Do you remember? On January 9, 2007, Apple unveiled the iPhone. “Apple has launched a mobile phone with the iPhone that has no equal,” we wrote at the time. The smartphone market is now by far the most important for countless companies, including Apple. Most of the revenue still comes from the iPhone, even though other branches such as the services branch are booming. But how will that develop over the next 15 years? The iPhone has replaced many devices, but will the iPhone itself ever be replaced? We give our view on the future.
15 years iPhone = 15 years iCulture The 15th anniversary of the iPhone also means that we celebrate our 15th anniversary with iCulture. FIFTEEN YEARS! Actually a little longer, because our website was founded a month before the announcement under the name iPhoneclub and later changed name because the topics we discuss had become much broader than just the iPhone. After 15 years we are still alive and kicking! Just like the iPhone, by the way.
15 years iPhone: a look ahead
For this celebration of 15 years of the iPhone, we therefore mainly look forward instead of backward. At the 10 year iPhone and 10 year iCulture anniversary, we have already extensively considered the developments of that time. We have already shared our personal anecdotes about our first iPhones and we delved into other smartphones from 2007. We have also discussed the start of sales of the original iPhone in America in detail.
- ‘ My first iPhone’ – the anecdotes of iCulture
- Video shows working prototypes of the original iPhone
- Looking back: these were the smartphones of 2007
- This is how the sale of the very first iPhone went in 2007
In this article we, Gonny, Benjamin and Daniel, each discuss our own vision of how we see the iPhone in the future, each from a different perspective.
Gonny: “The iPhone is not going away, it's becoming a smarter camera”
The iPhone has made many devices obsolete. At the moment we are at a point where the seat legs of the iPhone itself are being sawn. Headphones, security cameras and other accessories increasingly have their own AI chip and no longer need the intelligence and computing power of the iPhone. You can just as easily give voice commands to your Apple Watch or a smart speaker.
Still, I don't think the iPhone will disappear or become obsolete altogether. It has one function that is becoming increasingly important: the camera. Photography is already the most important function on the iPhone for many people and it will only become more. You notice it in the continuous stream of improvements that the camera gets in the iPhone. To be able to take and view your photos, you need a screen and the iPhone is perfect for that. A camera in the Apple Watch? Then I don't think we will see so soon.
The iPhone camera won't get as good as a DLSR, but it will stand out mainly for its clever computational features, which ensure that your photos always look their best (so it doesn't have to be realistic) and the fact that you can photos easily thanks to image recognition.
Benjamin: “An important entertainment product in the coming years”
Whether the iPhone will still be there in 15 years is not a question for me, but a matter of course. Of course, the form may still change, but I can't imagine that in 15 years we will suddenly stop looking at a screen. If we look at other devices from the past (laptop, television, computer) we see that there have been no major shocking innovations or changes in the last 15 years. In fact, a MacBook still basically looks the same as it did fifteen years ago, and I can't imagine why an iPhone would be any different. Of course, all kinds of innovations are planned and their use will most likely be subject to change, but I don't think there will be another product that completely changes the use of the iPhone or maybe even makes it superfluous.
Take, for example, playing games and consuming media. Long ago we mainly did this with a game of cards or a board game or you went to the theater. In human history, video games, television, movies and TV series have been added. And where we mainly did this on television before the arrival of the iPhone, the iPhone and smartphones in general also play a major role in this. And I don't see it happening any time soon for another device to take over those functions entirely. Will we all soon be watching a movie through VR glasses or will we only be playing games in virtual reality? Augmented reality and virtual reality and the entire metaverse will undoubtedly play a major role in the coming years, but I can't imagine that there is no longer a role for the iPhone and the smartphone in general in this area.
Watching a YouTube video, playing a simple game as a pastime or binging your favorite series might be possible in VR in a few years, but are you really waiting for that? I do believe that virtual reality can enrich our lives, but more as an addition to what already exists. So the iPhone will stay for a while if it's up to me.
Daniel: “The AR/VR glasses are key to the success of the iPhone”< /h2>
I mainly use my iPhone to communicate with others. With family and friends, but also with colleagues. While I don't think our collective urge to communicate will diminish greatly, I do predict that we will do things differently in the future. This is possible with new hardware and software. The success of the iPhone depends heavily on a new product from Apple being forthcoming.
Let's start with what will probably be Apple's most high-profile announcement in 2022: glasses with AR and VR functionalities. It is difficult to predict how popular these glasses will become. Apple has been looking like this for years ó to be sure that AR and VR is the future, that it is clear that they have put a lot of thought into this. However, everything depends on the implementation. If the glasses are a flop, then the iPhone will remain popular for longer. If it is a success, the way we communicate will change significantly.
In any case, AR/VR glasses take many years to really come into fashion. At the moment it is still seen as something playful, but knowing Apple it should become for the masses. Therefore, it could well be that in 15 years we will see a lot of smart glasses on the street – also from other brands. By then I expect more minimalist designs that more people will like.
In a future where many people wear smart glasses, we see a lot less iPhones in hand. Communicating with friends, family and colleagues can be “just” with your glasses and an incoming message can be read without picking up a phone. The glasses may work with your Apple Watch to still offer you some form of touch interaction. Thanks to smart algorithms in the software, smart glasses from Apple will be able to take over part of the communication for you, reducing the need to type. If you need to type something, you can use the keyboard on your Apple Watch. It may be available in the Netherlands by then. 😉
Will smart glasses ever look like this? In any case, Tim Cook will no longer be CEO in 15 years.
