Apple’s first iPhone turns 15 years old

CUPERTINO, Calif. (UPI) — Sunday marks 15 years since the late Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s first iPhone, spurring a revolution in cellphone technology.

On Jan. 9, 2007, Jobs introduced the cutting edge smartphone as “an iPod, a phone and internet communicator” during a keynote presentation in Las Vegas.

“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,” he said.

The original phone launched at a base price of $499 for 4 GB of storage, with an 8 GB option available for $100 more. It had a 3.5-inch screen, one camera located on the back of the phone, and launched with just 15 apps, with no marketplace available to download new ones.

In 2022, the most expensive iPhone 13 Pro Max model costs $1,599 with 1 TB of storage, a 6.7-inch screen four total cameras, including a front-facing camera, and access to millions of apps on Apple’s App store.

The iPhone was also exclusively available to AT&T wireless customers until 2011 and is now available through most major wireless carriers.

Just 74 days after the launch of the original iPhone, Apple had sold 1 million units with the phone remaining popular, selling 216.7 million units in 2018, a rate of roughly a million every 1.5 days.

Propelled in part by the popularity of the iPhone, Apple’s market valuation has risen from $174.03 billion in 2007 to become the first publicly-traded company to achieve a $3 trillion market valuation last week.

Reporting by Daniel Uria