The iPhone at 15: How Apple's Phone Became the Center of Your Life

The iPhone at 15: How Apple's Phone Became the Center of Your Life

This story is part of Focal Point iPhone 2022, CNET's collection of news, tips and advice around Apple's most popular product.

What's happening

On June 29, 2007, the first iPhone went on sale. A decade and a half later what defines the iPhone has shifted away from just design and hardware specs to dozens of Apple-centric features and services.

Why it matters

For better or worse, the iPhone has become home to our photos, music, conversations, ideas, games, identity, work, social media, shopping, keys and money. It will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Today marks 15 years since the first iPhone went on sale. When Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone he wryly hyped it as three revolutionary products: an iPod, a phone and an internet communicator. The first iPhone only came in one size and the only decision you had was whether to get 4GB of storage or 8GB. As far as carriers, only AT&T supported Apple's first phone in the US.

At the time, the idea of carrying an iPhone instead of a flip phone and an iPod was enough to convince some people to buy one. For others like me, the iPhone's main appeal was the touchscreen, which seemed unreal and futuristic. 

"From the very beginning, one of the unique things about [the] iPhone was that we wanted to fuse together software, services and hardware to create a simple, powerful kind of magical experience," said Bob Borchers, Apple's vice president for product marketing. "And with the original iPhone, it was that interaction of multitouch and pinch to zoom, where you started to see that come together."

Fifteen years later, Apple sells eight different models of iPhone, five of which have launched in the past 10 months. There is at least one version that works with pretty much every major phone carrier in the world. The iPhone is available in an array of colors, finishes, sizes and storage options that now top out at 1TB. And while the screen is where most of the magic happens, it's no longer the main appeal of the iPhone.

Over the past decade and a half, what defines the iPhone has shifted away from just design and hardware specs. Instead, the iPhone and iOS have become a gateway into Apple services and features like iMessage, FaceTime, Siri, Apple Music, Apple Pay, top-of-the-line cameras and apps like Uber, TikTok, Twitter and WhatsApp. For better or worse, the iPhone has become home to our photos, music, conversations, ideas, games, identity, work, social media, shopping, keys and money.

In 2022, the iPhone continues to extend beyond its svelte metal-and-glass chassis into the world around us. It's the backbone for products like the Apple Watch and AirPods, and will likely play a role in future Apple products like rumored AR glasses.

It also serves as the foundation for Apple's digital services, which have become an increasingly important factor to differentiate the iPhone from competing mobile devices. These services have evolved rapidly in recent years along with the iPhone.

Find My, which started as a tool in 2010 for locating a lost iPhone, has grown into a network for finding Apple devices and pretty much anything you can attach one of Apple's tiny AirTag trackers to. Some products, like VanMoof's S3 bike, even have built-in Find My support, eliminating the need to add an AirTag entirely. As of 2021, Apple's Find My network had hundreds of millions of devices, most of which were iPhones.

Just weeks ago at WWDC, Apple's annual software developers conference, the company announced iOS 16 with expansions to its nearly decade-old Wallet app and Apple Pay service. Essentially, Apple wants to make your physical wallet obsolete. There's also a new feature called Apple Pay Later that lets you split the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments spread over six weeks, with zero interest and no fees. It's done entirely through your iPhone.

The 2022 iPhone SE is nearly identical to the 2020 version but gets more durable glass, 5G and the A15 Bionic chip that debuted in the iPhone 13.

Kevin Heinz/CNET

In fact, you need an iPhone to access or use most of these services. Keep in mind that, for years, the iPhone's premium price made it inaccessible to many, and that's still true of Apple's top-of-the-line iPhone Pro models. The recently upgraded iPhone SE gives Apple the opportunity to expand the iPhone's reach even further. It's the purest example of what defines an iPhone in 2022. The SE blends the body of an iPhone 8 with the glass and processor from the iPhone 13. At $429, it's currently the most affordable way to get people into Apple experiences.

I spoke with Borchers ahead of the iPhone SE launch in March about the phone and why Apple added an A15 Bionic chip to it.

"It's actually a really easy decision to put as much capability as we can in today, in order to invest in and create opportunities for those future experiences. It's something that distinguishes us from others," said Borchers.

No other phone maker takes this approach. It would be like Samsung using the body of its Galaxy S8 and putting the Galaxy S22's processing power inside. The upcoming Pixel 6A will be the first budget Android phone that uses the same processor, Google's Tensor chip, as the flagship Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. Of course, Google isn't putting it into the body of Pixel 2 and instead is introducing a new design.

It makes sense that Apple's cheapest phone has the same processor as its most expensive: It's all about giving people access to Apple experiences. For example, if you buy an iPhone SE, you can use the Live Text feature in iOS 15 to grab text with your camera or copy it from a photo. And while the 2016 and 2020 versions of the iPhone SE sold well, it seems the 2022 version isn't breaking any sales records yet. Apple doesn't disclose a specific model breakdown of how many iPhones it sells, but analyst Ming-Chi Kuo lowered his shipping estimates for the iPhone SE (2022) by 10 million. The lower demand could be an effect of rising inflation and the fact that the 2022 and 2020 versions of the iPhone SE look identical.

The SE showcases how iOS and Apple Silicon become the bedrock for everything you do on your iPhone. Obviously, not every model in Apple's iPhone lineup is equal. More expensive phones like the iPhone 13 Pro come with a contemporary design, high refresh-rate screens, larger camera sensors and tools like the U1 ultrawideband chip and lidar.

These extra perks mean you can use your iPhone in more ways. For example, if you've got the right car, you can unlock it and start it with your iPhone. Borscher describes moments like these as "automagic," meaning it just works. The same way a pair of AirPods can switch from your iPhone to your Mac for watching a video, or the way you can unlock your Mac using your Apple Watch.

Apple first introduced AirPods in 2017 with the release of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which lacked a physical headphone jack. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Such growth has consequences. Antitrust concerns over the app store and mobile payments, debates about screen time, Apple's contentious dealings with the FBI, criticism that all these services are part of a strategy to lock people into Apple's ecosystem and, more recently, privacy questions over AirTags are just some of the concerns that have grown alongside the iPhone's meteoric success. There are even questions as to whether Apple can launch another product line that is even half as successful as the iPhone. My CNET colleague and Apple reporter Ian Sherr points out that products like the Apple Watch and AirPods are lucrative lar gely because of their connection to the iPhone.

Over 15 years, the iPhone has become ubiquitous and helped Apple become a nearly $3 trillion company. The next iteration of the phone, likely called the iPhone 14, is expected to launch this September. It will no doubt run on iOS 16 and have the newest version of Apple's A-series processor and will continue to support the Apple experience. As for the long-term, my colleague Lisa Eadicicco thinks the most important part of future iPhones will be how it works with everything around it.

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Apple's iMessage Should Improve Texting to Android and Other Phones

Apple's iMessage Should Improve Texting to Android and Other Phones

Apple's iMessage is getting a major overhaul later this year with iOS 16, but most of these new features, like unsending a message or editing a text, will only work if the person you are texting also has an iPhone. 

Since Apple has full control over its messaging platform, iPhone owners get a consistent experience that works well regardless of the carrier or specific iPhone model. But it's also inadvertently created a long history of separating people into "blue" and "green" bubbles based on whether they're using an iPhone or Android phone. Apple also relies on the dated MMS standard for non-iMessage group chats, which results in a lack of support for modern features like read receipts and higher-quality images.

While social pressures among those that do and do not show up as a blue bubble have been frequently documented, such as in the Wall Street Journal among teens and young people, the much bigger issue revolves around universal communication. There is no single, modern texting standard that works across all phones. Rich Communication Services, or RCS, is the closest alternative that potentially wouldn't require installing yet another chat app. 

While RCS itself is an open standard, the most common way people are using it is within Google's Messages app on Android phones. Google reported at this year's I/O developer conference in May that Google Messages has a half billion monthly active users. The company's investment in both the RCS standard and its Messages app comes after a long history of launchingproprietarytexting apps that did not gain the notoriety of iMessage or Meta's WhatsApp. Google is continuing this proprietary texting strategy alongside its RCS investment, most recently by shutting down its Hangouts app and migrating users into the Google Chat app instead.

RCS supports many iMessage-like features such as typing indicators and read receipts. But its rollout has been fragmented as US phone carriers each separately announced plans to make RCS the default option on most Android phones. While RCS isn't currently interoperable with iOS, Google has built cross-platform message reactions into its texting app to improve how texts from an iPhone appear within Android. Other features that are already in iMessage, such as group chat encryption, are still in development for RCS and Google's Messages app. 

The RCS standard is a step forward in making messaging more uniform across the wide variety of Android devices that exist. But without iOS adoption, its impact on the quality of messaging between Android and iPhones remains limited. 

As one of the biggest players in the mobile phone industry, Apple could make a bigger effort to establish a more consistent texting experience across devices. But the question is whether doing so is in the company's interest. Apple often touts its control over iOS as a selling point for consumers, and shifting away from iMessage could jeopardize that. 

Apple did not respond to CNET's request for comment. When this commentary was originally published, Google pointed CNET to a series of tweets from Hiroshi Lockheimer, its senior vice president for Android. Lockheimer criticizes Apple for using "pressure and bullying" to lock in users in the tweets. 

However, there are a few changes Apple could make to address this issue, similar to the way it brought a limited FaceTime experience to Android and Windows users in iOS 15.

Supporting RCS in Apple's Messages app, even a little bit

Apple should consider bringing RCS support to iOS 16. Apple has a history of adopting open formats after they have spent a few years developing, and RCS already includes many iMessage-like features such as typing indicators, enhanced group chats and encryption.

For instance, Apple did not race into the wireless charging space and instead waited for the Qi standard to reach widespread adoption before integrating it into the iPhone 8 and iPhone X in 2017. It even intended to build its own Qi-based AirPower wireless charger, but instead held back until 2020 to sell its own MagSafe wireless chargers.

Apple doesn't even have to give RCS a full endorsement to make a difference. It could keep non-iPhone messages green and lean on iPhone-exclusive features like Memoji, which uses the iPhone's Face ID to create facial animations, to keep Apple loyalists hooked. But supporting a few key features would go a long way in allowing for a smoother communication experience while keeping a degree of Apple exclusivity.

Apple could also support encryption between messages regardless of the platform, especially since the company positions itself as a consumer privacy advocate. One would reason that this alone should be enough for Apple to embrace RCS. 

Improve how Apple's Messages app sends and receives SMS

Apple's iMessage includes lots of fun animations that are invisible to anyone who isn't using an iPhone in your group chat.

Jason Cipriani/CNET

If supporting RCS is simply not going to happen in iOS, Apple could instead make the most of the limited bandwidth available within SMS and MMS. 

Apple is doing this for at least one feature in the iOS 16 public beta. Within group chats that are being handled over MMS, Apple's Messages app will translate reactions so everyone receives an emoji instead of a text about how someone "Liked" or "Loved" a message. Google's Messages app has similar functionality. 

Perhaps when photos and videos are sent over MMS, which was never designed for the multi-lens cameras on modern phones, Apple's Messages app could proactively suggest sending an iCloud link instead of a grungy compressed picture. This could work similarly to a feature currently available in Google Photos that allows users to select multiple photos and generate a web link to share with your friends or family members. 

And, similar to how Apple recently brought a version of FaceTime to the web for Android and Windows users, maybe it could create a version of iMessage that is viewable on the web. This could benefit its existing iPhone customers who would like to access iMessage from a Windows PC or Chromebook, while also allowing Android phone owners to view messages and other shared content the same way an iPhone user would. This idea would still be annoying for Android users, but it's better than receiving texts out of order during fast-flowing group chats. 

Build iMessage for Android

One of the most surprising revelations from last year's Apple v. Epic trial was that Apple had discussed building an iMessage client for Android back in 2013. But Apple executives passed on the idea over concerns about the competition. The possibility of Google buying WhatsApp worried Apple, and the company also feared that bringing iMessage to Android could make it easier for iPhone owners to switch to Google's phone platform, as the WSJ story pointed out. 

But much has changed in the years since, including Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp instead of Google. Although Apple has opened up some of its products like FaceTime, it also relies on its services to lock in iPhone customers.

On the other hand, bringing iMessage to Android could instead draw more customers to Apple's iPhone ecosystem. It's a strategy that worked way back in the 2000s, when launching iTunes on Windows considerably increased the customer base for Apple's music store. Sure, it might convince some iPhone customers to jump ship and switch to Android. But it could also help Apple reach a wider audience by exposing Android users to its products and services.

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