Here's How Much the Inside of an iPhone Has Changed in Ten Years

Bloomberg has partnered with iFixit to provide a high-resolution look at how the inside of the iPhone has changed since first launching a decade ago.

original iphone vs iphone 8

The original iPhone on left vs. brand new iPhone 8 via Bloomberg

The original iPhone, above left, is equipped with a bulky, yellow lithium-ion battery rated for 1,400 mAh. Apple said that was good enough for up to eight hours of talk time, six hours of web browsing, seven hours of video playback, or 24 hours of audio playback, but real-world results certainly varied.

In the top-left corner sits a 2-megapixel rear camera that lacks an LED flash and shoots photos that are unequivocally blurry by today's standards.

While shielding covers many of the other components, the original iPhone is equipped with 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB of storage, a single-core ARM11 processor downclocked to 412 MHz, just 128MB of RAM, and a PowerVR MBX Lite graphics processor. It also has Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi chips.

The original iPhone supports EDGE cellular networks, often referred to as 2G. The technology is so outdated that AT&T, which was the exclusive carrier of the device in the United States, doesn't even operate a compatible network anymore.

Other hardware in the original iPhone includes a 3.5-inch display with a resolution of 320×480 pixels, a mechanical Home button, and a deeply recessed 3.5mm headphone jack that was hard to use. The device's iPod-like 30-pin dock connector was succeeded by the Lightning connector in 2012.

By comparison, the iPhone 8 has a tall, slim battery rated for 1,812 mAh, a 12-megapixel rear camera, up to 256GB of storage, 2GB of RAM, a six-core A11 Fusion chip, Bluetooth 5.0, 802.11a/c Wi-Fi, and LTE Advanced. It has a Lightning connector, a capacitive Home button, and no headphone jack.

The inside of an iPhone has looked similar since the iPhone 4, while the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS below look noticeably different.

iphone 3g 3gs internals

iPhone 3G on left vs. iPhone 3GS on right via Bloomberg

While we've already seen the inside of every iPhone model thanks to iFixit's teardowns over the years, Bloomberg's full feature article provides high-resolution photos and is worth a look for iPhone aficionados.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
apple tv 4k new orange

Next Apple TV Expected to Launch This Year With These New Features

Monday September 22, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
The next Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Likely Features N1 Chip With Wi-Fi 7 Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the next Apple TV would be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which is...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation

Monday September 22, 2025 11:15 am PDT by
With iOS 26.1, Apple Intelligence is gaining support for additional languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Apple announced plans to expand the languages that can be used with Apple Intelligence last year, and now the added language support is here. Apple Intelligence is now available in the following...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...
iPhone 17 Pro USB C Port

iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Monday September 22, 2025 7:29 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 36W with the following Apple chargers:40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max 61W USB-C Power Adapter 67W USB-C Power Adapter 70W USB-C Power Adapter 96W USB-C Power Adapter 140W USB-C Power AdapterFor...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

Skipped the iPhone 17 Pro? Here's What is Rumored for iPhone 18 Pro

Tuesday September 23, 2025 8:55 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still a year away, there are already a few rumors about the devices that offer an early look ahead. Below, we have recapped some of the early iPhone 18 Pro rumors so far. This story was published previously, and it has been updated to reflect the latest rumors. Many early rumors prove to be true, but nothing is confirmed yet, and Apple's...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds First Betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1

Monday September 22, 2025 10:05 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with the first betas of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The new betas are the first updates to the iOS, iPadOS, macOS 26, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS releases that came out last week. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going...

Top Rated Comments

Return Zero Avatar
104 months ago
Only thing that hasn't changed is the terrible battery life. Can't believe we are still using battery tech that's decades old.
8 hours versus 14 hours of talk time and you say it hasn't changed? Batteries are completely dependant on chemistry, which simply doesn't evolve as fast as our ability to manufacture and package smaller electrical components. A new iPhone is literally 1000x as fast as the 10-year old original and you complain about "decades old" tech. Well, I have worse news for you. The screen is still made of glass, which is "millennia old" tech, so... enjoy your stone-age glass rectangle :D
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Superhappytree Avatar
104 months ago
Only thing that hasn't changed is the terrible battery life. Can't believe we are still using battery tech that's decades old.
Battery life actually improves. The thing is though over the years we’ve gotten faster processors, faster graphics, much higher resolution displays, much brighter displays, a chunk of the space being taken up for better cameras and things like haptic feedback etc. It all sucks the actual improvement of battery life away so we get more or less the same with slight improvements due to power management etc.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
104 months ago
Just imagine, needing an adapter to use a normal pair of 3.5mm jack headphones on an iPhone... ! :rolleyes:;)
Just imagine, how the Airpods don't use any wires and seamlessly pair with the iPhone without the use of an adapter.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NT1440 Avatar
104 months ago
And the point I'm making is people need to stop thinking that Apple invented, designed, developed, and fabricated the LCD display, CPU, camera, touch screen, GPS, etc. Brilliant engineers all over the world did that. That is *real* engineering. Steve Jobs yelling at a developer or bullying suppliers into exclusive, cheap cost deals, hoarding DRAM and locking out other buyers, and hiring slave labor in China is more of what Apple is about. It's capitalism. It's business.

This romanticization of Apple as the do-gooder, the benevolent creator of your coveted devices is getting out of hand.
So start a ****ing thread instead of projecting your topic onto another post that had nothing to do with it.

BTW, while there are plenty of off the shelf components in iPhones, Apple DOES invent quite a few of their own tech and then WORKS WITH THEIR MANUFACTURERS down to the fabrication level (in several cases actually inventing new processes and then EQUIPPING their manufacturers with that process).

Your pushback on that is astounding given the W1 & W2, the timer coalescing chip they made for the iMac 5k (truly an apple invention to solve a problem the standards didn't have an answer for) and new iPads, their completely in house designed GPU, the custom designed Image Signal Processor they've integrated into their A-Series chips, their pioneering of an HTTP streaming protocol that they designed and pushed for inclusion at the standards bodies, etc.

It seems in your effort to get more people to realize that Apple doesn't invent it all, you've completely discounted that in very specific areas they've done exactly that. You went to the far deep end when the reality is a mix of both off the shelf components AND completely in-house designs/processes.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Steve121178 Avatar
104 months ago
Only thing that hasn't changed is the terrible battery life. Can't believe we are still using battery tech that's decades old.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NightFox Avatar
104 months ago
Coming next - how much the Mac Mini has changed from 10 years ago to today's models...
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)