaving the Apple logo into his hair for the grand opening of Apple’s new flagship store on Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in New York City on May 19th, 2006.

Image: James Leynse / Corbis via Getty Images

An Atech Flash Technology iPod player dock and toilet tissue dispenser is seen on display at the Macworld Conference and Expo, January 13th, 2006, in San Francisco. iPod accessories were popular at Macworld. Apple Computer sold reportedly 14 million iPods during the 2005 holiday sales quarter.

Image: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

A person rides his skateboard past posters advertising Apple’s iPod on May 3, 2006 in San Francisco, California.

Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Jake and his brother Jared, 12, watch an Apple iPhone advertisement as their mother Diane and brother Chandler, 6, bake cookies at their home in Lindon, Utah, Thursday, June 28th, 2007.

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An advertisement for the Apple iPhone is seen in the Apple Soho store June 27th, 2007, in New York City.

Image: Mario Tama / Getty Images

Graham Gilbert, 22, a student from Manchester, waits under an umbrella in first place in the queue for a new iPhone outside the Apple Store on Regent Street, central London, on Thursday, November 8th, 2007. Fans desperate to get their hands on new iPhones started queuing more than 24 hours before the iPhone went on sale.

Image: Andrew Parsons / PA Wire / PA Photo via Associated Press

Members of the media photographing and interviewing people outside Apple’s flagship store prior to the first iPhone going on sale, on 5th Avenue in New York on June 29, 2007.

Image: Walter Leporati/Getty Images

Ayano Tominaga, center, of Tokyo, waits in line at the outside the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue to buy an iPad 2, Friday, March 11th, 2011. Tominaga arrived that Thursday from Tokyo just to buy an iPad 2.

Image: Mary Altaffer / AP Photo

Store employees cheer and greet customers at Apple Inc.’s new flagship store in Shanghai, China, on 10 July, 2010. Apple is one of the few multinationals that truly dominates its market in China with a command of premium profits, as its products are flying off the shelf and it is quickly expanding its Apple Store network across the country.

Image: Qilai Shen/In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up an Apple iPhone at the Macworld Conference on January 9th, 2007, in San Francisco. On Sunday, July 16th, 2023, a first-generation iPhone sold at auction for $190,373, almost 380 times its original price of $499 when the device went for sale in 2007.

Image: Paul Sakuma, File / AP Photo

A memorial shrine for Steve Jobs grows as hundreds of mourners pay their respects at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Thursday, October 6th, 2011.

Image: Paul Chinn / The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Graffiti on an iPhone advertisement in a Brooklyn subway station reflects a growing sense of economic disparity in New York City on December 11th, 2013.

Image: Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images

Guests prepare for the start of an Apple event on Tuesday, September 9th, 2014, in Cupertino, California.

Image: AP Photo / Marcio Jose Sanchez

People wait in a queue to test out the new Apple Watch at a store in Hong Kong on April 10th, 2015.

Image: Dale DE LA REY / AFP via Getty Images

Apple CEO Tim Cook (right) and Apple chief design officer Jonathan Ive (left) look at the new Apple iPhone X during an Apple special event on September 12th, 2017, in Cupertino, California. Apple held its first special event at the new Apple Park campus where it announced the new iPhone 8, iPhone X, and the Apple Watch Series 3.

Image: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Attendees gather for a product launch event at Apple’s Steve Jobs Theater on September 12th, 2018, in Cupertino, California.

Image: Noah Berger / AFP via Getty Images

Apple retail employees applaud as they welcome customers during the opening of the first Apple flagship store in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, April 18th, 2023.

Image: Rafiq Maqbool / AP Photo

The opening of the Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City as Apple begins its sale of the Vision Pro headset — the company’s first new product in seven years — on February 2nd, 2024.

Image: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images

Mohamed Jawad enters a Palo Alto, California, Apple Store to purchase a Vision Pro headset on the first day of sales on Friday, February 2nd, 2024. Jawad, who described himself as an “Appleholic,” traveled from Dubai to buy the device.

Image: Noah Berger/AP Photo

Protesters hold up signs outside of the Fifth Avenue Apple Store on new products launch day on September 20th, 2024, in New York City. Apple CEO Tim Cook was in attendance at the opening of the Fifth Avenue Apple Store for the release of the new iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10, the new black titanium Apple Watch Ultra 2, AirPods 4, and new colors for the AirPods Max.

Image: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images

A worker dusts an Apple sign during an Apple event in New York on March 4th, 2026. Apple unveiled a slate of new products, including the $599 MacBook Neo — its first true low-end laptop — and the iPhone 17e.

Image: Adam Gray / Bloomberg via Getty Images

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