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Apple Edits iPhone 6's Protruding Camera Out of Official Photos

Sockatume writes: If you've been browsing Apple's site leading up to the iPhone 6 launch, you might've noticed something a little odd. Apple has edited the handset's protruding camera out of every single side-on view of the phone. (The camera is, necessarily, retained for images showing the back of the device.) The absence is particularly conspicuous given the number of side views Apple uses to emphasize the device's thinness.

59 of 425 comments (clear)

  1. and the line was? by marcello_dl · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Is that a camera protruding from your back or are you happy to see me?"

    --
    ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
  2. Re:Parallax. by Motard · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, the bulge was where the U2 album was stored.

  3. Re:Parallax. by iluvcapra · · Score: 4, Funny

    We demand strict orthographic projection in all marketing materials!

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
  4. Re:Parallax. by Khyber · · Score: 5, Informative

    Parallax isn't going to hide something like that on a device of that size. I'm holding mine exactly like that right now. I sure as hell see the camera bump, even being way on the other side of the phone from my vantage point.

    Plus, take the images and invert the colors. You can clearly see editing work. Basic Photoshop detection 101. Even more fun when you have a shitty TFT screen that makes every glaring error even more obvious.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  5. Re:Parallax. by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, the phone is shown at exactly right angles, and they're right, the lens is photoshopped out. Meanwhile, it's 1 mm. What is that, the thickness of 2 business cards?

  6. Re:Parallax. by iluvcapra · · Score: 2, Informative

    Parallax isn't going to hide something like that on a device of that size.

    This is a function of focal length and subject distance.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
  7. Ehhh, cases. by blueshift_1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Meh, most people will put a big, thick case on it and it won't even matter.

    1. Re:Ehhh, cases. by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      Exactly, I am not sure why Apple tries so hard to make their device so thin.
      Thin cost money, the more it cost the thicker case you will want to put on it to protect it.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:Ehhh, cases. by mrchaotica · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My Nexus 5 is pretty thin. I don't use a case with it. The screen has not broken. I haven't gone out of my way to be especially careful with it, either.

      It's just not that damn hard to use a phone without breaking it, unless you're ridiculously careless.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  8. Re: [s]Parallax.[/s] Perspective by QuasiSteve · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You're thinking of perspective - and you'd need a very odd angle and wide angle lens to hide it. Here's a more realistic side shot which is already fairly up close and wide angle:
    http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futu...

    I don't think most people are particularly going to care (unless the protrusion is likely to make the phone wobble when set down somewhere), but it's slightly humorous to see Apple editing it away / leaving that ring off for product shots / conveniently leaving it out of product renders.
    ( Or, if you're still convinced that they didn't edit it away, they at least went to the trouble of trying to hide it without making it seem like they're trying to hide it. )

  9. Re:Parallax. by Khyber · · Score: 2, Informative

    Along with a few other mathematical things yes; but as it stands, unless they were taking those pictures from dozens of meters away, parallax isn't going to hide that from a dead-level perspective. I'm trying right now with my 26x optical zoom DSLR across the apartment, I can't get that tiny bump to stay hidden without showing more of the front of the phone.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  10. Re:Parallax. by msauve · · Score: 4, Informative

    You're doing it wrong. The closer you are, the easier it is to hide.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  11. The protruding lens was a mistake by nine-times · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't know how their design people allowed a protruding lens in the first place. It really runs contrary to Apple's design sensibility, but I guess we're seeing the first evidence of what happens to Apple without Jobs. The protrusion is ugly, and it mars the flat, smooth design.

    And for what? Assuming that they can't make the camera any thinner, make the phone slightly fatter, and make use of the extra space. It's not as though the iPhone 5 was obscenely thick and needed to be made thinner. Hell, just fill the rest of the thing out with additional battery, and give us more battery life.

    1. Re:The protruding lens was a mistake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think only the 6+ has a protruding lens and that's only because it has image stabilization. I don't think the basic 6 lens protrudes. This was mentioned in the keynote....

    2. Re:The protruding lens was a mistake by macs4all · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't know how their design people allowed a protruding lens in the first place. It really runs contrary to Apple's design sensibility, but I guess we're seeing the first evidence of what happens to Apple without Jobs. The protrusion is ugly, and it mars the flat, smooth design.

      And for what? Assuming that they can't make the camera any thinner, make the phone slightly fatter, and make use of the extra space. It's not as though the iPhone 5 was obscenely thick and needed to be made thinner. Hell, just fill the rest of the thing out with additional battery, and give us more battery life.

      Well, you know what they say:

      "You can never be too rich, or too thin; or have too much protruding bulge..."

    3. Re:The protruding lens was a mistake by meloneg · · Score: 2

      It really runs contrary to Apple's design sensibility, but I guess we're seeing the first evidence of what happens to Apple without Jobs.

      No the polka-dot hole case for the 5c was the first (overwhelming) evidence of what happens (this time) to Apple without Jobs.

    4. Re:The protruding lens was a mistake by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 2

      If they'd just made it as thick as the camera it still would have been thin enough and they may have been room to add a bit more battery juice.
      Classic crApple form over function BS.

    5. Re:The protruding lens was a mistake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think only the 6+ has a protruding lens and that's only because it has image stabilization. I don't think the basic 6 lens protrudes. This was mentioned in the keynote....

      LOL. How did this get modded up? It's bullshit. The iPhone 6 also has a protruding lens.

    6. Re:The protruding lens was a mistake by Theaetetus · · Score: 2

      And for what? Assuming that they can't make the camera any thinner, make the phone slightly fatter, and make use of the extra space. It's not as though the iPhone 5 was obscenely thick and needed to be made thinner. Hell, just fill the rest of the thing out with additional battery, and give us more battery life.

      Although I agree and would rather have the additional battery, most people put their phones in a case, which adds some thickness... The lens will protrude into the case cross-sectional region, allowing the overall phone+protruding-lens+case to be thinner than a thicker-phone+flat-lens+case.

    7. Re:The protruding lens was a mistake by hey! · · Score: 2

      I don't think you've really grasped Apple's design sensibility. Job one for the designers is to deliver a product that consumers want but can't get anywhere else.

      The "camera bulge" may be a huge blunder, or it may be just a tempest in a teapot. The real test will be the user's reactions when they hold the device in their hand, or see it in another user's hand. If the reaction is "I want it", the designers have done their job. If it's "Holy cow, look at that camera bulge," then it's a screw-up.

      The thinness thing hasn't been about practicality for a long, long time; certainly not since smartphones got thinner than 12mm or so. They always been practical things the could have given us other than thinness, but what they want you to do is pick up the phone and say, "Look how thin the made this!" The marketing value of that is that it signals that you've got the latest and greatest device. There's a limit of course, and maybe we're at it now. Otherwise we'll be carrying devices in ten years that look like big razor blades.

      At some point in your life you'll probably have seen so many latest and greatest things that having the latest and greatest isn't important to you any longer. That's when know you've aged out of the demographic designers care about.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  12. Re:Parallax. by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, the phone is shown at exactly right angles, and they're right, the lens is photoshopped out. Meanwhile, it's 1 mm. What is that, the thickness of 2 business cards?

    I think they were just holding it wrong while taking the pictures.

  13. Re:Parallax. by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Show me another MILF with an IQ of 80 who has inculcated herself as one of the highest paid cheerleaders of all time.

    That's amazing.

    It's also depressing, but you didn't ask about that.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  14. Re:Parallax. by BronsCon · · Score: 2

    And look! It caught you!

    --
    APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  15. Re:Parallax. by msauve · · Score: 2

    Straightedge across phone's camera and edge. Another across the front of the phone. The two straightedges will form a wedge - a lens inside that wedge will see only the side of the phone (no camera, no front). It's not clear why you were playing around with taking pictures from across the room, I doubt the wedge extends nearly that far.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  16. If Steve Jobs were alive he would have said by eladts · · Score: 3, Funny

    You're looking at it wrong!

  17. Apple Knows People Are Stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Apple could literal curve their logo into a dried turd and people climb all over each other to buy it.

  18. So... you're saying... by denzacar · · Score: 2

    ...that they are holding it wrong?

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  19. real apples have curves! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    This blatant image distortion by the cwhoreporate media gives young apples an unrealistic body image. We can stamp out this misfructopy in our generation! Sign the petition!

  20. Re:Parallax. by unrtst · · Score: 4, Informative

    And with the obvious FOV on those images, it's obvious you couldn't get close enough to hide it without pretty much having the edge directly against the camera lens. You'd have better luck trying fro further away to minimize its detail.

    Wrong. It's very easy to hide it. I just did so with my Samsung Galaxy S4, whose camera protrudes about the same amount, but does so in the middle of the phone. And I did that with a crappy point and shoot... just get up close and position it correctly. If you're looking with your eyes, you will have to close one, and you'll have to be able to focus on things very close (I can't focus on stuff that close to my face, but my camera can).

    FWIW, I'm not claiming they didn't simply photoshop the images, but it's certainly possible to take side pics that don't show the 1mm protrusion on the opposite side of the phone.

  21. Re:Parallax. by TWX · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not if the small thing is represented in the photographic medium at the same size as taking a picture of the thing up close with a different lens.

    Automobile magazines take pictures of cars from as far away as practical, so that the part of the car closer to the camera doesn't look substantially larger than the part of the car further from the lens. They use a telephoto lens to achieve this.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  22. Re:Parallax. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, amazing things like announcing a smart watch (Multiple manufacturers are already selling these), introduced a larger form factor for their phone (Multiple manufacturers started this trend years ago), and introduced an NFC payment method (Multiple parties have already implemented this). What other amazing feats have I missed?

  23. Re:Parallax. by ArcadeMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    Macs I'd Like to Fuck? Eww.

  24. Re:Parallax. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Funny

    Apple is about style and fashion. So why not use photoshop or anorexic phone models? Everybody in fashion does it.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  25. A protruding camera? Srsly? by stevez67 · · Score: 2

    If the biggest concern is a picture in marketing materials has been altered, people are grasping at straws for drama. After all no one in marketing alters pictures of actors, actresses, models, cars, motorcycles, musical instruments, etc etc etc (your sarcasm alarms should be going off now).

  26. Re:Parallax. by evenmoreconfused · · Score: 2

    It can't be at right angles to both the front and the back of the phone -- they are parallel, non-coincident planes.

    --
    No. Well...maybe. Actually, yes. It really just depends.
  27. Don't worry guys by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

    Tomorrow, Apple will be posting a tool to put back the camera in the images of your browser cache.

  28. Re:Parallax. by graphius · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But... but... he has a 26X Optical Zoom on his DSLR Whatever the fuck that means. If he really has a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) I am not aware of a zoom lens with a range greater than 16x (18-300) You do know that the multiplication factor means the longest focal length divided by the shortest. Or maybe he meant 26x magnification at the sensor plane, in that case, he must be using a crop frame sensor with an 850 mm lens (approximately) or more likely, a 500mm (mirror) lens with a 1.4x converter He spent all that money on photography gear and still doesn't understand perspective...

  29. Re:Well.... by Solandri · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now, iPhone / Apple fans aren't going to care that Apple marketers took this liberty with the images - they are going to buy it regardless.

    Only those who want to find fault with Apple, for whatever reason, give a rat's ass that Apple might engage as something so underhanded as to photoshop out the "bulge" to clarify their marketing point.

    What IS more interesting is how much attention Android fans are giving to something which they claim no interest in owning.

    Personally, I don't care about it. The only issue I have with it is that in the past, Apple fans have criticized my Android phone for having a protruding camera lens. Now when the iPhone has the same, suddenly it doesn't matter to them?

    See, that's the difference. You think it's about the device. It's not. It's about consistency, honesty, and hypocrisy. Same reason people were upset Apple photoshopped images of the Galaxy Tab to make it more like an iPad in the German court documents.

  30. Re:Parallax. by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

    1mm is about 15% of the total thickness.

  31. Re:Parallax. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    What did you do today?
    I argued about a 1 mm bump on a phone.

  32. Re:Well.... by BoberFett · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, well iPhone fans used to mock large screen Android devices. "That huge screen is too big, the iPhone 4 has the ideal screen size." Until the 5 shipped, at which point that had the perfect screen size.

    There's simple no reasoning with enthralled fanatics.

  33. Re:Parallax. by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

    If I'm not mistaken, the parallax explanation would require a distance of the button side of no more than 35 cm from the lens' front principal plane. Doesn't it at least suggest that they tried fairly hard to consciously push the perspective? The usual 100mm macro lens would only be able to fit it in diagonally, I think.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  34. Re:Parallax. by Forthan+Red · · Score: 5, Informative

    Gee, that's funny, because Samsung's official images of the S4 clearly show the camera protrusion from the side: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsun... And Apple shows their phone from both sides, so in those with the lens on the near side, it should be even more evident. But it's not. It's clear case of iLying.

  35. Silly design decision by Mr_Silver · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does anyone know of any iPhone 5/5S users who complained that their phone was too thick?

    I see no reason why Apple felt it necessary to slim the device down even more - when they could have just had the same thickness as the 5/5S resulting in no silly bulge for the camera.

    Plus, they could have put a bigger battery in the case and maybe get an hour or so extra time out of the thing. Which I can imagine would be a lot more useful than shaving a couple mm off an already perfectly slim enough phone.

    --
    Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
    1. Re:Silly design decision by sysrammer · · Score: 2

      1 Make thin, fragile thing thinner.
      2 Make it even easier to put it where high-tech, fragile things shouldn't go.
      3 Marketing blitz.
      4 Youthful customers with few responsibilities snap it up.
      5 Fragile item is indeed placed in an untenable position.
      6 Fragile thing is broken, necessitating a replacement purchase.
      7 Profit.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  36. Re: Parallax. by jackspenn · · Score: 2

    By MILF, I assume you are referring to the Media Input Lense Feature.

    We are still talking about Apple, right?

    --
    Respect the Constitution
  37. Re:Parallax. by jon3k · · Score: 2

    Plus, take the images and invert the colors. You can clearly see editing work. Basic Photoshop detection 101. Even more fun when you have a shitty TFT screen that makes every glaring error even more obvious.

    Not only is there nothing there when you invert the colors (see here, inverted and zoomed for your viewing pleasure), it's very likely it was a computer generated image and not even a photograph to begin with.

  38. it's simple math, similar triangles by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 4, Insightful

    On the smaller phone (iPhone 6) the lens is 50mm from the far (button) edge of the phone and protrudes 0.8mm. The phone is 7mm thick.

    Thus there is a triangle formed on the top of the phone which is 0.8mm tall and 50mm base. Now, if you make the triangle 7.8mm tall you form a triangle with the front plane of the phone, a triangle with a base (7.8/0.8)*50 of 487mm.

    So if you take the picture from less than 487mm away (half a meter) you can take a picture which doesn't show the camera and doesn't show the face of the phone (thus is "edge on") without using any photoshop trickery. The phone body will simply block the camera from view.

    And that's surely what Apple did. It's not hard to do.

    Also note: you don't have one, troll. It doesn't come out for a couple more days.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
  39. Re:Parallax. by larryjoe · · Score: 2

    No, the phone is shown at exactly right angles, and they're right, the lens is photoshopped out. Meanwhile, it's 1 mm. What is that, the thickness of 2 business cards?

    2 business cards makes it sound insignificant. Meanwhile 1mm / 6.9 mm is about 15%, which makes it sound more significant.

    Does this 15% matter? If you want an Apple phone, it doesn't matter. If you don't care for Apple phones, it does.

  40. Re:Where are the links? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://images.apple.com/iphone-6/overview/images/design_details_right_large.jpg

    Looks like Apple's site to me.

  41. Re:Parallax. by thaylin · · Score: 2, Informative

    Only because it is an "i device". Not because it is better in any way. That is not amazing, that is zealotry.

    --
    When you cant win, ad hominem.
  42. Re:Parallax. by Dishevel · · Score: 3, Informative
    Sure. You go right ahead and click the agreements for your iDevices and iSoftware. Do not bother to read it. Apple loves you and would never sell information on you for profit to their "Partners". I bet no matter how hard you look you will never see ... Ohh, wait.

    Is this where you could opt out of iAds tracking?

    Interesting. I am sure they give away targeted ads to their advertising partners for free though. Because they do not want you to look like a fool.

    --
    Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
  43. Re:Was modded up for truth by exomondo · · Score: 5, Informative

    The six has a flat back, Mr. Always Corrected.

    No it doesn't, not according to Apple's website - see the bit where they compare thickness - the smaller 6 clearly has the protruding lens. Also you can quite clearly see it in engadget's hands on video.

  44. Re:Parallax. by schnell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, amazing things like announcing a smart watch (Multiple manufacturers are already selling these), introduced a larger form factor for their phone (Multiple manufacturers started this trend years ago), and introduced an NFC payment method (Multiple parties have already implemented this)

    For fuck's sake, can we get rid of this tired meme finally? "Apple never invented anything" is a straw man faithfully trotted out by anti-Apple fanbois time and time again, seemingly oblivious to the fact that this is really not the point. Anyone who tells you "Apple invented X" is almost certainly wrong, and anyone who says "Apple never invented X" is missing the damn point.

    To wit:

    * Apple did not invent the Personal Computer. Apple took the idea and made (one of) the first PCs that were user-friendly enough that lots and lots of people wanted to buy it.

    * Apple did not invent the GUI. Apple took the idea and made the first GUI that was user-friendly enough that lots and lots of people wanted to buy it. (Note: it took them two tries to get it right, including the Lisa.)

    * Apple did not invent desktop publishing. Apple took the idea and put together the right user-friendly 3rd party software, GUI and laser printers that made lots and lots of people want to buy it.

    * Apple did not invent USB, nor was it the first to use it. They took the idea and put it into a computer that was "cool" and user-friendly (and whose users were forced to use USB whether they liked it or not), and lots and lots of people started to buy USB devices.

    * Apple did not invent UNIX, or *NIX-derived PC operating systems. They took the idea and made the first *NIX-based OS that was user-friendly enough that lots and lots of people wanted to buy it. (Note again that it took Steve Jobs two tries to get this one right, including NeXT.)

    * Apple did not invent MP3 players. They took the idea and made the first MP3 player that was user-friendly enough and supported by an ecosystem that made it easy for people to legally buy music so that lots and lots of people wanted to buy it.

    * Apple did not invent smartphones. They took the idea and made the first smartphone that was user-friendly enough that normal people wanted one instead of just work-issued mobile email tools, so lots and lots of people wanted to buy one.

    Do you see a pattern here?

    So please, please can we get over this "Apple didn't invent anything" BS and recognize what it is that Apple actually does, and hence what criteria their success or failure should be judged on? Apple doesn't live or die on being first. They live or die based on being the first one in a given market to do something really well ... at least until other people catch up and equal them. And then they are on to the Next Big Thing. If they ever run out of Next Big Things, then they are done.

    --
    "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
  45. Re:Parallax. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    right and where was windows phone, and Android before the iPhone was launched? how about full screen mobile browsers?

    Windows CE and Palm OS phones were around years before the iPhone, complete with web browsers.

    Sure there are lots of smart watches out there. All of them are thicker than the Apple watch

    Apple Watch = 12.6mm
    Samsung Galaxy Gear = 11.1mm
    Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 = 10mm
    Sony Smartwatch 2 = 9mm
    Pebble = 11.5mm
    Pebble Steel = 10.5mm

    and none of them thought of implementing NFC payments into the watch.

    Samsung Galaxy Gear/2 and Sony Smartwatch 2 have NFC.

    Let alone the astounding watch feature of changeable watch bands

    Samsung Galaxy Gear 2, Sony Smartwatch 2 and Pebble have changeable bands.

    The iPhone 6 really doesn't have any good competing pieces. However iOS still has one major feature than Android and Window phone lack. with in 3 months of a new OS launch /update 80% of all compatible devices have been upgraded. It takes android a couple of years to get to 25%. iOS is still supported on 3 year old devices. only google nexus android devices are supported any where near that long.

    CyanogenMod. I have a six year old HTC Dream running the latest version of Android.

  46. Re:Where are the links? by semiotec · · Score: 2
    https://www.apple.com/iphone-6...

    Do you rate Apple.com as one of those "rumor mills and third party sites"?

  47. Re:Parallax. by Dahamma · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Except it is better in the only way that matters: many people prefer it - especially those who can afford the premium over Android phones. The fact is, convenience and ease of use most definitely IS a feature, and for many it's the most important one. Calling 500M+ people worldwide "zealots" is something only a zealot would do.

    Perfect example: Apple Pay. Google has had NFC payments via Google Wallet in Android for years. They could have built a huge business there, but they completely fucked it up. They put out the feature with almost no retailer support, minimal bank support, even worse CE vendor support, only in the US, and a half-assed marketing effort even for Google's usually low standards.

    Apple waited until the feature was relevant (secure credit cards are coming to the US this year), they could design a much more convenient UI (iTunes/Passbook/Thumb ID), launched their solution with dozens of major retailers, bank deals, service beyond the US, and the usual insane Apple marketing hype. Rumor has it they even negotiated a small transaction fee from banks - that alone could make it a multi-billion dollar business very quickly.

    Technical innovation is not everything, and it's often not the most important thing. Timing and execution are often the difference.

  48. Re:Where are the links? by semiotec · · Score: 2
    Come on!

    You seriously don't see any side view images of the iPhone?

    Counting by images, the 2nd, 5th and 7th iPhone images on http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/... are all side views!

    Please try harder!

  49. Re:Parallax. by homb · · Score: 2

    That's complete bullshit. You have no idea what the original iPhone did then. That's exactly the point of @schnell's comment above. No one was using their "smartphone" (or super duper feature phone like the N95) because they were a disaster to use. What Apple did was create a complete package of software and hardware, and provided web apps functionality. It's only when users found out how amazing the package was that they said "Why did you short-change us!?!? That thing is great, let us use it all the way! We want native apps!"

    When people saw my iPhone they'd ask me what I thought of it, and my answer was always that within 3 years everyone would have one or something similar. There was just no comparison, this was finally a usable handheld computer with a SIM card. So whether you call it a "feature phone" or a "smartphone" is irrelevant: it was a revolution in phones, and every single smartphone today is a direct descendant of the iPhone.

    Put another way, the chasm between the phones before iPhone and the iPhone is immensely wider than the difference between the iPhone and today's smartphones.