The iPhone Has Taken Over Everything

This is part of our package about Apple’s 50th anniversary.

The iPhone was always destined to be a game-changer, and it exceeded all expectations. Even now, it remains a dominant force in the tech landscape.

Looking back nearly two decades, it’s hard to believe how revolutionary the first iPhone truly was. Steve Jobs and Jony Ive had a knack for transforming technological limitations into standout features. Take the original iMac, for instance; it was built around a bulky CRT display, but Ive’s design made the internals a visual highlight. The iPod started as a portable hard drive that Toshiba didn’t know how to market, but with the help of Jon Rubinstein and Tony Fadell, and Phil Schiller’s innovative scroll wheel, it became a must-have device.

The first iPhone was packed with limitations, yet Jobs and his team turned these challenges into opportunities. There was a fierce debate within Apple about whether to base the phone on an expanded iPod platform or a streamlined Mac OS X. When OS X won out, the team made tough decisions to strip down features to ensure it functioned smoothly. Remarkably, the first iPhone didn’t even support copy and paste until two years later with iPhone OS 3.0.

At launch, there was no app store—only preinstalled apps. Apple even created its own versions of Google Maps and YouTube to ensure a seamless experience. This allowed the company to concentrate on perfecting the features that did make it to market, particularly the multitouch display and touchscreen keyboard, which were bold moves at the time.

The first iPhone operated solely on AT&T’s outdated EDGE 2G network, but this exclusivity allowed Apple to demand full-featured Wi-Fi support and a robust web browser—something no other smartphone on any network could offer back then. Most competitors limited Wi-Fi to push costly mobile data and restricted web browsers to prevent network overload.

Jobs’ iconic “this is not three devices” keynote moment still elicits laughter today. The crowd cheered for the “widescreen iPod with touch controls” and erupted for the “revolutionary mobile phone,” but the “breakthrough internet communications device” received a more muted response. Little did they know, that last point would redefine everything. The world has since revolved around this internet communications device, rendering the iPod and traditional phones nearly obsolete.

The industry’s initial reaction was a mix of confusion and dismissal. Many remember the infamous clip of Microsoft’s then-CEO scoffing at the iPhone’s price and lack of a hardware keyboard. However, behind closed doors, the realization hit hard. BlackBerry’s Mike Lazaridis watched the iPhone reveal from his treadmill and understood that it was set to compete with laptops, not just other phones. “They put a full web browser on that thing,” he told his co-CEO the next day, recognizing the limitations imposed by carriers on their own devices.

Turning limitations into features and challenges into opportunities became the iPhone’s hallmark. Users quickly envisioned its potential to do even more. Competitors rushed half-baked devices to market, hoping that a long list of unrefined features would lure consumers away from the iPhone, but they consistently fell short. Remember the Droid? It got discontinued because it simply didn’t resonate.

During this time, Apple was the underdog, constantly battling larger rivals like Microsoft and IBM, which dominated the computing landscape. Even after Jobs’ return and a string of successful products, Apple remained relatively small compared to its competitors, often compared to luxury brands like BMW and Mercedes—profitable but with limited market share.

The iPhone changed everything. For several years, Apple could boost sales just by partnering with more carriers in different countries. The demand for iPhones was insatiable, and all Apple needed to do was maintain the same level of polish and attention to detail that made the original iPhone a glimpse into the future.

This marked a significant shift—the scale of the iPhone and the smartphone market began to reshape the world. Equipping everyone with a camera and a global media platform transformed media, culture, and politics. Apple and Meta may have a contentious relationship, but both recognize their intertwined fates. Discussions about social media addiction and debates over banning phones in schools are impossible to separate from the iPhone and platforms like Instagram.

Eventually, Apple reached a point where it had saturated the market for new iPhone sales. The focus shifted to maximizing revenue from existing users, dramatically altering the software economy and reshaping global antitrust policies. The company gained a reputation for pressuring developers to implement subscription features and blocking app updates that could provide relief from the 30 percent fees that fueled its quarterly earnings. Developers often whispered about their fears of the app review process, hesitant to speak out publicly for fear of repercussions. In-app purchases in free-to-play games became a goldmine, leading Apple to pivot its TV strategy to feature glamorous Hollywood stars rather than gaming icons.

Apple’s immense scale and supply chain efficiency worked in tandem. The company needed to produce millions of new iPhones annually without a hitch, showcasing the operational prowess Tim Cook established. This efficiency created a technology manufacturing base in China that remains unmatched, and a supply chain that has commodified smartphone components to the point where nearly everything is now a smartphone. Laptops run on ARM chips, smart TVs resemble large Android tablets, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips are ubiquitous. CMOS camera sensors, born from the smartphone revolution, have transformed how we interact with the world through our devices.

Even the current AI boom, despite its hype, is framed within the context of smartphones—specifically the iPhone. OpenAI’s Sam Altman may envision displacing smartphones with new AI-native hardware, but he sought out Jony Ive for credibility. Whether they can replicate the magic of turning limitations into features remains to be seen, especially since modern AI systems often defy limitations altogether. Apple, however, seems unfazed. “They don’t have an iPhone, and so they’re scrambling for what to do,” said Greg Joswiak recently. “A lot of what they talk about ends up being accessories for an iPhone.”

For now, we can look forward to this year’s iPhone, next year’s, and the one after that. It will continue to serve as a music player, a phone, and a groundbreaking internet communications device. The real question is how we will evolve in response.