The original iPhone was introduced in 2007, but it’s no secret that the project started much earlier. And as Steve Jobs’ authorized biography recounts, then-Apple CEO Walter Isaacson already had it in mind. the fall of the digital camera industry. I had anticipated this seeing that there were already many cell phones equipped with cameras and it was even clearer considering what the iPhone and the rest of the smartphones that were coming would mean.
The iPod, collateral victim to be swept away by the iPhone
Initially, what Steve Jobs feared most was that the iPhone would destroy the iPod, the company’s flagship product. And while the legendary Apple co-founder didn’t see its complete demise after his death in 2011, he did have time to see that, indeed, The iPhone has become Apple’s new right eye. And what a little right eye.
The iPhone has represented about 50% of Apple’s revenue for years and this undoubtedly makes it its fundamental pillar. This is a milestone that the iPod never reached, and that can be considered collateral damage that, although painful for all that it implied, has not affected the company’s growth rate in any way.
However, the digital camera industry was in a worse situation. Because no, an iPhone and any other mobile phone still lag behind professional cameras in terms of quality. It is impossible that, no matter how advanced the lenses of a smartphone are, they can match the results of many of them. The fact is that at an amateur and even a little advanced level, There are those who only need an iPhone to take pictures. (or with any other).
And it is not so much because they are equal to the most professional cameras, but because the quality-performance ratio ends up absorbing it. Mobile phones are much more versatile due to the number of features they offer in addition to the camera, as well as their simple camera interface with which to open the application, film and that’s it.
Before, (almost) everyone had a cell phone and a camera. Not now. Most of us own a smartphone with which The photographic needs of the average user are now satisfied and even the most advanced ones who, for some reason, do not always carry their professional camera with them.
Steve Jobs knew the potential of the iPhone before the iPhone
As we said, in Steve Jobs’ biography there are some anecdotes related to Steve Jobs’ Vision for Digital Cameras in 2005
This first Apple smartphone came out with a single rear camera that could not record videos and with a resolution of 2 megapixels, which was widely criticized at the time for the existence of “stupid” mobile phones with better resolution. This was not the purpose of this first iPhone and given its other great virtues, it could be put into perspective. However, things have improved over the years. Nowadays, cameras are big attractions of an iPhone.both in specifications and functions as well as in software processing.
Statistical graph
In the days before the iPhone, Jobs said he was absolutely convinced that they would eventually turn the camera industry on its head because “Smartphones will reach a sufficient point” to fill the gaps in the standard citizen who, at the time, demanded digital cameras.
Indeed, Jobs was not wrong and that Camera sector continues to enjoy good sales. The decline would begin to be recorded from 2010 and shipments would decrease more and more. The gap created was huge and, in just three years, they were reduced by almost half. Currently, about 8 million units are shipped, figures very far from the more than 120 million shipped when the iPhone was still in its infancy.
In Applesfera | Apple September 2024 Event: When iPhone 16 Will Be Released, What Other Products Will Come With It, and Other Surprises Revealed
In Applesfera | iPhone 16: release date, price, models and everything we think we know about them
