The Day the iPhone Was Born: Rare Photos From Apple’s Historic 2007 Unveiling

The launch of the first iPhone in 2007 is often remembered as the day modern technology took a decisive turn. But the story of how it came to be began years earlier, under a veil of secrecy inside Apple’s headquarters.

In 2004, the company assembled a team of around 1,000 employees for a project so confidential that it was given the code name “Project Purple.”

Led by Tony Fadell on hardware, Scott Forstall on software, and Jony Ive on design, this group was tasked with building a device that would merge the power of a computer with the convenience of a phone.

The Original and First iPhone Historical Photos

People seeing the iPhone for the first time – June 29, 2007

Although Apple had originally been experimenting with tablets—a concept that later evolved into the iPad—Steve Jobs insisted the focus be redirected toward a mobile phone.

To make it happen, Apple partnered with Cingular Wireless, which would later become AT&T Mobility, investing an estimated $150 million over two and a half years.

Jobs had long believed in the idea of making technology personal, and his earlier explanation of the “i” in iMac—standing for internet, individual, instruct, inform, and inspire—was carried into this new venture.

First public showing of the Apple iPhone, with the film Zoolander being shown on the display.

The design drew inspiration from Apple’s earlier attempt at a touchscreen device, the Newton MessagePad.

Like the Newton, the iPhone was envisioned as a product built almost entirely around its screen, but this time, the technology was finally ready.

Ive’s sleek, minimalist design made the screen the centerpiece, eliminating clutter and hardware buttons.

Underneath that glass display, several breakthroughs came together: lithium-ion batteries that could handle constant use, a responsive multi-touch interface, efficient processors built on ARM architecture, and mobile networks powerful enough to bring the internet to a handheld device.

The first iPhone on display.

All of this culminated on January 9, 2007, when Steve Jobs walked onstage at the Macworld convention in San Francisco and announced what he described as three revolutionary products in one: a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a phone, and a breakthrough internet communicator.

The crowd erupted as they realized these were not three separate devices, but one—the iPhone.

The first generation iPhone has a 2.0 Megapixel camera, portable media functions, internet (including email, web browsing, and Wi-Fi connductivity) as well as text messaging and visual voicemail.

That summer, Apple revealed at its Worldwide Developers Conference that the iPhone would support third-party applications built with the Safari web engine, marking the beginning of what would eventually grow into the App Store ecosystem.

The first model featured a 3.5-inch multi-touch display, a simplified design with just a few physical buttons, and a version of Mac OS X tailored for touch.

It was also the first phone in history to use multi-touch technology, allowing users to swipe, scroll, and pinch with their fingers—gestures that would soon become second nature around the world.

An 8 GB iPhone.

The iPhone officially launched on June 29, 2007, with a starting price of $499 for the 4 GB model and $599 for the 8 GB model.

To prepare for the release, Apple stores closed at 2 p.m. that day, reopening at 6 p.m. as lines of eager customers stretched around city blocks.

Demand was so intense that AT&T’s servers buckled under the flood of activation requests, leaving some early adopters temporarily unable to use their brand-new devices.

Despite the hiccups, sales were extraordinary. Analysts estimated between 250,000 and 700,000 units sold during the first weekend alone, and AT&T later confirmed that 146,000 iPhones had been activated by the end of that opening stretch.

Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone, 2007.

Just a few months later, on September 5, Apple discontinued the 4 GB model and slashed the price of the 8 GB version by $200.

While this move angered early buyers—many of whom felt burned by such a steep price drop only weeks after purchase—Apple eventually offered partial rebates to ease the backlash.

The Original and First iPhone Historical Photos
The device introduced that summer not only reshaped Apple’s future but also set the course for the entire smartphone industry.

Over the years, the iPhone evolved with larger, sharper displays, video recording, waterproofing, advanced accessibility features, and innovations like Touch ID and later Face ID.

The iconic home button, present up through the iPhone 8, eventually disappeared in favor of nearly bezel-less displays and gesture-based navigation.

The original iPhone that Steve Jobs presented on stage in January 9, 2007 was a buggy, barely functioning prototype and that the device was finalised just weeks before retail release.

Looking back at the photos from that historic 2007 unveiling, it becomes clear how monumental that moment was.

What began as a secret project inside Apple transformed into a product that redefined communication, reshaped culture, and turned the simple act of holding a phone into something far more powerful—a window to the digital world.