Honestly, if you ask someone on the street about the year of the first iPhone, they usually get it half-right. They remember the black turtleneck. They remember Steve Jobs pacing the stage at Macworld. But there is a weird, six-month gap between the hype and the reality that most people just skip over in their heads.
The iPhone didn't just drop out of the sky in 2007. It was a slow-motion car crash for the rest of the phone industry that started in January and didn't actually hit the pavement until the summer.
2007: The Year Everything Changed (Twice)
The year of the first iPhone was 2007. But it’s not that simple.
See, there are two birthdays. On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs stood on a stage in San Francisco and told the world he was introducing three products: a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communicator.
He repeated it like a mantra. "An iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator."
Then he dropped the punchline: "These are not three separate devices. This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone."
But here’s the kicker—you couldn’t actually buy one. Not for a long time. Apple announced the thing in January, but it didn’t go on sale until June 29, 2007.
If you were a tech geek in early 2007, you spent six months staring at a product that didn't technically exist yet. It was basically the most successful "vaporware" in history because it actually showed up and worked. Mostly.
Why the Gap?
Apple needed the FCC to approve the device. Usually, once the FCC sees a phone, the specs leak everywhere. Jobs decided to announce it early so he could control the narrative before some government filing did it for him.
The Specs That Sound Like a Joke Now
It is kinda hilarious to look back at what we thought was "high-tech" in 2007. We are talking about a device that had:
- A 3.5-inch screen. Your current Pro Max is basically a tablet in comparison.
- 128MB of RAM. No, that isn't a typo. Not gigabytes. Megabytes.
- 4GB or 8GB of storage. You couldn't even fit a modern 4K video on the base model.
- A 2-megapixel camera on the back. No front-facing camera. No selfies. No video recording at all.
Basically, the first iPhone was a beautiful brick of aluminum and glass that couldn't even send a picture over a text message (MMS). It didn't have GPS. It didn't even have 3G—it ran on AT&T’s "EDGE" network, which was essentially like trying to drink a milkshake through a very thin, very clogged straw.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Launch
Everyone thinks the App Store was there on day one. It wasn't.
When the year of the first iPhone rolled around, Apple’s official stance was that you didn't need third-party apps. Steve Jobs famously wanted developers to make "Web 2.0" apps that ran in the Safari browser. He was terrified that "crap" apps would break his perfect phone.
The App Store didn't actually launch until 2008 with the iPhone 3G. On the original 2007 model, you had exactly what Apple gave you: Stocks, Weather, Notes, Calculator, and a version of Google Maps that didn't know which way you were facing.
And yet? People lost their minds.
They waited in lines for days. The 8GB model cost $599. With a two-year contract! That was unheard of back then. Most phones were $49 or maybe $99 if they were "fancy" like a BlackBerry or a Palm Treo.
Why 2007 Still Matters
The reason we still talk about the year of the first iPhone is that it killed the physical keyboard.
Before 2007, "smart" meant you had a tiny plastic keyboard with Chicklet-sized buttons. Apple bet everything on Multi-Touch. They bet that people would rather type on glass than on plastic.
Microsoft's CEO at the time, Steve Ballmer, famously laughed at the iPhone. He said it was the most expensive phone in the world and that it wouldn't appeal to business customers because it didn't have a keyboard.
He was wrong. So was everyone else who thought Nokia was untouchable.
Actionable Takeaways for the Tech-Curious
If you’re looking back at the 2007 iPhone today, here is how to use that knowledge:
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- Contextualize your upgrades: If you think your current phone is "slow," remember that the 2007 model took almost a full minute to load a basic webpage on EDGE.
- Investment Perspective: Original, factory-sealed 2007 iPhones have recently sold at auction for over $100,000. If you have an old one in a drawer, it’s probably not worth that much (it needs to be sealed), but it is a genuine piece of museum-grade history.
- Hardware Design: Notice the "silent switch" on your current iPhone? That is one of the only physical design elements that has survived since the original June 29, 2007 launch.
The year of the first iPhone wasn't just about a gadget. It was the moment the computer moved from our desks to our pockets, for better or worse.
To truly understand the trajectory of mobile tech, look into the "Purple Project"—the secret codename for the iPhone's development. It reveals how Apple almost built a tablet first before realizing the phone was the bigger opportunity. Knowing the 2007 launch window helps clarify why the mobile industry moves in the cycles it does today.