Apple Celebrates Huge Milestone After Selling One Billionth iPhone

Just about one month after the iPhone celebrated its 9^th birthday, the device reached another milestone in its eventful life – the iPhone celebrated its 1 billionth sale today.

Apple published a press release on their website this afternoon, stating that during an employee meeting in Cupertino, California, Tim Cook announced that the company had recently sold the billionth iPhone. Amid talk of lackluster sales and disappointment in upcoming devices, one billion sales of the iPhone reminds us of just how important the device really is. The very first iPhone was a revolutionary device – the very first multi-touch touchscreen smartphone, a feature ubiquitous today.

The iPhone propelled smartphones into the mainstream, and, until recently, broke sales records with nearly every release. The now iconic device has changed the way we communicate, and changed the way we live our everyday lives. As Cook stated in the press release, the iPhone has “become more than a constant companion. iPhone is truly an essential part of our daily life and enables much of what we do throughout the day.”

After Apple’s sales came in for the third quarter of 2016, Apple had sold a total of 987 million iPhones, and was averaging roughly 40 million smartphone sales per quarter. A recent call with investors saw Tim Cook note the ‘very successful’ launch of the iPhone SE, as well as the growing popularity of the iPhone in India and a number of users switching from Android to the iPhone. The billionth sale reportedly occurred sometime last week, and Cook’s announcement came shortly thereafter.

So what’s next for the device? Sales are in a bit of a slump at the moment, and the device will see its next iteration, the iPhone 7, release this coming September to little fanfare. The iPhone 7 will reportedly be a relatively minor upgrade to the iPhone 6s, with a redesigned camera, re-positioned antenna lines, lack of a headphone jack, and possibly a capacitive home button. However, talk of a completely redesigned iPhone set for a 2017 release has users excited about the phone’s 10^th anniversary. Rumors of an all-glass, bezel-free enclosure with an edge-to-edge OLED display have iPhone fans excited about the future.

Whether or not the iPhone 7 is a big hit, and whether or not the iPhone 8 is a mind-blowing device aside, there can be no argument about the fact that the iPhone is one of the most important inventions of our time. As Cook stated in the press release, Apple “never set out to make the most, but [they’ve] always set out to make the best products that make a difference.” Apple has certainly done that with the iPhone.

Apple has sold one billion iPhones: but how many of those sales were from you? Let us know in the comments below!