iPhone at 15: How does the original iPhone compete against the newest model?
Can you believe it's been 15 years since Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone to the world?
On Jan. 9, 2007, the Apple CEO changed the tech world when he unveiled "three revolutionary products" rolled into one mobile device: the iPhone.
Since the revolutionary keynote and even after Jobs' passing, Apple has been rolling out a new version of the mobile device every year—the latest being 2021's iPhone 13 line.
To celebrate the iPhone's 15th anniversary, let's look at how the OG 2007 iPhone fares against the newest model and see how much the piece of tech has evolved over the years.
'Reinventing the phone'
When Jobs first unveiled the iPhone, he said that Apple was going to "reinvent the phone." The device combined the multimedia capabilities of the iPod with the connectivity of a phone and the internet browsing capabilities of a computer.
At a time when most smartphones donned Qwerty keypads—like BlackBerries, Motorolas, and Nokias—the iPhone was a breath of fresh air with its bigger 3.5-inch touchscreen display. It also sported a thick chassis, a plain Home button, huge bezels, a Samsung processor, and a single 2-megapixel camera.
At the top of the first-generation device was a 3.5mm audio jack and a sleep/wake button while at the bottom was a port that supported bigger iPod chargers.
The phone also ran on its own operating system, the iPhone OS, but it didn't have the App Store yet so users were stuck with pre-installed apps for music, text, maps, weather, camera, and notes. You also couldn't set your own wallpaper on the old device, unless it was jailbroken, and you couldn't even shoot videos with it or take selfies as it didn't have a selfie camera.
When it launched, the first iPhone sold for $499 or P26,000, which was pretty expensive for a phone at the time.
The iPhone today
Over a decade and a half later, Apple has innovated the iPhone by leaps and bounds. We've seen design changes, specs upgrades, new features, better performance, and more as the tech giant released a new phone each year. There have been 33 iPhones now, and more are coming down the pipeline in 2022.
One of Apple's latest devices, the iPhone 13 Pro comes with a bigger 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display, wireless charging support, IP68 water resistance, up to 22 hours of battery life, access to a multitude of apps and games through the App Store, and more.
The first iPhone couldn't even copy and paste text, but today's iPhones are capable of crunching many daily tasks through different apps. Now, iPhone users also enjoy features like Siri, FaceTime, Face ID, 4K video recording, 5G, and customizable home screens.
From one 2MP camera, the iPhone 13 Pro now has three 12MP lenses capable of shooting in cinematic mode and capturing high-res photos.
While the latest model doesn't have a headphone jack anymore, it's a lot thinner than the OG gadget.
Modern iPhones start at above P40,000 for the Mini version, while the bigger models go for P60,000.
In 2022, Apple looks to push the envelope further with the iPhone 14. According to leaks online, we might be seeing the first iPhone without a notch and the upcoming A16 chip could give users access to innovative safety features like car crash detection.