Evolution of the iPhone: How Apple has changed its design over 16 years

In less than 24 hours, Apple's latest gadget, the iPhone 15, will hit stores around the country.

Smartphones are in everybody's pocket these days, so it can be easy to forget how much of a game-changer the original iPhone once - and how much it's evolved over the years.

From 2007 to 2023, here is how the iPhone grew up.

Here's where it all began.

In 2007, Apple launched the original iPhone off the back of impressive iPod sales and the ability to merge a touchscreen with mobile technology.

The original iPhone has just 16GB of space and 128MP of memory.

A year later, Apple skipped the "iPhone 2" and brought out the iPhone 3G to capitalise on the newly adopted 3G technology.

At just 12.3mm thick it was ultra-thin and had access to the app store.

Another year on in 2009, Apple gave users pretty much a slightly upgraded version of the iPhone 3G, but this time with more storage: the iPhone 3GS could hold a whopping 32GB worth of songs.

In 2010, Apple truly changed the game with the iPhone 4.

Even though it looked similar if a little more boxy, it had a front camera for selfies and a gyroscope that allowed a whole number of apps to realise where the phone was in time and space.

The iPhone 4S in 2011 carried a similar name but had a number of impressive upgrades, including a far-better 8MP camera and the introduction of Siri, Apple's virtual voice-activated assistant.

The iPhone 5 brought back the league of "big phones" with a much larger 4-inch screen.

It also carried the new Lightning charging connector, 1GB of memory and a super slimline case at just 7.6mm. 

The iPhone 6 proved that bigger is better, jumping up to a 5.5-inch display and offering two distinct sizes.

Apple sold 10 million iPhone 6 phones in the first week, smashing worldwide records.

By curving the corners of the phone, Apple was making the iPhone 7 more stylish than ever.

It had a whole raft of new upgrades, but one made people very angry: it had left off the headphone jack.

The iPhone 8 promised better photos, wireless charging and still no headphone jack.

Sadly, initial sales were quite poor because Apple released the iPhone 8 at the same time as its much-fancied iPhone X.

The iPhone X (pronounced the iPhone "Ten") was promised to be the most stylish phone yet.

It did away with the small home button altogether, instead preferring to scan a user's face to unlock the phone.

The front and back of the iPhone 11 featured up to three cameras.

Apple's iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, introduced the 5G experience, a new design and edge-to-edge Super Retina XDR displays, the largest yet on an iPhone.

The Apple iPhone 13 was unveiled in September 2021.

The phone featured a larger battery than its predecessor, more storage, a new A15 Bionic processor, a smaller notch and new camera features.

The response to the Apple iPhone 14 was largely underwhelming because it didn't look a whole lot different to the iPhone 13.

However, the device came new camera upgrades and other potentially lifesaving features, such as crash detection; where the phone senses if you're in a car crash and automatically alerts emergency services and key contacts.

Apple has been forced to change its successful and proprietary Lightning charging connector to the universally used USB-C port for this new iPhone 15 range.

In his review, tech expert Trevor Long said it could be "one of the most successful phones in several years, with its appeal ranging from people who own an iPhone from just the last couple of years, through to the ripe audience of users still clinging to phones older than the iPhone 11".

The USB-C change will mean the need for a few more cables if you want to plug your phone into your car or at work, but he said overall it was a "non-issue".

You can read his full verdict here.