<p>The&nbsp;<strong>iPhone</strong>&nbsp;is a line of&nbsp;<a title="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone">smartphones</a>&nbsp;designed and marketed by&nbsp;<a title="Apple Inc." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.">Apple Inc.</a>&nbsp;that use Apple's&nbsp;<a title="IOS" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS">iOS</a>&nbsp;<a title="Mobile operating system" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_operating_system">mobile operating system</a>. The&nbsp;<a title="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_(1st_generation)">first-generation iPhone</a>&nbsp;was announced by former Apple&nbsp;<a title="Chief executive officer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_executive_officer">CEO</a>&nbsp;<a title="Steve Jobs" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs">Steve Jobs</a>&nbsp;on January 9, 2007. Since then Apple has annually released new iPhone models and iOS updates. As of November 1, 2018, more than 2.2 billion iPhones had been sold.</p>

<p>The iPhone has a&nbsp;<a title="User interface" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface">user interface</a>&nbsp;built around a&nbsp;<a title="Multi-touch" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch">multi-touch</a>&nbsp;screen. It connects to&nbsp;<a title="Cellular network" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_network">cellular networks</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a title="Wi-Fi" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi">Wi-Fi</a>, and can make&nbsp;<a title="Telephone call" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_call">calls</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Web browser" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser">browse the web</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Camera phone" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_phone">take pictures</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Portable media player" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_media_player">play music</a>&nbsp;and send and receive&nbsp;<a title="Email" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email">emails</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a title="Text messaging" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_messaging">text messages</a>. Since the iPhone's launch further features have been added, including larger screen sizes,&nbsp;<a title="Video camera" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_camera">shooting video</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Waterproofing" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterproofing">waterproofing</a>, the ability to install third-party&nbsp;<a title="Mobile app" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_app">mobile apps</a>&nbsp;through an&nbsp;<a title="App store" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/App_store">app store</a>, and many&nbsp;<a title="Computer accessibility" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_accessibility">accessibility</a>&nbsp;features. Up to 2017, iPhones used a layout with a single button on the front panel that returns the user to the&nbsp;<a title="Springboard (iPhone)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springboard_(iPhone)">home screen</a>. Since 2017, more expensive iPhone models have switched to a nearly&nbsp;<a title="Screen bezel" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_bezel">bezel</a>-less front screen design with app switching activated by&nbsp;<a title="Gesture recognition" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesture_recognition">gesture recognition</a>.</p>

<p>The iPhone is one of the two largest smartphone&nbsp;<a title="Computing platform" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing_platform">platforms</a>&nbsp;in the world alongside&nbsp;<a title="Android (operating system)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)">Android</a>, forming a large part of the&nbsp;<a title="Luxury goods" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxury_goods">luxury market</a>. The iPhone has generated large profits for Apple, making it one of the world's&nbsp;<a title="List of public corporations by market capitalization" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_corporations_by_market_capitalization">most valuable publicly traded companies</a>. The first-generation iPhone was described as "revolutionary" and a "game-changer" for the mobile phone industry and subsequent models have also garnered praise. The iPhone has been credited with popularizing the smartphone and&nbsp;<a title="Slate phone" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_phone">slate form factor</a>, and with creating a large market for smartphone apps, or "<a title="IPhone (1st generation)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_app_development">app economy</a>". As of January&nbsp;2017, Apple's&nbsp;<a title="App Store (iOS)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/App_Store_(iOS)">App Store</a>&nbsp;contained more than 2.2&nbsp;million applications for the iPhone.</p>