The original iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco 15 years ago on Sunday, and while the device revolutionised the smartphone industry, it’s easy to forget how much the iPhone has improved since then.
To commemorate the occasion, we’ve compiled a list of 15 features that the original iPhone lacked when it was first introduced.
- App Store: The original iPhone came preloaded with apps such as Phone, Weather, Notes, Calendar, Photos, and Calculator, but there was no official way to install native third-party apps until the App Store launched in July 2008. Developers were able to provide web-based apps, but the experience was subpar.
- Copy and Paste: It may seem hard to believe, but the iPhone did not have the ability to copy and paste text until 2009.
- Front Camera: the original iPhone did not have a front-facing camera. In fact, there was no front-facing camera until the iPhone 4 was released in 2010 with new FaceTime video calling capabilities.
- Video Recording: The original iPhone could only take photos, but video recording was introduced in 2009 with the iPhone 3GS.
- Flashlight: There was no built-in flashlight on the original iPhone because there was no LED flash. When the App Store first became available, some flashlight apps were released, which displayed a white screen at maximum brightness to simulate a flashlight.
- Photo Messaging (MMS): The original iPhone supported SMS text messaging but not photo messaging. MMS support was added to iPhone OS 3.0 in 2009, but only for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.
- GPS: While the original iPhone included a Google Maps app, there were no turn-by-turn directions because the device lacked a GPS. In 2008, Apple released the iPhone 3G with an integrated GPS.
- Home Screen Wallpapers: Setting a custom Home Screen wallpaper on the iPhone was not possible until iOS 4 was released in 2010, and the software update did not support the original iPhone.
- Verizon Support: Until Verizon began supporting the iPhone, AT&T was the sole iPhone carrier in the United States.
- Siri: Apple’s voice-based digital assistant launched with the iPhone 4S in 2011.
- Touch ID or Face ID: While modern iPhones and iPads are equipped with biometric authentication systems like Face ID or Touch ID, the original iPhone could only be secured with a four-digit passcode. Touch ID arrived with the iPhone 5s in 2013, while Face ID debuted on the iPhone X in 2017.
- Lightning Connector: Like many iPods before it, the original iPhone was equipped with a 30-pin dock connector. Apple switched to the smaller Lightning connector with the release of the iPhone 5 in 2012.
- Retina Display: Introduced on the iPhone 4 in 2010, the Retina display featured four times as many pixels as the original iPhone and was the highest-resolution display for a smartphone ever at the time.
- Wireless Charging: The first iPhones to support wireless charging were the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X released in 2017.
- Water Resistance: Water did not play friendly with the original iPhone, but the latest models have IP68-rated water resistance.
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