iPhone has changed the face of mobile communications over the past 10 years. But what are the prospects for the latest iteration, iPhone X – especially in China?
“A widescreen iPod with touch controls”; “a revolutionary mobile phone”; and “a breakthrough internet communicator” – this is how Steve Jobs, then chief executive officer of Apple Inc, introduced the very first iPhone 10 years ago, a true game-changer in the phone industry.
Fast forward to now. The iconic Apple smartphone, which has evolved 15 models over the past 10 years, has embraced its next generation, which includes the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, and the most talked about 10th anniversary iPhone – iPhone X.
Predictably, days after the 3 November release, a large number of Apple fans will line up outside the company's stores worldwide to get a first touch of the new handsets as soon as possible.
However, the sense of wonder once experienced by those thousands of customers who queued for the first iPhone outside Apple and AT&T retail stores in the US on 29 June 2007 may never recur today.
Although not every generation of iPhone changed the industry as revolutionarily as the first one, which perfectly responded to Jobs’ ambition of “reinventing the phone”, the gradual evolution brought by them all together has been inspiring enough.
The iPhone has also transformed people’s lives by widely broadening a phone’s usage from handling contacts and taking photos to online live streaming and playing games.
The past 10 years have witnessed how the market rewarded Apple, so that the company is ranked third on the Fortune 500 list this year with a market value of $753.7 billion as of 31 March, and is expected to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company, a report by Fortune said.
However, having entered the Chinese mainland market nearly eight years ago, in October 2009, Apple only accounted for 7.1 per cent of market share in the second quarter of this year, according to research firm IDC China.
Domestic Chinese smartphone vendors have started showing their muscle and competing with Apple in the global market. In June and July, Huawei surpassed Apple as the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor for the first time, according to consultancy Counterpoint Technology Market Research.
As the road ahead for Apple faces uncertainties, let's revisit the past 10 years of iPhone.
Fast forward to now. The iconic Apple smartphone, which has evolved 15 models over the past 10 years, has embraced its next generation, which includes the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, and the most talked about 10th anniversary iPhone – iPhone X.
Predictably, days after the 3 November release, a large number of Apple fans will line up outside the company's stores worldwide to get a first touch of the new handsets as soon as possible.
However, the sense of wonder once experienced by those thousands of customers who queued for the first iPhone outside Apple and AT&T retail stores in the US on 29 June 2007 may never recur today.
Although not every generation of iPhone changed the industry as revolutionarily as the first one, which perfectly responded to Jobs’ ambition of “reinventing the phone”, the gradual evolution brought by them all together has been inspiring enough.
The iPhone has also transformed people’s lives by widely broadening a phone’s usage from handling contacts and taking photos to online live streaming and playing games.
The past 10 years have witnessed how the market rewarded Apple, so that the company is ranked third on the Fortune 500 list this year with a market value of $753.7 billion as of 31 March, and is expected to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company, a report by Fortune said.
However, having entered the Chinese mainland market nearly eight years ago, in October 2009, Apple only accounted for 7.1 per cent of market share in the second quarter of this year, according to research firm IDC China.
Domestic Chinese smartphone vendors have started showing their muscle and competing with Apple in the global market. In June and July, Huawei surpassed Apple as the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor for the first time, according to consultancy Counterpoint Technology Market Research.
As the road ahead for Apple faces uncertainties, let's revisit the past 10 years of iPhone.
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