Throwback to how Steve Jobs introduced the 1st iPhone in 2007 as Ternus’ iPhone Duo becomes Apple’s biggest design leap

Before the foldable iPhone Duo, there was another moment when an Apple CEO stood on stage and introduced a device called the iPhone for the very first time.

John Ternus, on 9 September, unveiled Apple’s first foldable iPhone, marking a new chapter for the company’s most important product. But nearly two decades before the iPhone Duo opened like a book on an Apple stage, Steve Jobs introduced the world to something far more unfamiliar: the iPhone itself.

How Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone as Ternus unveils the Duo

It was 9 January, 2007, at the Macworld conference in San Francisco. Jobs, then Apple’s chief executive, took the stage to announce what he described as three revolutionary products.

“Today we’re introducing three revolutionary products,” Jobs told the audience.

“The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough internet communications device.”

He then began repeating the three descriptions — an iPod, a phone and an internet communicator — slowly bringing the audience towards the punchline. The crowd laughed as it became increasingly clear that Jobs was not talking about three separate devices.

“Getting it?” he asked. “These are not three separate devices. This is one device and we are calling it iPhone.”

The original iPhone represented a dramatic departure from the mobile phones available at the time. Smartphones with physical keyboards were common, while most mobile devices relied heavily on fixed buttons and controls.

Jobs argued that this was precisely the problem Apple wanted to solve.

“What we’re going to do is get rid of all these buttons and just make a giant screen,” he said during the presentation.

Apple’s solution was a touchscreen interface designed to be operated primarily with a user’s fingers rather than a physical keyboard or stylus. The company described the device as combining a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls and an internet communications device into a single handheld product.

At the time, Apple said the iPhone would feature a large multi-touch display and bring desktop-class email, web browsing, search and maps to a mobile device. Jobs called it a “revolutionary and magical product” that was years ahead of other mobile phones.

The launch would eventually reshape not only Apple, but the broader mobile industry. The iPhone went on to become the centre of Apple’s business and helped establish the touchscreen smartphone as the dominant form of mobile computing.

Now, the company is attempting another significant shift in what an iPhone can look like.

Ternus’ iPhone Duo features

At Apple’s September 9 event, Ternus unveiled the iPhone Duo, the company’s first foldable iPhone and one of the first major product launches of his tenure as chief executive. The device opens to reveal a 7.6-inch inner display and has a 5.4-inch outer screen when folded, allowing it to function as both a conventional smartphone and a larger-screen device for watching content, gaming and multitasking.

Apple has described the Duo as its “most transformational change to iPhone since the original”. The foldable device is powered by the A20 Pro chip and features a redesigned software experience intended to adapt to its two-screen form factor.

The two launches, separated by almost 20 years, come from very different moments in Apple’s history. Jobs was introducing an entirely new product that would redefine the company. Ternus is introducing a new form of a device that has since become one of the most recognisable consumer products in the world.

The original iPhone arrived with the promise of replacing several devices with one. The iPhone Duo, meanwhile, is Apple’s latest attempt to make one device do more by changing its physical form.

And as Apple enters the foldable phone market, the company’s newest iPhone launch inevitably invites a look back at the moment when Steve Jobs first stood on stage and told the world that three revolutionary products were, in fact, just one.