Next week marks 10 years since Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPhone, blowing our collective minds regarding the possibilities that smartphones presented.
Coming up on a decade later, if you’re still using the first-gen iPhone on a regular basis, we want to hear from you!
Since the first iPhone, we’ve had 15 successive Apple handsets, all of which added features. With that said, no iPhone has ever dropped our jaws quite like the original — which Steve Jobs pitched as a mix of phone, touchscreen iPod and breakthrough internet communication device.
Apple hasn’t supported the first iPhone since February 2, 2010, when it shipped iOS 3.1.3. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that the majority of users will have progressed to later iPhones, although a select few still cling to their first-gen iPhones.
For instance, Apple’s 2016 Designed by Apple in California coffee table book features the battered original iPhone belonging to Evans Hankey, who manages Apple’s design studio.
As Jony Ive said in an interview, “Isn’t it cool? She destroys her objects. But I thought there was something so charming about that. I thought it was lovely to put that in. We design tools to be used. And she definitely uses them!”
Do you still use an original iPhone? What’s the oldest iPhone you still use regularly? Leave your comments below.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
47 responses to “Still using an original iPhone? We want to know.”
iPhone 3GS, still in my pocket
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You’re mainly a fake Diane but a true spammer
I used iPhone 4 from October 2013 to July 2016, now switched to iPhone 5s.
im still using ipod 1/2 and a iphone 3G just for listening music ..
they still are valid and their amazing design still makes me love them..
the only downside is… the fucking decision that apple made making the battery NON user replaceable
i love you apple and FUCK you apple
I have used the original, 3GS, 4, 6, and 6S. I still have them all but the 6 and I love them. The most beautiful is the 4 by no doubt, but the original just brings back memories. It was a wonderful phone. Just played with it the other day, and besides not being able to play Clash of Clans and having a bad camera it is perfectly usable. I can still read the news, get on Safari, call, text, and listen to music. Shoot, I can’t even listen to music on the 7 without a stupid adapter with my Beats Solo 2!
I agree!! The 4 and 4S are the best designs.
Can you believe the Original iPhone doesn’t have GPS or compass, it’s running on Edge, Not 3G or LTE. You can’t change the landscape of the screen. No Flash or front facing camera. No pinch to zoom. WOW
It’s really crazy. GPS is one thing I now think that I couldn’t live without. My old Garmin is so stupid and those lifetime updates lasted about 1 year and it doesn’t work well. My iPhone and Google Mals is the best GPS ever.
“Is your iPhone older than Breaking Bad?”
Well, that’s hard for us to answer.
1. When did Breaking Bad come out?
2. What is Breaking Bad? (Some drug users, police action flick?)
3. When were our iPhones released?!
4. How do we count things if our iPhones were purchased used?! For us, that’s when we got them; but when were they actually first purchased?
5. What difference does it make?! :-)
Our iPhones are iPhone 4s (plural, not the 4S). So, are they older than Breaking Bad? (Some dance-romance flick? Oh, wait! That would be called Bad Break Dancing! :-))
I am still using my original first generation iPhone as a music player. Nothing beats cover flow…which sadly doesn’t exist on my iPhone 6. Gotta say though my original iPhone is in a lot better shape than the one in Apple’s book…by a long shot.
same here :)
iPhone 4S since 2012
iPhone 3GS 32Gb, use every day. Made in Dec 2009, I’ve replaced the attenae, the microphone and the motherboard now. Perfect sound quality and a good ‘walkman’ too. Beginning to lose apps last year though on IOS6 so it usefulness is leaving slowly. Went to Smithsonian Musem in DC the other day and saw it there. That’s when I knew I needed a new phone.
You should upgrade to a Google pixel. Best phone out right now from what I have heard.
What a weird thing to do, log in specifically to be an advocate of the competition. You couldn’t look any weirder right now.
Life hint for you: They’re just ‘things’. Don’t be so attached.
Hahaha not trying to look weird just being honest with the guy and giving an opinion. I don’t own a pixel but my wife who just happens to be a Apple fanatic just traded in her iPhone 6 plus to get a Pixel XL and she is loving it. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t love her MacBook, iPod, or even her iPad. It just means she bought the best phone that is currently out for her. In her opinion it was the best phone out and yes she tested the iPhone 7 at the store. I think the big switch for her was due to the lack of a head phone jack.
Cool story bro.
Thanks man! If you ever wanna hear another interesting story you can follow me on disqus, I actually have tons of them!
I’ll look at that. I was also v impressed with the Samsung note7 before they started exploding. Trouble is I’m very in the Apple universe and it may be hard to leave though I’d love to have a change. Apple are becoming awful.
Haha like I mentioned my wife was worried about the same exact thing she always talked about how everything just worked together and that she thought she was too far in to leave. But even a few of the Apple guys at Verizon and Best Buy were mentioning that most of the apps people have become accustomed to running on iPhones are Google apps anyways. Good luck in your new phone hunting! With whatever phone you choose. I’m sure whatever you get at this point will feel incredible compared to what you have been using.
Yes, indeed, thanks very much :)
Why not the s7 edge, does pixel’s battery life sucks?
I think for her the stock Android experience and pixel launcher was the closest thing to her iPhone. But the battery life is amazing. She gets about 5 to 6 hours of on screen time with about 2 days of full use. She is using the pixel XL so I’m not sure how good the regular pixel would do. But still does very amazing battery wise.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8b1bfc8f42fe03584d3451f52e61346829da00b6d491692d99fe6ea784bbf7b0.png
Still using 3GS – only changed the battery AND still use the iPad1. Alas I have to upgrade soon – corporate is using Apps that do not work on the 3GS.
Still got my original. Bought from Las Vegas the day after release.
I can’t say I use it regularly but yes I still have my original iPhone and yes it still works. It’s got my email and some music on it still. I fire it up about once a month just for fun. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cc954a248274b27e147d481cc8e123e12af80e2dd51d4c3011526a6dde5b99c5.jpg
My first was the 3GS, incredible phone! Actually i manage to use all of them until the 6, and yes! i also have and original iPhone 2G :D
Just upgraded to 7 from my 4S and looks like I’m might be going back!
From a communication standpoint –
I’m told I sound as tho I’m underground or in a tunnel. Everyone keeps asking me what’s wrong are you sick? I’ve dropped a few calls and people have said they couldn’t not hear me as the volume was too low. From a productivity stand point – yes my emails come in quicker n Tweets and FB usage are speedy but when I’m talking to a client or potential client I need to sound clear and professional. So I guess one needs to decide quality or quantity as far as what your priorities are for usage.
I can do everything just as well on my 4S as my 7. Just saying!
My original iPhone, with busted screen, sits, always plugged in, on the nightstand in my 4-year old’s bedroom as a white noise machine to help her sleep. Occasionally I pick it up to see what I can make work, but it turns out it’s very little. Wondering if it will make it another ten years.
My first phone is the iPhone 2g and I still use it but thinking about upgrading to a iPhone 7 plus right now I am using a iPad Air 2 to stay updated
I still have my original iPhone 2g purchased in early 2008 and it’s in pristine working condition, but I haven’t used for about 5 years. I’m figuring it will be a collectors item in about 10 years. It was a great phone despite the small-ish screen and lack of GPS. I upgraded to a 4S and most recently to an iPhone 6. I’ve been very happy with my iPhones, and the apps I have on them make the phone a major focal point of my life for the day to day info I need, from having an always with me guitar tuner, weather guide, altimeter, maps with turn by turn directions (how did I ever live without this?) and much more.
I stil have my original iPhone from 2007 and it surprisingly still works. It was jailbroken at the time as I’m in Switzerland and it was not sold abroad. Still have a 3GS too. Both are used when traveling as backups for local SIM cards. My 6S is my main phone today.
What puzzles me is that after 10 yers, the original iPhone battery still holds about 11 hours.
iPhone 4S since December 2011.
The original iPhone is no longer usable on the AT&T network now that they are in the process of shutting down their GSM/2G/EDGE network. From now on it will only be usable on wifi networks. I haven’t used my original iPhone in a long time but I still fire it up on occasion and play with it.
I still have my 1st generation iPhone working and I use it as backup phone / ipod
I still use a 3GS as my only phone, and as I never want to go beyond iOS6 until Apple fixes their current user interface design travesty, I have no intention of upgrading it.
exactly how I feel, only trouble is that I need some of the new apps….. But for now IOS6 is still a thing of utility and beauty.
Have the original iPhone downgraded to iPhone OS 1.0 (1A543a). :)
Still using my 4S. if it ain’t broke….
that’s bad about the batt. Apple are so deteriorating right now
All Iphone in my collec
Iphone 5s
Iphone 1st Gen 4Gb from June 2006 – use it as Ipod , as Camera – Phone service through Iphone 6S Plus
I held on to my iPhone 4 from 2011 to 2016, when I upgraded to an iPhone 6.
I still use an iphone 3gs as my every day phone for calls, text, surfing the net, and even some game apps. It still works absolutely fine.. And the battery holds a charge for over a full day. I just charge it at night .