History of Computers - iPhone
Introduction
The Apple iPhone was a touch screen smartphone designed by the CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs (See also Renderman for information on Steve Jobs funding of Pixar), in 2007. It revolutionized the smartphone industry with various important innovations. There have subsequently been 4 new models: the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, and 4S.
Overview
The first generation iPhone, with a 320 by 480 pixel touch screen, and a 2 megapixel camera on the back[1]
The original iPhone was released in the middle of 2007, with a variety of ideas generally very new to the cellphone world such as multi touch technology, the use of one main "home" button instead of a directional keypad, a 3.5 inch screen, and a gray unibody frame very different from the generic "flip" or "slide" phone designs at the time. Since then, various upgrades such as faster processors, upgraded screens, decreases in thickness from the original .47 inches, and changes in color have been administered in the last 4 years.
The iPhone 4, released in July 2010 with a 960 by 640 pixel display, a 5 megapixel camera on the back with 720p video recording capability, and a 2 megapixel camera on the front with VGA recording capability.[2]
The iPhone 4s, released on November 11, 2011, was a large step forward from the iPhone 4. It contained a dual-core A5 chip, an 8MP iSight camera, a video recording of 1080p HD, iOS5, iCloud, and Siri. The dual-core A5 chip delivered around two times more power and seven times faster graphics. iOS5 provided one of the world's fastest mobile operating systems, iCloud provided a very efficient storage system, and Siri allowed for interaction between the user and the device. The iPhone 5, released on September 21, 2012, had a 4 inch screen, an improvement from the 3.5 inch screens in the version before. The iPhone 5 was also the first phone with 64-bit processor. The iPhone 5S and 5C were released on September 20, 2013. The iPhone 5S was the first phone with Touch ID (Touch ID) on the home button to unlock the phone and for Apple ID. The iPhone 5C was the first iPhone that came in colors different from white, black, and gold. The 5C had the same tech specs as the 5, but came in a variety of colors and cost from $100 to $200 as opposed to the 5s which cost from $200 to $400.[4] The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were released on September 9, 2014. The iPhone 6 had a 4.7 inch screen, and the 6 Plus had a 5.5 inch screen. These increases in screen size were the largest that Apple had done in its smartphone market. The iPhone 6 had a different shape from the previous iPhones, and was much thinner and lighter. The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus were released on September 9, 2015. The iPhone 6S comes in rose gold as well as the other three colors, and has a new feature called 3D Touch, which is similar to force touch on the macbook and apple watch.[3]
The recently released iPhone 7 has made some of the most pivotal changes in smartphone history. The new iPhone 7 does not include a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Apple is pushing the world towards a bluetooth headphone era. Also, the new iPhone is the first water resistant iPhone ever released. Other significant changes are stereo speakers, wide angle and telephoto cameras for the iPhone 7 Plus, and a new Taptic Engine. [4] (Gregory Dayao)
In September of 2017, Apple released the newest iPhone 8, which featured a glass back which enabled wireless charging (Wireless Charging), a feature new to iPhones. Apple also release another iPhone, the iPhone X, which features a facial ID (Facial Recognition) feature to unlock the phone. [5]
Significance
There are so many tiny and large significances that resulted from this seemingly magical creation, yet it would be exhaustive and pointless to list them all; however the main innovations deserve being noted. For example, with the iPhone, Apple created the idea of a device that could work for anyone- for the average man, woman, or even teenager. While the Blackberry at the time also had integrated email and small games, the iPhone created an interface that allowed even a child to quickly take a picture of something, or let an adult easily check his emails without any real hassle- just tap the relatively large email icon. Additionally, the multi touch interface obviously had a huge effect on cell phones until now, resulting in the creation of literally hundreds of different models attempting to copy the genius design of the touch screen. Until somewhat recently, most failed, but now many smartphones have the same multi touch technology that the iPhone has, sparking healthy competition forcing companies to improve their devices and creating an even better market. Finally, it sparked the app industry. Within the first year of the iPhone's release, Apple brought about the idea of an online market for people to create and post applications of a variety of uses such as games or navigation services and so much more. It allowed people to customize their cell phone to an almost unlimited extent, and it sparked the creation of various other markets made by other companies, leading to the very developed app world we have now. The iPhone line of cellphones was a marvelous idea created by the famous Steve Jobs that resulted in an incredibly worldwide change in the communication, and entertainment industry.
