It may be hard to believe, but it’s been nearly 10 years since the first iPhone was released. While it wasn’t necessarily the first “smartphone”, it was the first commercial smartphone to use touch as the primary way of input. We know now that the first iPhone created a shift in the phone industry that we can’t go back from, but have smartphones made massive changes in the past 10 years? Let’s break down what really has changed since the original iPhone was released.
Build
Perhaps the most obvious change in smartphones is the size, weight and durability. The original iPhone weighed 4.80oz and was 0.46in thick. Compare this to a modern phone like the Samsung Galaxy S7 which weighs 5.54oz and is 0.30in thick, you see that we’ve packed more into a smaller case. Not only have screens become more shatter-resistant, but the latest trend has become one-piece bodies and screens. It’s becoming more common to find a single aluminum body with the glass touchscreen. So our phones are thinner, stronger and better looking.
Processing & Storage
Processing and storage capabilities is where the greatest strides have come. The initial iPhone was equipped with basic Wi-Fi connectivity and Bluetooth technology. The maximum storage was 16 GB and there was 0.125 GB of RAM built in. Modern phones have a minimum of 32GB of storage built in with up to 1TB of additional storage available through microSD cards. Additionally, some phones are built with 4GB of RAM which is comparable to some computers being sold today. We’ve went from single core processors to octa-core processors. As far as processing and storage goes, most modern phones are more powerful than many computers available during the time when the iPhone was released.
Battery
When it comes to battery, however, this is where the least progress has been made in smartphones. The original iPhone had a standby time of 250 hours. Ten years later, the iPhone 7 has a standby time of 240 hours. That’s right, the battery life has actually become shorter! The real improvement is in the length of time it takes for a phone to go from 0% to 100% battery charge. In many new smartphones, a full charge takes less than 1.5 hours. This means a phone may last longer, but instead of your phone needing the entire night to charge, it only takes a lunchbreak to charge your phone.
Features
The improvements we hear about with every new smartphone are the features. Fingerprint scanning? Check. Facial recognition? Check. Full GPS capabilities? Check. 4K video streaming? Check. There are certainly no lacking features in modern smartphones.
If you remember the first iPhone launch, it’s easy to see how far we’ve come in 10 years. Even after all this time, smartphone manufacturers still haven’t been able to solve the biggest issue: screen shattering. Even with new screens and cases, all it takes is a fall from pocket height to render your phone useless. If your phone breaks, reach out to us online, over the phone, or stop in the store to get it fixed. We’ve been repairing smartphones since they launched, so we understand what it takes to make them better.
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