From a 'hunk of chunk' to feature-heavy elegance
The introduction of Apple's iPhone 10 years ago was certainly a breakthrough. But it's equally astonishing how the phone has matured within just a decade, with the latest models making the original one look primitive.
The original
By today's standards, the original iPhone — presented by Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007 — looks OK, but certainly not like a must-have. From today's perspective, some tech experts have even called it a 'primitive brick.' A grave injustice?
Painfully slow
The first iPhone ran on a data transmission technology called "Edge," a version of 2G wireless. It was really slow - it would have taken you roughly eight minutes to send a 5MB file - with today's 4G LTE it takes under four seconds.
'App-solutely' unthinkable?
There was no App Store when the iPhone hit markets worldwide. It only opened in 2008 via an update to iTunes after Steve Jobs finally agreed to let customers use the software distribution platform to personalize their smartphones.
Spartan text messages
Back in 2007, iPhones were unable to send a picture together with a plain text message. Apple's modern iMessage service allows users to not only send text, but also photos, videos, contact information and a lot more.
Picture it!
First-generation iPhones had relatively weak cameras, "boasting" a mere 2-megapixels. And they couldn't record any videos - imagine that today! Capturing high-resolution pictures and videos is child's play for the iPhone7 pictured above.
Features galore
Needless to say, in 2007 iPhones did not have a notification center. There was no Siri around or any other personal digital assistant. There wasn't even a turn-by-turn directions app - all relatively recent additions to modern iPhones.
Steady evolution
Modern iPhones brim with features that the developers of the prototype could only dream of. Nevertheless, Apple will need to add even more exciting things to keep sales figures from falling further (sales were down 5.3 percent in Q3/2016 year on year).