29 June 2007 · iPhone

iPhone (1st generation)

4 GB · 8 GB

iPhone (1st generation) product photograph

Rafael Fernandez · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why it mattered

It is easy to forget how much the first iPhone lacked: no 3G, no App Store, no copy-and-paste, no video recording, and US sales locked to AT&T. What it had was a multi-touch screen and a real web browser, which changed what people expected a phone to be. Apple also cut the 8 GB price by $200 just two months after launch, triggering complaints from early buyers and $100 store credits.

Models and prices

Model / configReleasedKey specsUS launch priceIn 2025 dollars (estimate)
iPhone 4 GB29 Jun 20073.5-inch 320×480, 2 MP camera, EDGE$499≈ $770
iPhone 8 GB29 Jun 2007same$599≈ $930
iPhone 16 GB5 Feb 2008same$499≈ $750

Inflation-adjusted prices are estimates: launch price × (US CPI-U 2025 annual average 321.943 ÷ CPI-U annual average of the launch year), rounded to the nearest $10. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, series CUUR0000SA0. US list prices only; they ignore currency, taxes and carrier subsidies.

What came before and after

Before: iPod (2001) and the Motorola ROKR E1 iTunes phone (2005). After: iPhone 3G (July 2008).

Buying and collecting notes

Sealed boxed originals have sold for very high sums at auction; used working units are far cheaper. Check that the device is not locked to a carrier activation.

Questions

When was the first iPhone released?
Announced 9 January 2007, released 29 June 2007 in the US.
How much did the first iPhone cost?
$499 for 4 GB and $599 for 8 GB.
Did the first iPhone have the App Store?
No, the App Store opened in July 2008.
Did the original iPhone support 3G?
No, it used 2G EDGE.

Sources

iPhone (1st generation) was released on 29 June 2007, alongside 1 other product.

The iPhone is a smartphone developed and marketed by Apple as the first device in the iPhone lineup of smartphones. It features a Samsung S5L8900 SoC (90 nm), a 3.5 in multi-touch display, and a web browser (Safari). After years of rumors and speculation, it was officially announced on January 9, 2007, and was released in the United States on June 29, 2007.

Development of the iPhone began in 2005 and continued in secrecy until its public unveiling at Macworld 2007. The device broke with prevailing mobile phone designs by eliminating most physical hardware buttons, and relying on a finger-friendly touchscreen interface that did not need a stylus. The iPhone featured quad-band GSM cellular connectivity with GPRS and EDGE support for data transfer, and it used continuous internet access and onboard processing to support features unrelated to voice communication.

The iPhone generated much hype before release, and it quickly became Apple's most successful product, although it was met with less enthusiasm in European territories. At the time, the iPhone appealed largely to the general public, as opposed to the business community, upon which BlackBerry and IBM were primarily focused. By integrating existing technology and expanding on usability, the iPhone turned the smartphone industry "on its head", and later generations of the iPhone propelled Apple to become one of the world's most profitable companies. Its successor, the iPhone 3G, was announced on June 9, 2008.

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