IPhone

Models

There are 55 iPhone models produced. The models in bold are devices of the latest generation:

Production

Up to the iPhone 4, all iPhones and other devices, such as iPod Touch models and iPads, were manufactured by Foxconn, based in Taiwan. In 2011, new CEO Tim Cook changed Apple's manufacturing strategy to diversify its supply base. The iPhone 4s in 2012 was the first model to be manufactured simultaneously by two standalone companies: Foxconn and Pegatron, the latter also based in Taiwan. Although Foxconn still produced more iPhones, Pegatron's orders gradually increased: the company made part of the iPhone 5c line in 2013, and 30% of iPhone 6 devices in 2014. The 6 Plus model was produced solely by Foxconn. In 2019, Apple investigated reports that some Foxconn managers had used rejected parts to build iPhones. In India, Apple pays Wistron, a Taiwan-based manufacturer with a plant near Bangalore, to assemble iPhones to sell in the region.

In 2022, Apple announced that a portion of the iPhone 14 would be manufactured in Tamil Nadu, India, as a response to China's "zero-COVID" policy that has negatively affected global supply chains for many industries. Apple also stated that it planned to shift 25% of iPhone production to India by 2025.

Hardware

Apple directly subcontracts hardware production to external OEM companies, maintaining a high degree of control over the end product. The iPhone contains most of the hardware components of a typical modern smartphone. Some hardware elements, such as 3D Touch and the Taptic Engine, are unique to the iPhone. The main hardware of the iPhone is the touchscreen, with current models offering screens measuring 4.7 inches or larger. All iPhones include a rear-facing camera; the front-facing camera dates back to the iPhone 4. The iPhone 7 Plus introduced multiple lenses to the rear-facing camera. The device also includes a range of sensors, such as a proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscopic sensor, magnetometer, facial recognition sensor or fingerprint sensor (depending on the model), and barometer. In 2022, Apple added satellite communications to the iPhone, with the release of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro.

Software

Operating system

The iPhone runs iOS. It is based on macOS's Darwin and many of its userland APIs, with Cocoa replaced by Cocoa Touch, and AppKit replaced by UIKit. The graphics stack runs on Metal, Apple's low-level graphics API. The iPhone comes with a set of bundled applications developed by Apple, and supports downloading third-party applications through the App Store.

Apple provides free updates to iOS over the air or through Finder and iTunes on a computer. Major iOS releases have historically accompanied new iPhone models. As of September 2026, the most recent iOS version is iOS 27.

App Store and third-party apps

At WWDC 2007 on June 11, 2007, Apple announced that the iPhone would support third-party Ajax web applications that share the look and feel of the iPhone interface. On October 17, 2007, Steve Jobs, in an open letter posted to Apple's "Hot News" weblog, announced that a software development kit (SDK) would be made available to third-party developers in February 2008. The iPhone SDK was officially announced and released on March 6, 2008. The App Store was launched with the release of iPhone OS 2.0, on July 11, 2008.

Apple requires all third-party apps to be downloaded from the App Store, with exceptions for ad-hoc apps used within enterprises. Developers must pay a yearly $99 fee as part of Apple's Developer Program. If their membership expires, their apps are removed from the App Store, though existing users retain the ability to redownload the app. Developers can release free apps, or paid apps for which Apple takes a 30% cut of proceeds. Developers earning less than $1 million in annual sales qualify for the App Store Small Business Program, with Apple only taking a 15% fee.

Although iOS has a far lower market share than Android, its app ecosystem has been described as superior, with higher-quality apps and more iOS-exclusive releases. Android's version fragmentation, less uniform hardware, and lower app revenues have been cited as key factors.

All apps must pass Apple's app review process before being distributed in the App Store. Apple may also stop distributing apps it deems inappropriate. For example, in 2009, Apple rejected the Newspapers app due to The Sun's "obscene" topless Page 3 girls. In 2018, Apple removed Tumblr from the App Store, citing illegal content, causing Tumblr to ban all adult content from their platform. The App Store's review process has been criticized by developers as "frustrating", "anti-competitive", and "asinine".

Users can also install native apps outside of the App Store through jailbreaking, or through exploits, such as TrollStore. Jailbreaking may cause security issues and is not supported by Apple.

As of October 2013, Apple has passed 60 billion app downloads. As of September 2016, there have been over 140 billion app downloads from the App Store. In January 2017, the App Store had over 2.2 million apps for the iPhone. As of August 2024, Apple's App Store contains nearly 2 million applications.

Jailbreaking

Apple restricts the installation of unapproved third-party apps and does not allow full access to the iPhone's filesystem. According to Jonathan Zittrain, the emergence of closed devices like the iPhone has made computing more proprietary than it was in the PC era. Jailbreaking allows users to install apps not available on the App Store, customize their device in ways not allowed by Apple, and bypass SIM locks without carrier approval. Some jailbreak tweaks were later copied by Apple and implemented into iOS, like multitasking, widgets, and copy and paste.

Apple attempted to use the DMCA to fight jailbreaking; however, in 2010, the U.S. found jailbreaking to be legal. Jailbroken iPhones are at higher risk of malware because Apple has less control over the app ecosystem. In the United States, Apple cannot void an iPhone's warranty solely due to jailbreaking. Jailbreaks rely on exploits. Apple has improved the iPhone's hardware and software security, making these exploits harder to find; as a result, recent iPhones cannot currently be jailbroken.

Accessibility

The iPhone contains a range of accessibility features to support users' visual, auditory, and motor needs. iPhones can notify users through onscreen banners, audio alerts, vibrations, or the LED flash; vibration patterns can be customized by users. Since iOS 15, Siri can read notifications aloud through earphones, and, since iOS 16, through the device's speakers.

Users with motor needs can use AssistiveTouch to customize the way they navigate through menus; it can assist users who have difficulties with some gestures, like pinching, and makes these gestures available by tapping on a menu. Users can create their own gestures and customize the layout of the AssistiveTouch menu. If the user has trouble pressing the Home button, it can be set so that it can be activated with an onscreen tap. Gestures such as rotate and shake are available even if the iOS device is mounted on a wheelchair. Head Tracking can be used to control an iPhone using facial movements recognized by the front camera.

Low-vision users can enable VoiceOver, a screen reader that describes what is on the screen, while Siri allows for hands-free interaction. The iPhone also supports wireless braille displays to help users read its interface. Text can be enlarged system-wide. The Magnifier app uses the iPhone's Lidar scanner to identify items such as doors, people, and objects, and can describe them to the user, as well as their distance. Door Detection can alert the user through sound, speech, and haptics.

Hearing aids that are part of the Made for iPhone program can be controlled from an iPhone. These hearing aids also feature Live Listen, which enables the iPhone to act as a directional microphone, beaming its audio to compatible hearing aids. Live Listen can help the user hear a conversation in a noisy room or hear someone speaking across the room. Apple built Live Listen support into all AirPods, which can also relay audio from a connected iPhone's microphone. Closed captioning and external TTY devices are supported, while Live Caption can transcribe audio across all apps and display it onscreen. Sound Recognition can recognize surrounding noises, including door bells, kettles, water running, and babies crying, and notify the user with an onscreen alert.

Guided Access helps people with autism, ADHD, or sensory challenges stay focused on a single app. With Guided Access, a parent, teacher, or therapist can limit an iOS device to stay on one app by disabling the Home button and limit the amount of time spent in an app. The user can restrict access to the keyboard or touch input on certain areas of the screen.

Marketing

The original iPhone was heavily promoted before its official announcement, creating buzz and anticipation. Upon its release, it was marketed heavily in television, web and print ads created in partnership with TBWA\Chiat\Day.

Apple's premium market positioning has led the iPhone to be seen as a status symbol.

The Apple ecosystem has been described as a key moat that increases iPhone brand loyalty. iMessage has especially been singled out for its "green bubbles" phenomenon. In iMessage, SMS messages from Android users appear as green bubbles, rather than the blue bubbles used for texts from other iPhone users. Until the introduction of Rich Communication Services (RCS) support in iOS 18 in 2024, group chats between iOS and Android were poorly supported, with reactions displayed as text rather than bubbles, and images sent through MMS, which degraded image quality. Some teens described being "ostracized" after switching to Android, which Google labeled "bullying". This has been described by critics as a key factor leading 88% of U.S. teenagers to use iPhones.

Retail

SIM unlocking

Many iPhones bought through a monthly carrier contract are SIM locked, restricting their use to one particular carrier. While the iPhone was initially sold in the U.S. only on the AT&T network with a SIM lock in place, various hackers found methods to bypass that SIM lock. More than a quarter of first-generation iPhones sold in the U.S. were not registered with AT&T. Apple speculated that they were likely shipped overseas and unlocked, a lucrative market before the iPhone 3G's worldwide release. Today, many carriers either remove the SIM lock automatically after a certain period, or do it upon request, either for free or for a small fee. iPhones bought from Apple are not SIM locked. Many carriers also sell the iPhone unlocked when purchased outright rather than on a long-term contract.

Retail strategy

Since 2013, iPhone buyers can obtain a trade-in discount when buying a new iPhone directly from Apple. The program aims to increase the number of customers who purchase iPhones at Apple Stores rather than carrier stores. In 2015, Apple unveiled the iPhone Upgrade Program, a 24-month leasing agreement, which Fortune described as a "change [in] iPhone owners' relationships with mobile carriers".

Repairability

Only Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers are allowed by Apple to perform genuine part replacements. iPhone components are soldered, and many are glued together. Despite this, iPhones receive high repairability scores. This is thanks to the rise of the right to repair movement, aimed at giving users cheaper options for repairing their phones. Apple has lobbied against right to repair legislation. Multiple jurisdictions aim to introduce right to repair laws, including the EU, UK, and U.S.

Starting with the iPhone XR, Apple displays warnings in the Settings app if the battery, display, or camera are replaced by a third party. Additionally, some features, such as True Tone or battery health measurement, are disabled when a part labeled "non-genuine" is detected. iFixit notes that a proprietary, cloud-linked System Configuration tool is required to "complete" a part repair, meaning that even replacing a genuine part with another genuine part will fail Apple's "genuine parts" check unless said tool is used.

In 2022, Apple rolled out a self-service repair program, allowing any user to buy parts, rent repair tools from Apple, and obtain repair manuals. The program received some praise from iFixit and repair advocates, who also noted that Apple maintains control over the parts supply.

Privacy

Tracking prevention

Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency (ATT) with iOS 14.5 in April 2021. ATT requires apps to ask for explicit permission before tracking the user across other apps and websites. If the user refuses, the app cannot access Apple's Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), an identifier used to serve personalized ads. ATT does not prevent personalized ads that are based on the user's behavior within the app itself. The feature has been criticized by some as anti-competitive, including Facebook, whose shares fell by 26% after its rollout. Apple exempts their own apps from their anti-tracking measures, which has led to anti-trust investigations by the French and German governments.

Location tracking controversy

In July 2010, Apple claimed that it collected iPhone users' GPS coordinates and nearby Wi-Fi networks twice a day; a Wall Street Journal investigation found that Google's Android sent this data "several times an hour".

In September 2010, forensic expert Christopher Vance discovered a hidden unencrypted file named "consolidated.db" that contained a record of iPhone users' locations. The file was added with the June 2010 iOS 4 update, though previous versions of iOS stored similar information in a file called "h-cells.plist". On April 20, 2011, The Guardian publicized research by Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, who found that anyone with physical access to an iPhone could obtain a detailed record of its owner's location and movements over the past year. Moreover, the file was automatically backed up by iTunes onto any computer the iPhone was synchronized with. A Wall Street Journal investigation found that users' locations were still stored when location services are disabled. The controversy led to U.S. congressional scrutiny and an FCC investigation, and was dubbed "Locationgate" by the media.

Apple responded on April 27, 2011, stating that the data was used to cache nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in order to improve location speed and accuracy. The company also claimed that the collection of locations when location services were off and the storage of those locations for more than a year were both bugs. Apple issued an update for iOS (version 4.3.3, or 4.2.8 for the CDMA iPhone 4) which reduced the size of the cache, encrypted it, stopped it from being backed up to iTunes, and erased it entirely whenever location services were turned off. Nevertheless, in July 2014, a report on state-owned China Central Television called iPhone tracking a "national security concern".

Currently, iPhones contain a "Frequent Locations" database that records where users have been, along with exact times they arrived and left, raising concerns that the data could be used in court. This feature can be turned off.

Child safety controversy

In August 2021, Apple announced plans to scan iCloud Photos for child abuse imagery (through an algorithm called "NeuralHash"), and to filter explicit images sent and received by children using iPhones (dubbed "Conversation Safety"), to be rolled out later that year. More than 90 policy and human rights groups wrote an open letter to condemn both features. Apple's plan to implement NeuralHash on-device rather than in the cloud led the EFF and security experts to call it a "backdoor" that could later be expanded to detect other types of contents, and would decrease users' privacy. Apple claimed the system was "misunderstood", but announced in December 2022 that the photo-scanning feature would never be implemented. The other feature, Conversation Safety, was added in iOS 15.2.

Security

Apple's iOS operating system is regarded by most security experts as more secure against common malware than Android. Less than 1% of mobile malware targets iOS.

Prior to 2014, the iPhone stored all "messages, pictures and videos, contacts, audio recordings [...] and call history" in unencrypted form, enabling easy access by law enforcement. This changed with iOS 8, which adopted file-based encryption. Apple does not hold the decryption key, and cannot be compelled to turn over user data, even when presented with a government warrant. Companies like Grayshift and Cellebrite developed exploits that enable law enforcement to extract user data from iPhones without needing the user's passcode.

In 2015 and 2016, a dispute unfolded between Apple and the FBI. The FBI had recovered the iPhone 5c of one of the San Bernardino attackers, and iCloud backups of that phone from a month and a half before the shooting. The U.S. government attempted to obtain a court order under the All Writs Act compelling Apple to produce a modified version of iOS that would allow investigators to brute force the device passcode. Tim Cook responded on the company's website, outlining a need for encryption, arguing that a backdoor would compromise the privacy of all iPhone users. The DOJ withdrew its request after the FBI bought an exploit to bypass the iPhone's passcode. As a countermeasure, Apple implemented USB Restricted Mode, which was subsequently exploited too.

In 2016, researchers discovered the Pegasus suite of exploits targeting iOS and Android, which led to significant international media coverage. Some Pegasus exploits are zero-click, meaning that they can fully compromise the device with no user interaction, for example by sending a malformed iMessage to the user that would not even trigger a notification. Pegasus can collect most data, including chats, passwords, and photos, and can turn on the phone's microphone and camera remotely. Apple quickly issued an update fixing FORCEDENTRY and other known Pegasus exploits, though Pegasus continued to be used, relying on new exploits. Apple announced a new bug bounty for vulnerabilities, and added an optional Lockdown Mode to iOS 16 that reduces the iPhone's attack surface. Many security researchers have criticized Apple's bug bounty for underpaying researchers, being uncommunicative, and being slow to fix vulnerabilities, and two Apple employees told The Washington Post that the company "has a massive backlog of bugs that it hasn't fixed".

Prominent victims of Pegasus include Jamal Khashoggi and numerous activists, businesspeople, and politicians. Pegasus has been widely used since 2011, and is still used by law enforcement and governments as of July 2022.

Reception and legacy

The original iPhone has been described as "revolutionary", a "breakthrough handheld computer", and "the best phone that anybody has ever made". It is now Apple's bestselling product, and has been credited with helping to make Apple one of the world's most valuable publicly traded companies by 2011. Newer iterations have also received praise and awards.

Before the iPhone, smartphones were mostly used for texting, calls, and email; more advanced functions were harder to use and inconvenient on a small screen. They were also difficult to develop for, and lacked a thriving app ecosystem like the App Store (released in 2008). Many phones were heavily customized by mobile carriers, which led to feature fragmentation and prevented these phones from turning into thriving software platforms. In contrast, Apple's iPhone SDK provided a wide range of APIs, made mobile development far more accessible, and was instrumental in turning the iPhone into a "Swiss army knife" with a wide range of features and apps.

Successive iPhone models have generated significant fan enthusiasm, with many customers lining up in front of Apple Stores on launch day. As of 2021, the iPhone has higher brand loyalty than any other smartphone.

The iPhone's success has led to the decline of incumbents Nokia, BlackBerry, and Motorola. RIM, Symbian, and Microsoft all attempted to develop more modern operating systems to compete with the iPhone, like Maemo, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry 10; all were unsuccessful. Google successfully started over on their Android project, and designed it for mass adoption by carriers and phone hardware manufacturers. Today, iOS and Android account for 99% of smartphones used worldwide.

Sales

Steve Jobs's initial target was to reach 1% of phone market share in 2008. Apple sold 6.1 million units of the original iPhone between Q3 FY2007 and Q4 FY2008, and 11.3 million units of the iPhone 3G in Q4 FY2008 and Q1 FY2009. In 2008, the iPhone reached 1.1% of worldwide mobile phone market share, and 8.2% of the smartphone market. During this time it was quickly becoming important in North America, and it ranked second by market share in the U.S. in 2009, behind the BlackBerry; in 2010 the iPhone 3GS was the best-selling smartphone in the U.S., the first time an iPhone reached the top spot in that market.

iPhone sales grew continuously year-over-year from its introduction until Q2 FY2016. The iPhone briefly surpassed BlackBerry in Q4 FY2008, and permanently overtook it starting in Q3 FY2010. By 2011, Apple had sold 100 million iPhones worldwide, and became the largest mobile phone vendor in the world by revenue, surpassing longtime leader Nokia. Q1 FY2012 marked Apple's best quarterly earnings in its history, with 53% of the company's revenues coming from iPhone sales. Phone sales are strongly seasonal, peaking in the holiday season (Apple's Q1). With the release of the iPhone 13 in Q1 FY2022, Apple temporarily topped Samsung, with 84.9 million units shipped compared with Samsung's 68.9 million. In most quarters, Apple is the second-largest smartphone vendor by units. Apple sold 223 million iPhones in its financial year 2023 ending September 24.

Today, Samsung and Apple dominate the smartphone market, with 21.8% and 15.6% worldwide market share, respectively. Due to Apple's small lineup, Apple often dominates the list of best-selling smartphone models. Despite its lower market share, the iPhone's premium positioning has led it to capture nearly half of global smartphone revenue, and 80% of global smartphone profits, with Samsung taking the other 20%. Carriers compete with each other to subsidize iPhone upgrades, which is seen as a significant factor in iPhone sales, though this has reduced carrier profits. On July 27, 2016, Apple announced that it had sold their billionth iPhone. As of January 1, 2024, more than 2.3 billion iPhones have been sold. In July 2025, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that 3 billion iPhones have been sold.

Compared to other high-tech products, a greater proportion of iPhone users are female. The iPhone has been adopted by both consumers and business users. iPhone users are wealthier and spend more time on their phones than Android users on average. The iPhone is especially popular in the U.S., where it has a 50% market share and is used by 88% of teenagers. Worldwide, the iPhone accounts for 78% of the high-end ($1,000+) smartphone market.

Android overtook the iPhone's installed base in 2010, according to NPD Group. During Apple's earnings call on January 27, 2021, Tim Cook said that 1 billion iPhones were being actively used worldwide.

Emerging markets

While other manufacturers make separate entry-level phones, Apple's entry-level phones are previous years' models, part of an effort to increase its market share in emerging markets without diluting its premium brand. It also considers emerging market tastes in its product designs; for example, it introduced a gold iPhone after finding that gold was seen as a popular sign of a luxury product among Chinese customers. In 2017, Apple started manufacturing previous years' iPhone models in India; in 2022, it began manufacturing the current iPhone 14 there too. Analysts have speculated that this was partly caused by Apple's desire to reduce its dependence on China, and to overcome Indian import duties. In 2023, the Chinese government banned the use of iPhones by government civil servants in what was seen as an effort to reduce dependence on foreign technology and strengthen cybersecurity.

In May 2024, Iranian president Mohammad Mokhber banned imported iPhone 14 and newer models. In November, the ban was lifted and replaced with a 30% customs tariff on the phones.