I recently went digging through a junk drawer looking for some old photos; I found several USB cables, a calculator watch, some unidentified flash drives, and … an original iPhone. As in, the iPhone that I sat in line outside the Apple Store to buy on launch day back in 2007. Fourteen years have passed, and it’s honestly shocking to hold the original iPhone in one hand and my 12 Pro Max in the other!
There is no chance I have the charger for the original iPhone anywhere, and I’m not 100% sure it would even turn on. But even stacking the OG iPhone on top of the iPhone 12 is shocking. Intellectually, I know that the original iPhone had a 3.5″ screen and that’s small by today’s standards, but it’s still a surprise to see how small that is now when 5-6.5″ phones are the expectation. It looks like a toy compared to a modern smartphone!
On the positive side, I had also forgotten how good the original iPhone felt to hold. It’s thick, yes, but the rounded sides and heavy metal back make it feel like an utter tank. And yes, I’m aware that mine looks like it’s been in a few street fights; apparently, it’s a rough life in my junk drawer after multiple moves. I would 100% buy another phone that’s the size of the current iPhone but with the soft rounded edges of the original.
The OG iPhone is chilling in an iPhone 11 case for reference
So that’s my brief sojourn down memory lane. If you have any similar experiences with old phones, let us know in the comments!