iPhone Hits 10 Years, Tim Cook Says "The Best Is Yet To Come"
While phones that could run apps have been in existence before it, it's virtually impossible today to deny how the Apple iPhone, first launched in 2007, really defined what a smartphone is. Now 10 years later, the smartphone has become embedded in people's pockets, hands, and lives. Almost ironically, the weeks leading to the iPhone's 10th birthday were marked by the device's first ever disappointing, though not disheartening, numbers. So the big question is, what's next for the iconic handheld? According to CEO Tim Cook, "the best".
Of course, he's going to say that, but what would that mean in practice. If we will go by recent rumors surrounding the iPhone 8, it will be quite a departure from the iPhone that was launched a decade ago. Then again, that departure already started with the iPhone 6 in 2014, with a bigger size, an even bigger sibling, rounded edges, a camera bump, and obnoxious antenna lines.
Apple took the opportunity to boast of how the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, despite radically looking different from the first iPhone, carried on its tradition of innovation. That included, for the first time in an iPhone, a dual camera system. But Apple giveth and Apple taketh away. The iPhone 7 also marked the removable of the headphone jack. Fortunately, Apple also removed those conspicuous antenna lines. Or at least some of them.
As for the iPhone 8, that is rumored to, at the very least, sport a new OLED screen, also a first for the LCD champion. Whether other features like a no home button facade or very thin bezels also make it to the final product remains to be seen. That is, if the iPhone 8 is really meant to launch this year.
Just as the iPhone has evolved over the course of 10 years, so have people's relationship to the brand. Even some former die-hard iPhone fans have had cause to be concerned over the company's recent decisions. Cook, however, assures them that they're just getting started. So here's to another 10 years for the iPhone!