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

Thursday October 12, 2017 8:49 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

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 The technology is so outdated that AT&T, which was the exclusive carrier of the device in the United States, doesn't even operate a compatible network anymore.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 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

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...

• 70 comments

Here's How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro

Saturday July 5, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and...

• 87 comments

Here's Which Vehicles Offer iPhone Car Keys

Sunday July 6, 2025 3:03 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. Apple has a web page with a list of vehicle models that ...

• 89 comments

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...

• 33 comments

Apple Launching These 15+ Products Later This Year

Sunday July 6, 2025 8:05 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

The calendar has turned to July, meaning that 2025 is now more than half over. And while the summer months are often quiet for Apple, the company still has more than a dozen products coming later this year, according to rumors. Below, we have outlined at least 15 new Apple products that are expected to launch later this year, along with key rumored features for each. iPhone 17 Series iPho...

• 31 comments

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...

• 114 comments

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...

• 103 comments

The Best Early Prime Day Deals on Apple Products

Saturday July 5, 2025 7:22 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard

Amazon is soon to be back with its annual summertime Prime Day event, lasting for four days from July 8-11, the longest Prime Day yet. As it does every year, Prime Day offers shoppers a huge selection of deals across Amazon's storefront, and there are already many deals you can get on sale ahead of the event. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a ...

• 9 comments

Top Rated Comments

Return Zero

101 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

101 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

101 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

101 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)