Apple started 2007 with a single product that made a big splash. But over the past 15 years, there have been far more than 15 iPhones, as the company rolled out big ones, little ones, cheap ones, and costly ones.
The plan was one iPhone a year until 2013, when the iPhone 5c joined the iPhone 5s in a dual release. Since then, we’ve gotten up to five iPhones a year, in the banner year of 2020 when we saw the iPhone SE 2, the 12 mini, the 12, the 12 Pro, and the 12 Pro Max.
I’ve reviewed every iPhone. Every one! Over those 15 years, here are the five which made the biggest mark for me. Note that not all of these were my review picks at the time.
iPhone 3G (2008)
The app store makes the iPhone. Apple’s original iPhone was interesting but limited; I wouldn’t even really call it a smartphone, because I define a smartphone as a device able to run third-party apps. It had lousy phone-call quality and couldn’t show many desktop Web pages. I loved the interface, but the experience could be pretty rough, as I said in my original review of the first iPhone.
iOS 2.0 was even more important than the iPhone 3G hardware, but the two went hand in hand. The new iOS introduced the App Store, while the 3G model had network connectivity fast enough to download apps. More than any other iPhone, I think the 2008 model and its software changed the entire world we live in. (Read our iPhone 3G review.)
iPhone 5 (2012)
The iPhone broke free of its AT&T shackles in the 4S year, but thanks to 4G LTE and the larger 4-inch screen, the iPhone 5 was the one to really take advantage of being on every US carrier. This was just a beloved, well-made phone, which I called “faster, less frustrating, and less fragile” than the 4S in my review. This was the first iPhone I feel like I saw everybody holding at once. (Read our iPhone 5 review.)
iPhone SE (2016, 2020)
As the decade began to turn, smartphones became steadily larger and more expensive. The iPhone SE (and its successor, the SE 2) were joyous correctives to those trends—affordable, powerful phones that fit smaller hands, but got you into the iPhone ecosystem with finesse. They showed that you didn’t need to empty your pockets or fall back to an older model to get those treasured blue chat bubbles. I have high hopes for an SE 3 coming soon. (Read our iPhone SE review.)
iPhone X (2017)
Apple’s tenth-anniversary iPhone piled in new design ideas and features that played out over the next five years. It was the first iPhone with an OLED screen, the first without a physical home button, the first with Face ID, the first with notable AR capabilities, and the first one to cost $999. Whether or not you liked those changes—and a lot of people still don’t!—the iPhone X set an agenda that the iPhone 13 family is still working from. (Read our iPhone X review.)
iPhone 12 Pro (2020)
I’m the 5G guy! So I have to give a nod to the first 5G iPhone, even though 5G networks haven’t lived up to the promises Verizon’s Hans Vestberg made at the phone’s launch. The 12 Pro also introduced the latest sharp, square-edged design and dramatically improved camera night mode, probably the top camera feature average people have asked for. (Read our iPhone 12 Pro review.)
Be sure to read 15 Years Ago, the iPhone Created ‘Big Tech’ and My Reporting Notes From the Original iPhone Launch 15 Years Ago.
