"Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything."
With those words, Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world in 2007. And in the nearly 14 years since, he's been proven right.
iPhone releases have occurred every year since 2007, though – especially in this year of the coronavirus pandemic – they don't quite look the same as they used to. A highly produced Tim Cook basking in the futuristic beauty of the Apple Campus has replaced the pacing and electric Steve Jobs; customers opt for placing online pre-orders instead of camping out in lines around Apple Stores.
It's not better or worse, it's just different. But looking at the photos and videos of launches through the years shows how far the iPhone has come from Steve Jobs' pocket to 2020.
Here's a look back at every iPhone launch, in photos.
The launch of the original iPhone, followed by iPhone 3G and 3GS (with the App Store!), saw tents and creative ways of passing the time in line.
Apple Store employees greeted the first customers to buy the iPhone in San Francisco. (Photo by James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images)Credit: James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images
June 29, 2007 saw stacks and stacks of iPhones.Credit: GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images
Apple fans found creative ways to spend time in line (2007).Credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty ImagesSteve Jobs showed up to the Apple Store at the Palo Alto iPhone launch!
Steve Jobs came to see what the people thought.Credit: MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty ImagesThe hype continued for iPhone 3G and 3GS
Hype from the iPhone 3G, Apple's second gen iPhone released in 2008, was high.Credit: Rick Gershon/Getty ImagesThe iPhone that gave the world a high resolution display *and* a selfie camera changed everything once again. More lines, more camping, and... performance art?!
September 2010 in Taipei was a busy time for line-standers.Credit: SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images
Artists even performed in Taipei!Credit: SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images
These iPhone 4S release attendees? Icons.Credit: YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP via Getty ImagesThe slimming, transformative design of the iPhone 5 got the hype it deserved. The following year, Apple debuted its split tiered phones (one more expensive, one less) with the 5S and the bright and beloved 5C.
Nothing says "prettiest smartphone yet!" like a human tunnel!Credit: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty ImagesTim Cook pulled a 2007 Steve Jobs and came to the Palo Alto Apple Store to celebrate.
Tim Cook, celebrating his innovation of widening the iPhone consumer pool into two price points.Credit: MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty ImagesPeople flocked to Apple stores to herald the age of the iPhone's physical expansion with the 6-series in 2014. In 2015, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus launched alongside the Apple Watch, which led to even more hype.
A mall in Toronto got heavy foot traffic around the Apple Store.Credit: Colin McConnell/Toronto Star via Getty Images
Excuse me, but where can we find this Steve Jobs body pillow ASAP?Credit: YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP via Getty ImagesReleasing three different iPhone models on two different dates, 2016 was a big year for Apple. The cheaper SE became so near and dear that its users clung to it until Apple released a new SE in 2019. The 7-series got rid of the headphone jack and added a second lens on the 7 Plus camera.
The 7's metallics are still so prety.Credit: JACK TAYLOR/AFP via Getty Images
An appropriately celebratory mohawk seen in Tokyo.Credit: David Mareuil/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesThe reborn iPhone with its spectacular graphics and full screen display (sayonara, home button) was a huge moment in Apple history, and people lined up and celebrated as always. Oh yeah, and the iPhone 8 was also there.
Yum.Credit: Carl Court/Getty Images
Is it us, or does the crowd look a bit thinner than years past?Credit: Carl Court/Getty ImagesHowever, between the Russian cyberwarfare-assisted election of President Trump and the successful Brexit campaign in 2016 secured in large part by the efforts of Cambridge Analytica, 2017 was a year the public's rosy image of technology shifted. Apple felt the effects, too: Some people flocked to the Apple store in Paris not to buy new iPhones, but to protest Apple allegedly not paying its fair share of taxes.
They didn't show up to buy phones.Credit: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images
One upside of those glass Apple Store walls: They're a great place for a protest slogan!Credit: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty ImagesA smarter, better camera on the XS models and the colorful budget phone that is the XR made 2018 a somewhat underwhelming year. While photos show some hardcore devotees lining up and camping out in Moscow, the immediate, must-have feeding frenzy did not turn out in the streets.
iPhone has some hardcare fans in Moscow.Credit: Mikhail Tereshchenko\TASS via Getty ImagesThe year of the three lenses saw orderly lines and an always excited Apple Store staff.
Sydney, Australia and Apple's orderly lines.Credit: Jason McCawley/Getty Images
Apple Store employees happy to see their customers.Credit: Jason McCawley/Getty ImagesApple's first iPhone in the time of coronavirus was a reboot of the SE, and saw a release that looked like nothing that came before: A virtual drop, and in stores in the parts of the world that were even allowed to be open, with customers socially distanced and in masks.
An Apple store in Hangzou, China looked different on iPhone launch day.Credit: Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty ImagesThe Apple 12-series phones are currently available for pre-order, and will be released on October 23rd. We just hope anyone lining up remains at least six feet apart.
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