Why there’s nothing quite like iPhone.
Every iPhone we’ve made — and we mean every single one — was built on the same belief. That a phone should be more than a collection of features. That, above all, a phone should be absolutely simple, beautiful, and magical to use.
It should have hardware and software that were designed to work with each other. And enhance each other. By people who frequently see each other. That’s how you make a phone that works ridiculously well.
And whenever there are shiny, new software updates with shiny, new features, you should be able to sit back, relax, and know your phone will get them. And be compatible with them. For years. For free.
It’s that kind of thinking that also enabled us to create the world’s most popular camera. A camera that makes it easy to take insanely great photos. Like “How did you even do that?” great.
So when you just want to point and shoot and get a photo of that weird grasshopper-moth-beetle thing that just landed over there, it has its Focus Pixels and auto stabilization and image signal processor already ready to go.
What that means is, you don’t actually have to know what that means. All you have to do is use it to see that taking photos and videos on iPhone is really. Flippin’. Amazing.
Also amazing? The fact that there are over a million and a half capable, beautiful, inspiring apps on the App Store. And each and every one was reviewed and approved by a team of real live humans. With great taste. And great suggestions. And great ideas. So whether your thing is running or writing or budgeting or filming or note-taking or annihilating rampant zombie populations using only the power of plants, you’re totally set.
And while there are lots of things you want on your phone, there’s one you definitely don’t: malware. (“Malware” is what you call code that tries to sneak into your devices for the purpose of doing sneaky things. Like stealing your bank info or tracking every single word you type.) Now, this is the part where we’d normally geek out about the tools we give developers to make super safe apps like top-notch APIs, encryption, and app transport security, and the rock-solid security features we build into iPhone like trusted boot, sandboxing, and kernel address space layout randomization, but there’s only so much room. So let’s just say that iPhone and malware are practically strangers, and leave it at that.
And on the topic of keeping things safe, we think you should be able to control what you share and what you don’t. Like, if you want an app to show you restaurants within walking distance or to add a filter to your photo, that means the app needs to see your location or access your camera. And that can be kind of personal. So we make sure the choice is up to you. Because a phone should keep what’s private private. Period. Exclamation point.
Security is serious. It’s why we invented Touch ID. A painstakingly engineered sensor that lets you unlock your phone with just your fingerprint. And iPhone keeps your print safe by never storing an image of it. Instead, it turns it into an intricate piece of math, which can’t be turned back into an image, re-created, replicated, or otherwise fiddled with. And we built a place especially for that piece of math called the Secure Enclave. It’s completely walled off from the rest of your phone, and it keeps your fingerprint encrypted and protected. We can’t see it. “They” can’t see it. Not even you can see it.
And since we’re all using our phones more than ever, they should be able to do more remarkable things than ever. That includes letting you know that today you took 7,962 steps, which is the equivalent of 3.31 miles, which totally counts as a workout.
Your phone should also get along famously with your laptop and your tablet. And be able to kick up the thermostat with a couple of taps. And put on “Love Shack”* from the backseat on command.
Another remarkable thing a phone should do — which, honestly, shouldn’t be so remarkable — is give everyone access to its powerful technology.
That’s why iPhone comes with incredible assistive tools and features built right in. Like VoiceOver, which lets you tap to hear what’s on your screen, even if you can’t see it. And Switch Control, a way to navigate your phone using switches instead of tapping, dragging, or swiping. And there’s also mono audio, which helps you hear it all by playing stereo recordings in mono in both ears of your headphones. And even Invert Colors, which increases the contrast on your screen, making it easier to read. And that’s not even everything. To us, technology like this isn’t additional. It’s essential.
And if you ever have any questions about iPhone — because we all have questions sometimes — you know exactly who to come to. Us. Swing by any of our 457 stores (and counting). Or call us on the phone at AppleCare. Or chat us up right here, where you actually already are right now, the Internet.
Because like we said, we design the hardware and we design the software, so we’re pretty good at answering anything. From “Where’s the power button?” to “What exactly did you mean when you said ‘image signal processor’?”