From revolution to evolution: Revisiting the past 10 years of iPhone

A man holds his iPhone7 Plus in Osaka, Japan, on Sept 16, 2016, when the iPhone7 and iPhone7 Plus smartphone went on sale in Japan. [Photo/IC]

"A widescreen iPod with touch controls", "a revolutionary mobile phone", and "a breakthrough internet communicator" – this is how Steve Jobs, then chief executive officer of Apple Computer Inc, introduced the very first iPhone, a true game-changer in the phone industry, 10 years ago.

Fast forward to now. The iconic Apple smartphone, which has evolved 15 models over the past 10 years, will embrace its next generation, which includes the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, and the most talked about 10th anniversary iPhone, iPhone X, on Wednesday.

Predictably, days after Wednesday's launch event, a large number of Apple fans will line up outside the company's stores worldwide to get a first touch of the new releases as soon as possible.

However, the sense of wonder once experienced by those thousands of customers who queued for the first iPhone outside Apple and AT&T retail stores in the US on June 29, 2007 may never recur today.

Although not every generation of iPhone changed the industry as revolutionarily as the first one, which perfectly responded to Jobs's ambition of "reinventing the phone", did, the gradual evolution brought by them together has been inspiring enough.

Besides keeping customers' changing understanding of the aesthetics and functions of a phone, on the basis of technology-supported hardware and app store, and a platform that gathers the wisdom of software apps developers worldwide, iPhone has also transformed people's lives by widely broadening a phone's usage from handling contacts and taking photos to online live streaming, or playing artificial intelligence games.

The past 10 years have witnessed how the market rewarded Apple, so that the company is ranked third on the Fortune 500 list this year with a market value of $753.7 billion as of March 31, and is expected to become the world's first trillion dollar company, a report by Fortune said.

However, having entered the Chinese mainland market nearly eight years ago in October 2009, Apple, which once witnessed the market the biggest growth engine for it, only accounted for 7.1 percent of market share in the second quarter of this year, according to research firm IDC China.

Not only in the domestic market, Chinese smartphone vendors also have started showing their muscle and competing with Apple in the global market.

In June and July, Huawei surpassed Apple as the world's second-largest smartphone vendor for the first time, according to consultancy Counterpoint Technology Market Research.

As the road ahead for Apple faces uncertainties, let's revisit the past 10 years of iPhone.

iPhone 7 Plus

First sales date: Sept 16, 2016

Display: 5.5 inches

Color: Rose gold, gold, silver, black, jet black, red

A journalist examines the new Apple iPhone 7 during the product viewing after the Apple launch event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California, US, Sept 7, 2016. [Photo/IC]

iPhone 7

First sales date: Sept 16, 2016

Display: 4.7 inches

Color: Rose gold, gold, silver, black, jet black, red

A photo of a retro-designed iPhone SE, which comes with a 4-inch screen. [Photo/IC]

iPhone SE

First sales date: March 31, 2016

Display: 4.0 inches

Color: Space gray, silver, gold or rose gold

Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus during the Apple event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Sept 9, 2015. [Photo/IC]

iPhone 6s Plus

First sales date: Sept 25, 2015

Display: 5.5 inches

Color: Space gray, silver, gold or rose gold

iPhone 6S

First sales date: Sept 25, 2015

Display: 4.7 inches

Color: Space gray, silver, gold or rose gold

Apple´s new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are seen side by side during the product presentation in Cupertino, California, Sept 9, 2014. [Photo/IC]

iPhone 6 Plus

First sales date: Sept 19, 2014

Display: 5.5 inches

Color: Space gray, silver, gold

iPhone 6

First sales date: Sept 19, 2014

Display: 4.7 inches

Color: Space gray, silver, gold

New models of the Apple iPhone 5S (front) and 5C (back) are on display in an Apple Store in Berlin, Sept 10, 2013. [Photo/IC]

iPhone 5S

First sales date: Sept 20, 2013

Display: 4.0 inches

Color: Space gray, silver, gold

New models of the Apple iPhone 5C are on display in an Apple Store in Berlin, Sept 10, 2013. [Photo/IC]

iPhone 5C

First sales date: Sept 20, 2013

Display: 4.0 inches

Color: Green, yellow, pink, blue or white

Tim Cook, who succeeded Steve Jobs as Apple CEO in August 2011, speaks in front of an image of the iPhone 5 during an Apple event in San Francisco, Sept 12, 2012. [Photo/IC]

iPhone 5

First sales date: Sept 21, 2012

Display: 4.0 inches

Color: Black and slate, white and silver

A customer holds up an iPhone 4S in front of an Apple Store in Boston, Oct 14, 2011. [Photo/IC]

iPhone 4S

First sales date: Oct 14, 2011

Display: 3.9 inches

Color: Black, white

A customer tries out an Apple iPhone 4 at an AT&T store in Palo Alto, California, Jan 11, 2011. [Photo/IC]

iPhone 4

First sales date: June 24, 2010 (GSM model (black))

Display: 3.5 inches

Color: Black, white

A China Unicom employee displays an iPhone 3Gs at a branch store in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning province, Oct 29, 2009. [Photo/IC]

iPhone 3Gs

First sales date: June 19, 2009

Display: 3.5 inches

Color: Black, white

Jonny Gladwell from New Zealand buys the world's first iPhone 3G in Auckland, July 11, 2008. [Photo/IC]

iPhone 3G

First sales date: July 11, 2008

Display: 3.5 inches

Color: Black, white

Steve Jobs, then chief executive officer of Apple Computer Inc, introduces the first iPhone and changes the company's name to Apple Inc at Macworld 2007 in San Francisco, California, US, Jan 9, 2007. [Photo/IC]

iPhone (first generation)

First sales date: June 29, 2007

Display: 3.5 inches

Color: Black