iPhone Was Missing These 10 Essential Features When Unveiled in 2007 - MacRumors
Skip to Content

iPhone Was Missing These 10 Essential Features When Unveiled in 2007

by

Today marks the 17th anniversary of the late Steve Jobs unveiling the original iPhone at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. While the device was significantly more advanced than any other smartphone on the market at the time, the iPhone was still missing some essential features that we take for granted today.

2007 iPhone
Below, we've put together a list of 10 hardware and software features that the original iPhone didn't have when it was introduced in January 2007.

  • Copy and Paste: It may seem hard to believe, but the ability to copy and paste text was not added to the iPhone until 2009.
  • Front Camera: While selfies are now ubiquitous, there was no front camera on the original iPhone. In fact, there was no front camera until the iPhone 4 launched in 2010 with new FaceTime video calling.
  • App Store: The original iPhone came with preinstalled apps like Phone, Weather, Notes, Calendar, Photos, and Calculator, but there was no official way to install native third-party apps until the App Store launched in July 2008. Developers were able to offer web-based apps, but they were more limited.
  • Video Recording: The original iPhone can only shoot photos, with video recording introduced on the iPhone 3GS in 2009.
  • Flashlight: With no LED flash on the original iPhone, there was no built-in flashlight. When the App Store launched, some flashlight apps were released that displayed a white screen at max brightness to mimic a flashlight.
  • Photo Messages: The original iPhone supported text messaging via SMS, but there was no ability to send photos. MMS capabilities were introduced with iPhone OS 3.0 in 2009, but only for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

  • GPS: While the original iPhone came with a Google Maps app preinstalled, there were no turn-by-turn directions, as the device did not have a GPS. Apple introduced a built-in GPS with the iPhone 3G in 2008.
  • Home Screen Wallpapers: It was not possible to set a custom Home Screen wallpaper on the iPhone until iOS 4 was released in 2010, and the software update did not support the original iPhone.
  • Retina Display: Introduced on the iPhone 4 in 2010, the Retina display featured four times as many pixels as the original iPhone and was the highest-resolution display for a smartphone ever at the time.
  • 3G: The original iPhone's cellular connectivity was limited to EDGE (2G).

Popular Stories

iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out Around the World

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event that it will be releasing iOS 27 sometime tomorrow – Monday, September 14. iOS 27 won't be the only release on...
Read Full Article • 104 comments
iOS 27 Icon iPhone

iOS 27 Available Tomorrow With These 8 New Features

Sunday September 13, 2026 4:30 pm PDT by
During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14. iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features and changes coming with iOS 27, with the main attraction being a...
Read Full Article • 77 comments
deep black iphone 18 pro

Apple Says iPhone 18 Pro Max Sold in U.S. Differs in One Way

Saturday September 12, 2026 3:27 pm PDT by
As noted by Nicolas Lellouche, who writes for the French tech website Numerama, Apple has updated its tech specs pages for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max to clarify which models are equipped with its new C2 cellular modem and where. Apple now says the iPhone 18 Pro has a C2 modem worldwide, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max uses the chip in every country except for the U.S. According...
Read Full Article • 127 comments

Top Rated Comments

a m u n Avatar
a m u n
35 months ago
“Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.”

— Steve Jobs, 9 January, 2007.



Attachment Image
Score: 59 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Unity451 Avatar
Unity451
35 months ago
Back when spending $499 on a phone seemed like it was reserved for only the elites.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TechieTaco Avatar
TechieTaco
35 months ago


Attachment Image
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
erikkfi Avatar
erikkfi
35 months ago
It did have those nice Aqua-style icons, though, which we in the glorious future have been without for over a decade.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mac Fly (film) Avatar
Mac Fly (film)
35 months ago
Siri is essential like a drunk uncle.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mikey44 Avatar
Mikey44
35 months ago
I’m surprised there’s no mention of 3G, as that was a big deal at the time. I remember when people were all up in arms that it doesn’t have 3G at launch, and that it was ridiculous.

It’s interesting to compare this lack of functionality to say the Vision Pro, because this is again them entering a new market, and while I think there was more of a smart phone market than a spatial computer market today, it’s still interesting.

I wonder what list will be compiled for the vision in 17 years time.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments