iPhone
The iPhone is a line of smartphones produced by Apple Inc. that use Apple's own iOS mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007. Since then, Apple has annually released new iPhone models and iOS updates. As of November 1, 2018, more than 2.2 billion iPhones had been sold.
For other uses, see IPhone (disambiguation).Developer
2.3 billion (as of January 1, 2024)[1]
64, 128, 256, 512 GB or 1 TB[note 1] flash memory[2] (current models)
Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
The iPhone was the first mobile phone to use multi-touch technology.[3] Since the iPhone's launch, it has gained larger screen sizes, video-recording, waterproofing, and many accessibility features. Up to the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, iPhones had a single button on the front panel, with the iPhone 5s and later integrating a Touch ID fingerprint sensor.[4] Since the iPhone X, iPhone models have switched to a nearly bezel-less front screen design with Face ID facial recognition, and app switching activated by gestures. Touch ID is still used for the budget iPhone SE series.
The iPhone is one of the two largest smartphone platforms in the world alongside Android, and is a large part of the luxury market. The iPhone has generated large profits for Apple, making it one of the world's most valuable publicly traded companies. The first-generation iPhone was described as a "revolution" for the mobile phone industry and subsequent models have also garnered praise.[5] The iPhone has been credited with popularizing the smartphone and slate form factor, and with creating a large market for smartphone apps, or "app economy". As of January 2017, Apple's App Store contained more than 2.2 million applications for the iPhone.
Production
Up to the iPhone 4, all iPhones and other devices, such as iPod Touch models and iPads, were manufactured by Foxconn, based in Taiwan. In 2011, new CEO Tim Cook changed Apple's manufacturing strategy to diversify its suppliers. The iPhone 4s in 2012 was the first model to be manufactured simultaneously by two stand-alone companies: Foxconn and Pegatron, the latter also based in Taiwan. Although Foxconn still produces more iPhones, Pegatron's orders have been slowly increased: the company made part of the iPhone 5c line in 2013, and 30% of iPhone 6 devices in 2014. The 6 Plus model was produced solely by Foxconn.[61] In 2019, Apple investigated reports that some Foxconn managers had used rejected parts to build iPhones.[62] In India, Apple pays Wistron, a Taiwan-based manufacturer with a plant near Bangalore, to assemble iPhones to sell in the region.[63]
In 2022, Apple announced that a portion of the iPhone 14 would be manufactured in Tamil Nadu, India, as a response to China's "zero-COVID" policy that has negatively affected global supply chains for many industries.[64] Apple has stated that they plan to shift 25% of iPhone production to India by 2025.[65]
Marketing
The original iPhone was heavily promoted before its official announcement, creating buzz and anticipation.[107] Upon its release, it was marketed heavily in television, web and print ads created in partnership with TBWA\Chiat\Day.[108]
Apple's premium market positioning has led the iPhone to be seen as a status symbol.[109][110][111]
The Apple ecosystem has been described as a key moat that increases iPhone brand loyalty. iMessage has especially been singled out, with its "green bubbles" phenomena. In iMessage, SMS messages from Android users appear as green bubble, rather than the blue bubbles used for texts from other iPhone users. Group chats between iOS and Android are poorly supported; reactions display as text, rather than bubbles, and images are sent through MMS, which degrades image quality. Some teens have described being "ostracized" after switching to Android,[112] which Google has labelled "bullying".[113] This has been described by critics as a key factor leading 87% of U.S. teenagers to use iPhones.[114]
Retail
SIM unlocking
Many iPhones bought through a monthly carrier contract are SIM locked, restricting their use to one particular carrier.[115] While the iPhone was initially sold in the U.S. only on the AT&T network with a SIM lock in place, various hackers found methods to bypass that SIM lock.[116] More than a quarter of first-generation iPhones sold in the U.S. were not registered with AT&T. Apple speculated that they were likely shipped overseas and unlocked, a lucrative market before the iPhone 3G's worldwide release.[117][118] Today, many carriers either remove the SIM lock automatically after a certain period, or do it upon request, either for free or for a small fee.[119] iPhones bought from Apple are not SIM locked.[115] Many carriers also sell the iPhone unlocked when purchased outright rather than on a long-term contract.
Retail strategy
Since 2013, iPhone buyers can obtain a trade-in discount when buying a new iPhone directly from Apple. The program aims to increase the number of customers who purchase iPhones at Apple Stores rather than carrier stores.[120] In 2015, Apple unveiled the iPhone Upgrade Program, a 24-month leasing agreement, which Fortune described as a "change [in] iPhone owners' relationships with mobile carriers".[121]
Privacy
Tracking prevention
Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency (ATT) with iOS 14.5 in April 2021. ATT requires apps to ask for explicit permission before being allowed to track the user across other apps and websites. If the user refuses, the app cannot access Apple's Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), an identifier used to serve personalized ads.[135] ATT does not prevent personalized ads that are based on the user's behavior within the app itself.[136] The feature has been criticised by some as anti-competitive, including Facebook, whose shares fell by 26% after its rollout.[137] Apple exempts their own apps from their anti-tracking measures, which has led to anti-trust investigations by the French and German governments.[138][139]
Location tracking controversy
In July 2010, Apple claimed that it collected iPhone users' GPS coordinates and nearby Wi-Fi networks twice a day; a Wall Street Journal investigation found that Google’s Android sent this data "several times an hour".[140][141]
In September 2010, forensic expert Christopher Vance discovered a hidden unencrypted file named "consolidated.db" that contained a record of iPhone users' locations.[142][143] The file was added with the June 2010 iOS 4 update, though previous versions of iOS stored similar information in a file called "h-cells.plist".[144] On April 20, 2011, The Guardian publicized research by Alasdair Allen and Pete Warden, who found that anyone with physical access to an iPhone could obtain a detailed record of its owner's location and movements over the past year.[145] Moreover, the file was automatically backed up by iTunes onto any computer the iPhone was synchronized with.[146] A Wall Street Journal investigation found that users' locations were still stored when location services are disabled.[147] The controversy led to U.S. congressional scrutiny and an FCC investigation,[143] and was dubbed "Locationgate" by the media.[148]
Apple responded on April 27, 2011, claiming that the data was used to cache nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in order to improve location speed and accuracy. The company also claimed that locations being collected when location services were off, and being stored for more than a year, were both bugs.[148] Apple issued an update for iOS (version 4.3.3, or 4.2.8 for the CDMA iPhone 4) which reduced the size of the cache, encrypted it, stopped it being backed up to iTunes, and erased it entirely whenever location services were turned off.[149] Nevertheless, in July 2014, a report on state-owned China Central Television called iPhone tracking a "national security concern".[150]
Currently, iPhones contain a "Frequent Locations" database which records where users have been, along with exact times they arrived and left, raising concerns that the data could be used in court.[151] This feature can be turned off.[152]
Child safety controversy
In August 2021, Apple announced plans to scan iCloud Photos for child abuse imagery (through an algorithm called "NeuralHash"), and filter explicit images sent and received by children using iPhones (dubbed "Conversation Safety"), to be rolled out later that year.[153] More than 90 policy and human rights groups wrote an open letter to condemn both features.[154] Apple's plan to implement NeuralHash on-device rather than in the cloud led the EFF and security experts to call it a "backdoor" that could later be expanded to detect other types of contents, and would decrease users' privacy.[155] Apple claimed the system was "misunderstood",[156] but announced in December 2022 that the photo scanning feature would never be implemented.[157] The other feature, Conversation Safety, was added in iOS 15.2.[158]