Other The most cutting edge iPhone of its time?

[Ralfi]

Which iPhone do you think was the most advanced at it's time of release, so much so that it could have been released a year later & still be highly regarded, spec-wise?

For me it's clear, the X is that phone. Apple themselves said it was the blueprint for their next era of smartphones & they didn't hold back when it came to design, build, grunt & features, none of which would be considered outdated a year on.

I haven't owned every model though, so I may have missed other examples of comparably specced iPhones, advanced for their time?

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I’d say 4s or X..

 

[jinnyman]

iPhone 1st gen or perhaps 3GS

 

[44267547]

I would suspect many would say the X, but for me, I always like the ‘Plus size’ phones, so I would have to say the iPhone 6 when it was offered in the 5.5 size. Just my own preference.

 

[pika2000]

iPhone 4: retina display, exceptional build quality and design
iPhone 5: 1GB RAM, LTE, lightning
iPhone 5S: 64bit, touch ID
iPhone 6S: 2GB of RAM, the beast A9, Touch ID 2 that became the golden standard of fingerprint reader
iPhone X: Face ID, notched design, A11 with custom GPU, OLED

 

[JPack]

iPhone 6 because of the form factor, biometrics, and Apple Pay. Before this, reliable biometrics wasn't widely adopted in the smartphone industry.

The iPhone X TrueDepth system with its dot projector and infrared camera have already been duplicated on the Android side of things. The Oppo Find X will unlock upside down and has a higher screen to body ratio.

 

[pika2000]

iPhone 1st gen or perhaps 3GS

The only cutting edge on the 1st iPhone is iOS (iPhone OS). The hardware itself is quite sad once you go back (no 3G, no video recording, no front facing camera).
The 3GS is cutting edge over the 3G (adding performance and video recording), but its feature set is not necessarily "cutting edge" on the market. Of course, iOS helped a lot for making technology feel more cutting edge over the competitors.
[doublepost=1543882275][/doublepost]

iPhone 6 because of the form factor, biometrics, and Apple Pay. Before this, reliable biometrics wasn't widely adopted in the smartphone industry.

The iPhone X TrueDepth system with its dot projector and infrared camera have already been duplicated on the Android side of things. The Oppo Find X will unlock upside down and has a higher screen to body ratio.

But the 6 is severely outclassed just a year later. Its 1GB RAM really held it back a lot. The 6 Plus even had stutters on its release date. The A8's GPU is not enough, which led Apple to beef up the A9 GPU by a ton. The iPhone 6/6Plus was the iPad 3 of iPhones.

 

[1rottenapple]

4! it just look beautiful. It was jobs at his best design mimicing classic laica cameras. And at the time, no phone look like it, and even now it is still unique.

 

[DJ_Smith]

iPhone 5C
-Not cutting edge but it was last plastic iPhone Apple made.

 

[Ralfi]

iPhone 5C
-Not cutting edge but it was last plastic iPhone Apple made.

Ok so, nothing to do with topic

 

[Jordan921]

iPhone X

 

[BenTrovato]

Ok so, nothing to do with topic

Lol

Cutting edge .. probably from the 3GS to the 4s with Siri. That time period Apple was on fire. I don’t get people saying the X, even the 6 with biometrics as someone else said was more cutting edge than the X.

 

[Jordan921]

Lol

Cutting edge .. probably from the 3GS to the 4s with Siri. That time period Apple was on fire. I don’t get people saying the X, even the 6 with biometrics as someone else said was more cutting edge than the X.

You have your opinion and we have ours.

 

[purged]

Absolutely.

 

[wepiii]

The answer is absolutely the original iPhone. No other phone before it with the same screen size. 3.5 inches was huge at the time, and additionally it was the first phone with multi touch input. Add that to iOS, and the experience compared to any phone before it, was truly cutting edge. Using the original iPhone for the first time was like living in the future. Even with all the advancements that have come, nothing has been as game changing than the first iPhone compared to the competition that existed at the time.

 

[trifid]

4, first retina smartphone, I remember after looking at it I couldn't go back to 3GS because of how pixelated it looked in comparison.

 

[sdwaltz]

Probably the 4, as much as I can’t stand the aesthetics (I know, I know, I’m in the minority here)

Retina display, front camera, FaceTime, flash on the rear camera, etc. It was a pretty big leap hardware-wise.

Close second would be the 3GS. Thing was an absolute TANK and it was the first iPhone that felt “fast”.

 

[smoking monkey]

1st place: tie between 4S with Siri and the X with Face ID. The first time I used both give me the Sci-Fi chills. I didn't have an X but I now have an XS Max and Face ID has blown me away.
2nd place: Original Iphone. For changing the industry.
3rd place: 5S for not just a futuristic design, but its introduction of Touch ID which was industry leading and still the best in the biz.

This years phones aren't bad at all. They are really good, but the price is making us all look at them with far more scrutiny. And rightly so. I got a Max, but it's ridiculously over priced. I just really wanted the biggest screen possible.

 

[PeytonT123]

The 4...the retina display was a HUGE jump from the previous displays, and super impressive seeing it for the first time. The design was also fresh and sleek

 

[trifid]

Probably the 4, as much as I can’t stand the aesthetics (I know, I know, I’m in the minority here)

Retina display, front camera, FaceTime, flash on the rear camera, etc. It was a pretty big leap hardware-wise.

Close second would be the 3GS. Thing was an absolute TANK and it was the first iPhone that felt “fast”.

Not a huge fan of 4 boxy aesthetics either, I liked the curvy ergonomic 3gs more.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

iPhone 4.

I can’t think of another iPhone that has had the same level of impact or wow factor.

 

[ACG12]

I’m going to have to agree with folks who said the original iPhone. That thing changed the game and it truly wowed me back in 2007 when I purchased it. My iPhone 4 was definitely a close 2nd.

iPhones haven’t wowed me since (and probably why I haven’t upgraded from a 7).

 

[mreg376]

The answer is absolutely the original iPhone. No other phone before it with the same screen size. 3.5 inches was huge at the time, and additionally it was the first phone with multi touch input. Add that to iOS, and the experience compared to any phone before it, was truly cutting edge. Using the original iPhone for the first time was like living in the future. Even with all the advancements that have come, nothing has been as game changing than the first iPhone compared to the competition that existed at the time.

Absolutely agree! If there was ever an iPhone that was at the cutting edge of technology at the time, 3G or not, it was the original iPhone. Now Apple must struggle to stay barely ahead of the competition, which it does, and remains on the cutting edge, but the difference between the iPhone and all of its competition was never wider than with the release of the original iPhone.

 

[Raist3001]

My first thought was of the iPhone 4. That was truly impressive and contained all of the magic of an apple release.
My second thought is of the X. And In my opinion, the X is the best iPhone I have ever owned and used. To this day, one year later, I still stare at my display and find the magic in OLED and what apple accomplished in this display.

 

[Lyn2012]

I would agree that the most game changing was the original iPhone, although my first one was the 3GS. I didn’t (and still don’t) like the industrial look of the 4/4S, but loved the lightness and larger screen of the 5. Since then I’ve mainly gone for large screens and enjoyed my 6S Plus. The 8 is a lovely compact phone but rather heavy due to the glass back. Now I have the Xs Max which is fantastic, although of course there are aspects I would have liked done differently e.g. staying with 16:9 screen ratio and LCD, but the far smaller bezels, Face ID & gestures (excluding Reachability & Control Centre) are easy and flow naturally.