It’s actually quite possible to release the best smartphone in the world, but to do it 17 times in a row, leaving no chance for competitors? In my opinion, the Apple iPhone has become a real miracle, a unique phenomenon in the world of technology and beyond. It is this device that has changed not only the approach to the production, perception, and understanding of the smartphone, but also shaped a new generation of humanity, literally forming the world society. And here’s why it is so.
A smartphone reinvented
The concept of «smart» phone dates back to the late 1990s, when the phenomenal Nokia Communicator series first appeared. Gradually, smartphones moved closer to the people, and more affordable models of compact size appeared, which had practical applications not only in the lives of always busy businessmen.
Button, touch, with different shapes and operating systems — there were so many of them that it would be impossible to list the most interesting models not only here, but in one article. That is why we have written a lot of them. Here is a series of articles about various phones from other manufacturers before the Apple iPhone era:
After 2007, everything changed dramatically, as the release of the Apple iPhone that year gradually destroyed or negatively affected all companies that did not adopt new rules of the game. A huge capacitive screen with Multi Touch (for the first time in the world), smooth interface and unattainable usability — all these factors made the Apple iPhone 1 a hit despite its mediocre characteristics.
At the time of the release of the Apple iPhone, there were more functional phones from other manufacturers, but they did not provide the same level of interaction as the first iPhone. The company realized what people wanted and did not lose. From now on, you can use intelligent everyone can use the phone, even not intelligent peopleincluding three-year-old children, 80-year-old pensioners with dementia, people who cannot read and write, etc.
This is because the operating system is built as simple as possible, the interface is casual and intuitive. Even monkey, you can teach them how to scroll through Tik-Tok videos and use an iPad.
Subsequently, others followed the same path when «borrowed»’s main idea from Apple, creating the Android OS, but this is another story that we will discuss in a separate article.
If you remember how complicated Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and Symbian smartphones were, everything falls into place: young people are simply physically unable to fully interact with old technology that required serious technical knowledge and had a high entry threshold.
It’s the same with mediocre opportunities, but unique experience of use the first Apple iPhone was able to outgrow itself in subsequent generations and become the most technologically advanced smartphone in the world, retaining the title of global market leader.
Unattainable level of technology
The first iPhone had a really bad camera, couldn’t record video, and had limited Bluetooth capabilities. At the time, it was more rational to buy a versatile Samsung i780, multimedia Nokia N95, or music Sony Ericsson W960, but there is one thing that the iPhone did well, leaving no chance for the primitive but functional OS.
With each new generation, the iPhone received better and better hardware, narrowing the gap between competitors, and the software became more advanced. At a certain point, Apple’s technology went into a big break, which was reflected in the device’s crazy sales, motivating the company to invest even more in the development of new models. Of course, this was largely influenced by a powerful advertising campaign that was able to identify the modern user with the iPhone, not any other smartphone.
Starting with the iPhone 3GS, Apple has already bitten off a large chunk of the market (million devices in a week of sales), and the iPhone 4S took the concept of mobile photography and processor performance to a whole new level. Over time, it got to the point where Mediatek, Samsung, and Qualcomm were 3-4 years behind Apple in technological development!
Let’s look at two cases of current and old smartphones to understand where the trend is headed. Fortunately, the gap from the monopolist is shrinking, but not as fast as we would like. It is obvious that Apple has given a serious impetus to the development of ARM processors, just as AMD once stirred up the x86 market.
According to official data Geekbench Apple’s iPhone smartphones have a giant gap with competitors. For example, the Apple iPhone 8 has a 62% more productive corethan its peer Samsung Galaxy S8, and in multithreading it gains by 25% more points. Has anything changed now?
Independent testing only confirm the fact that Apple is leaving competitors far behind. iPhone 16 Pro Max on 35% faster than Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in synthetic Geekbench Single Core tests, by 17% faster in Multi Core and in 2+ times faster when processing browser scripts in Speedometer 3.0. Well, the lag is smaller now, although there are a few nuances.
В tests Apple’s phone also demonstrates a surprising gap in terms of artificial intelligence. The difference can be measured not in %, but in times. It is unlikely that Google will proudly announce at its presentation that their flagship (Pixel 9 Pro XL) is only in twice as slow as the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It’s good that it’s not five.
The combination of excellent software and hardware has paid off. This symbiosis was unrivaled among competitors (17 years have passed, and the leadership has not changed). Despite a good start, Google’s operating system began to lose ground over the years to generous The number of buyers is growing.
In real life, the difference becomes even greater as the device ages. Regular updates, ongoing support, and quality software make it so that the iPhone matures like a fine wine over time, and competitors turn to vinegar. Even at release, they lose in benchmarks, and over time, the gap only widens.
In the premium segment, Android OS could not compete with iOS due to the low quality of the software, high RAM and battery consumption, although it still gained popularity among lower-end smartphones. Nowadays, Android is doing much better, but it is still technologically far from the «Apple» ecosystem.
It is also interesting that with smaller batteries, Apple iPhones have the best battery life in their class. Moreover, as the processor load increases, the gap with competitors grows. Only low-cost Android smartphones with weak chips can overtake the iPhone in terms of battery life, but the flagships are not to be denied.
The energy-efficient processor is not only 30-40% more productive than similar ones from Qualcomm, but also consumes less power, overheats less, and does not throttle like other manufacturers. Just look at the stress test charts for Android flagships — we pay the full price and get 60-70% performance at best. A typical Apple user is not aware of these concepts, but sees that their smartphone is faster than Android competitors.
This is how the opinion and general perception of the leader is formed. That is, a modern Android flagship can really be fast, convenient, high-qualitybut.. iPhone simply best in each of these points, which an experienced/inexperienced user notices, even without all these tests with «numbers» in benchmarks where Apple is the undisputed leader.
With cameras, everything seems to be clear: iPhones take good photos at the level of other flagships and shoot video the best (no competition here), and most importantly, they have the highest % of successful photos.
It is worth mentioning our test Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Maxwhere the winner of the photo battle is visible to the naked eye, and even more so at night. Apple on the left and Samsung on the right.
iPhone owners love their camera for its stability and properly configured algorithms that can blur the background, set the lighting and sharpness correctly, unlike unreliable software in Android. No wonder why they choose them over smartphones that can’t blur the background around a cat (S23 Ultra).
For some reason, ratings like DXOMARK don’t help promote their leaders because only true enthusiasts (or residents of China) know about the existence of those top smartphones. They can take high-quality photos, but mass market users still choose reliability and stability in a mobile camera, and as a bonus, they get the best video on the market among smartphones, which fans of the opposite camp will not argue with.
iPhone users do not think about these technological subtleties, benchmarks, and tests, but they see and feel the difference on their own experience. You can buy a high-quality smartphone from any manufacturer (the competition has become fierce, and Android flagships have improved a lot), but why buy a good one if you can buy the best?
Support, software and life cycle
Apple is known to support their devices for a long time, releasing relevant updates, providing repair services. So it is not surprising to see them dominance in the refurbished smartphone market, because it makes sense to repair such devices, as they will be bought after repair for a considerable amount of money. The demand is huge, even for iPhones marked «refurbished at the factory».
What about the operating system support? Fresh updates for a 7-year-old device? Why not! And this is at a time when most Chinese smartphones receive updates no more than two years apart.
Apple smartphones are compatible with the latest version of iOS 18:
- iPhone XR
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2nd generation)
- iPhone SE (3rd generation)
Samsung also tries to support its flagship solutions as long as possible, but it is still far from Apple’s level in this regard. The Samsung Galaxy S9 (the same age as the iPhone XS) received an update to Android 10 when Android 15 is coming. That is, only two versions, like the cheapest smartphones from Nokia, HMD, Motorola, and the 2018 iPhone still runs the latest version of iOS 18.
So, the Apple iPhone remains relevant longer, much, much longer than the best «competitors» with Android OS. A second-hand Samsung Galaxy S9 can be purchased for 2500-4000 hryvnias, while an Apple iPhone XS will cost twice as much, and even three times as much, depending on its technical condition.
Both smartphones had approximately the same price at the start of sales, and are depreciated in different ways. The flagships of Chinese manufacturers are losing even more in price because there is low demand for them, and people are ready to fight for an iPhone outside the store.
The incredible public demand for Apple iPhones causes a slow loss of value, and this is due to the fact that these smartphones remain relevant longer than any other. They show higher performance (as mentioned above) at release, and after 5-8 years, the difference grows even more in favor of Android flagships.
That’s why they are so expensive on the used market, and Xiaomi, Redmi, Poco, Vivo, Oppo, Realme, Motorola, Sony, Asus, ZTE, Samsung, Nokia, and other top smartphones are getting cheaper faster (no one is interested?) than hailstones melt in July.
When other phones throw away to the landfill because they no longer have any value in society, iPhones are repaired, restored, and continued to be used as long as possible because a 6-7-year-old device is still relevant.
This is one of the indicators interestsand necessity, importance, relevance, and necessity, desirability of smartphones among society, at least among the vast majority of it. So far, the Apple iPhone has been the leader in terms of life cycle duration without a hint of competition.
World leader for 17 years in a row
In addition to being the most desirable phone (and device in general) in the world, the company has managed to outperform (not for long) the leader by number sold units. At the same time, the world’s most popular Samsung A-series models cost 5-8 times less than the iPhone, i.e. they are budget models, while the flagships sell much worse.
In 2022 75% of premium smartphones were from Apple, and the trend is only in favor of the apple corporation. Fewer and fewer people are buying Android flagships because people are disappointed in them for the obvious reasons mentioned above (performance, software, support).
- Different iPhones took 8 places in the TOP 10 most popular smartphones in 2022
У 2024 year iPhone again dominates on the market, taking the most places in the top ten most popular smartphones in the world. The leader was iPhone 15, with 4.1% ofand the closest smartphone from another manufacturer, Samsung A15 5G, has only 2.0% in the second quarter of the year. The only flagship in the ranking, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (sales fell compared to Q1 2024), sells almost three times worse than the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max.
There are no flagships from Google Pixel, Motorola, Xiaomi (only budget), ZTE, Asus, Sony in the ranking. Apple is firmly in the lead leadership sales already 17th year in a row and has not yet hinted that anyone is capable of displacing their product. Every year, they exceed their own expectations, set new records, and penetrate deeper into society as the main device in a person’s life.
- Pre-orders of iPhone 15 Pro Max exceeded Apple’s forecasts, — Ming-Chi Kuo
With more than two billion iPhones in the world, that’s a lot, considering that they’ve been around much longer than their Android competitors. When other manufacturers’ flagships are scrapped, The iPhone receives relevant updates for several more years and is sold to the third or fourth owner on the secondary market.
- Apple report: $69.7 billion in iPhone sales and 2.2 billion active devices worldwide
The absolute global leadership is evidenced not only by dry sales statistics, but also by kilometer-long queues on the day of the launch. In today’s world of technology, people stand in line only for Sony game consoles, or behind Apple smartphones, it is almost impossible to see anything else.
Have you ever seen a line for new Xiaomi, Samsung, or Pixel products? No one is in a hurry to buy classic PCs, TVs, and gaming laptops. The Apple iPhone is so desirable that people are ready to book a place for the night, sleep in a tent, take out a loan, and run over each other’s heads to get it first. Like sugar in Soviet times, fans are waiting for a new product, and this has been going on for almost two decades in a row. This is what Apple phenomenon.
Reflections instead of conclusions
If it weren’t for Apple, there would definitely be no such functional smartphones today, including those running on Android. It was the iPhone that gave an important impetus to progress, forcing manufacturers to work hard to compete with the new hit.
Thanks to the success of the Apple iPhone, the world has seen a tremendous increase in the performance of mobile chips, the development of mobile photography and social networks. Looking at the sales of the apple smartphone, other manufacturers began to bring innovations themselves in the face of difficult competition.
But is it all for the better? What would the world be like without the Apple iPhone? Perhaps it would be worse… or much better. People would probably spend less time in front of screens of uncomfortable smartphones with styluses and more time in real life, watch less video on portable devices, and buy more desktop computers.
Perhaps children would not suffer from mental disorders because of mobile video games with casino mechanics or watching short videos on Tik-Tok, and single moms would spend time with their children instead of chatting with potential stepfathers for their daughter on Instagram or filming a new video for OnlyFunds.
Since 2007 (the launch of the Apple iPhone + YouHub), funding for the 18+ industry has increased tenfold, strongly the birth rate has fallen, decreased level testosterone among the male population, the dominance of ultra-leftist sentiments in the media, etc. At the very least, people began to communicate more online in correspondence, and less over the phone by voice.
Of course, technological progress is directly related to all these social changes, and the Apple iPhone, as the main device of our time, has made the greatest contribution to the foundation of what we have now. But maybe it’s all for the best?
Sometimes change is good, so time will put everything in its place in the world of new people. A world that is being shaped by a company that started from «a small garage» with its incredible impact on society.
