The iPhone at 10: How photography changed forever

26 Jun 2017

iPhone. Image: Songphon Maharojanan/Shutterstock

Apple’s finest creation, the iPhone, reaches its 10th birthday, with many in reflective moods about a game changing device across multiple industries.

With well in excess of 140bn app downloads onto iPhones since the Apple smartphone’s 2008 release, we’ve seen a dramatic shift in how technology is used to share content.

Some $70bn has been paid to iOS app developers in that time, with more than 1bn devices sold throughout the world and earning the company eye-watering sums of money.

This has helped Apple become the most valuable company in the world, capitalising on superior design and, through the App Store and iTunes, revenue streams other manufacturers could only dream of.

One of the areas the device has influenced the greatest is the world of photography.

There are annual iPhone Photography Awards, for example, chronicling the dramatic improvements made with each device.

There are even professional photographers who earn their crust from using an iPhone, rather than a traditional camera.

The influence that the iPhone has had on the photography industry is such that Shutterstock has developed a clever infographic, detailing where Apple’s fingerprints have been left in the past decade.

Everything from how it’s shared, to how well it looks, has helped the iPhone play a key role in driving the smartphone industry to bigger and bigger heights.

iPhone infographic: Shutterstock

Click on the infographic to view in a larger format. Image: Shutterstock

iPhone. Image: Songphon Maharojanan/Shutterstock

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com