Whether you are an iPhone user or not, these iPhone facts might be interesting to you. This post is filled with information you might have missed and maybe didn’t even know about the device you hold in your hand most of the day.
The iPhone doesn’t need any introductions. This is one of the most prominent smartphones manufactured and marketed by Apple.
25 Cool Facts About iPhones
#1 The Origin of iPhone:
At first, the iPhone was not going to be a smartphone. Steve Jobs actually told his engineers to explore the idea of touchscreen and tablets. Because there were no touchscreen gadgets at the moment.
Later, the engineers came with some prototype to Steve Jobs of their touchscreen tablet.
However, he liked the design and told the engineers to make a smartphone instead. Because at that time, there were no tablets in the market, and Steve Jobs thought that a new type of device might not be successful, later, they obviously made the iPad.
#2 The Announcement of the iPhone
The first iPhone was introduced to the world by Steve Jobs. It was on January 9, 2007, he announced the release of iPhone in San Francisco, California. He said ‘Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone’ in his address and showed the world a revolutionary touchscreen phone.
#3 Cisco Systems and iPhone:
iPhone is not the first phone named iPhone in history. Interestingly, the first iPhone was released by InfoGear Technology Corporation. The InfoGear iPhone was released back in 1998.
Later, Cisco Systems has acquired the InfoGear Technology Corporation. And, when Apple released its iPhone, Cisco Systems sued Apple for using the name iPhone. But on 20 February 2007, both parties settled their dispute.
#4 9:41 and iPhone:
You might have already noticed that every picture of iPhones on any advertisement has the time set at 9:41. But why is that? There is a cool story behind this.
When Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone, the local time was 9:42 at that time in San Francisco, California. They knew that they will unveil the iPhone at 9:42 and set the time to 9:42 in the slideshow as well.
However, when the iPad was released, they announced it at 9:41. Since then, this is still in effect as of yet.
So, whenever you see an iPhone in any advertisement, you will see the time is set at 9:41. And, it is not a coincidence at all. Now you know the story behind this as well.
#5 There ware 2 models in the initial release
iPhone was released in the USA on 29 June 2007. At that time, 2 models of the iPhone were released.
The difference between the two models was in the internal storage and the price.
- The 4GB model was priced at $499
- The 8GB model was priced at $599.
Tens of thousands of people waited days before the launch for the iPhone in front of the AT&T and Apple retail stores for buying the iPhone. Matter of fact, lots of stores reported stock shortage within half an hour of the release.
#6 iPhone EULA has 18,000 words
Have you read the EULA (End User License Agreement) of Apple devices and services anytime? There is an interesting fact about that as well. This is a document with about 18,000 words. So, most of you might have not read it.
However, in that document, it is said that you can’t use Apple devices and services to create nuclear bombs, missiles, chemical, or biological weapons.
#7 iPhone sales makes apple the most valued tech company
The iPhone has generated so much money to apple that the company is valued at more than 2 trillion dollars, yes that’s trillions!
Here are the iPhone sales per year since the first release:
| Year | Sales |
| 2008 | 11.6 |
| 2009 | 20.7 |
| 2010 | 39.9 |
| 2011 | 72.3 |
| 2012 | 125 |
| 2013 | 150.2 |
| 2014 | 169.2 |
| 2015 | 231.2 |
| 2016 | 211.8 |
| 2017 | 216.7 |
| 2018 | 217.7 |
| 2019 | 187.2 |
| 2020 | 196.9 |
| 2021 | 242 |
| 2022 | 232.2 |
#8 Verizon missed Apple:
Apple actually approached Verizon to collaborate in the making of the iPhone. However, Verizon had some conditions that were not liked by Apple. Thus they reached out to ‘Cingular Wireless’ ( AT&T Mobility ) with the proposal.
And, both parties agreed to all the terms and conditions and started to work on the project secretively.
After working for over 2 and a half years, Apple unveiled the iPhone. The estimated development cost of the iPhone was about 150 million USD.
#9 Total Number Of iPhone Sold:
Unfortunately, Apple has officially announced that they will not share the iPhone sales figure anymore back on November 1, 2018. So, we actually don’t have the current sales figures of the iPhone. However, we can tell you the number from 2007 to 2018, though.
Reports say that Apple has sold over 2.3 billion units of iPhones in this period. And, they sold about 220 million iPhones in 2018 alone.
#10 Revenue from iPhone:
Apple has various devices like iPad, iPod, Mac, watch, and more. However, the most popular of them all is the iPhone.
They reported that they have earned about 205 billion USD for year 2022 from the sales of the iPhone alone.
#11 Returning iPhone Customers
It is reported that about 56% of iPhone users continue to use the iPhone and get the latest models whenever a new one is released.
#12 50 phones per second of iPhone 6s when released:
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus were released on September 25, 2015. Apple reported that they have sold over 13 million units of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in the launch weekend.
And, that means they have sold about 50 phones per second on the first weekend after the launch of these models.
#13 App Store in iPhone:
Nowadays, almost every smartphone comes with an app store pre-installed. But, it was Apple who started this trend.
They were the first to allow consumers to use the ‘App Store’ for downloading and installing apps legally.
#14 apple has over 200 patents related to the iPhone alone
Since the iPhone was released apple filled for more than 200 patents related to the device alone.
Most of these patents are related to features that help interact with users in many different ways.
#15 Samsung used to make processors for Apple:
Apple has a lot of rivals in the smartphone industry. However, among them, the most prominent one would be Samsung without a doubt. But behind the scene, there is a good relationship between Apple and Samsung.
In fact, Samsung would manufacture processors for Apple’s iPhones back in the day. However, now, TSMC has been making the processors for Apple’s iPhones.
#16 iPhone Conception:
You know that the iPhone was released in 2007. But the concept of making a touchscreen smartphone was on the mind of Apple engineers for a long time.
It was 1983 when Apple actually made a touchscreen landline phone. The credit goes to Apple’s engineer ‘Hartmut Esslinger’ for its creation. However, that landline phone was not commercialized.
#17 iPhone Optimization:
iPhone might not be known for its customization like Android. It is actually known for its optimization in the software field. Apple’s primary goal is to provide the consumer with the best user experience.
As a result, when the iPhone came out, lots of people that are not familiar with gadgets and tech could easily use an iPhone. And, this is one of the main reasons for the iPhone’s success.
#18 iPhone Camera:
Another great thing about an iPhone is the camera. Apple has been offering the best in class smartphone cameras on almost all of the iterations of iPhone every year. It is really hard to beat the iPhone camera.
Nowadays, there are a few brands like Google (Pixel Series), Samsung (Note and S Series), and Huawei (P Series) that are trying to compete in this field against Apple. Still, arguably, iPhone has the best camera in all of the smartphones.
#19 iPhone Hardware & Design:
iPhone is not only known for its camera quality but also the design and the hardware it comes with. Apple always tries to offer a simple, minimalistic yet attractive design on all of its products.
Thus, most of the iPhones look almost similar in terms of design. At the same time, Apple also tries to incorporate the best hardware available at the time of the release of each model of the iPhone.
#20 The Meaning of ‘i’
Every Apple devices’ name starts with the letter ‘i’. But do you know the story behind this ‘i’? When Steve Jobs announced the iMac to the world back in 1998, he actually told the meaning of this letter. From that, we know that the ‘i’ stands for primarily ‘Internet’.
At that time, the internet was a new thing for the public. And, the iMac was a device that could be used to access the internet with ease for the masses. Later, he added that the ‘i’ also stands for inspire, instruct, individual, inform, etc.
#21 iPhone Project Codename:
Although the iPhone was released in 2007, Apple was working on this project since 2005. But it was a very secret project. The codename of this initiative was ‘Project Purple 2’. Only a handful of the engineers and employees knew about this project.
#22 iPhone Plastic Display:
When Steve Jobs announced the iPhone in 2007, it had a plastic display of 3.5 inches. But at the release, the iPhone had a corning Gorilla glass as the display. How did that happen? After the announcement, Steve Jobs noticed that the new iPhone has accumulated a few scratches here and there while it was in his pocket.
So, he told Jeff Williams (now the Chief Operating Officer of Apple) that the iPhone should ship with a glass screen, not plastic. After 5 months of hard work by the engineers of Apple and Corning, the glass display came to existence.
#23 Apple’s Golden Goose:
Among all the different types of devices in Apple’s collection, the iPhone has brought the most profit for Apple. Matter of fact, the iPhone is responsible for about 55% of the total revenue of Apple.
#24 Most Popular iPhone of 2019:
In 2019, Apple has released 3 iPhone models such as iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. But none of these phones are popular enough to be the most popular iPhone of 2019.
Matter of fact, the most popular iPhone of 2019 is the iPhone XR. However, if you compare the worldwide popularity, then the iPhone 7 is still the most commonly used iPhone all around the world.
#25 Number of iPhone Users:
At the moment, there are about 900 million iPhone users worldwide. Among them, most of the users are from China. The second country in this position is the USA. Right now, there are over 110 million iPhone users in the USA. It is about 45% of all smartphone users in the USA.
Final Words – Facts About iPhone
iPhone was first released about 12 years ago. Still, Apple is dominating the smartphone market with its iPhone series. Interestingly, Apple has been releasing multiple models of the iPhone for more than a couple of years.
And, all of their phones come with the latest hardware and software to give you the best user experience. We hope Apple would offer us more incredible iPhones in the near future.
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