this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
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Apple does refinement a lot better than they do outright innovation, but refinement is a core part of the process: your average user doesn't want to be using things that feels like a chore to use.
They refined touchscreen phones, mp3 players, all in one PCs, laptops, peripheral connectivity, tablet computing, GUIs, UNIX, and so much more.
The smartphone case is one where I'd say they largely did invent the modern smartphone. I mean, they didn't design every component from the ground up, but so much of what went into that first iPhone was new and completely redefined things, to the point where these interfaces and design languages still define how virtually every smartphone still works 15 years later.
Similar.with essentially creating the modern tablet market, instead of just trying to sell a reskinnrd desktop OS like everyone was trying to do at the time. But even that was 90% influenced by the iPhone (and its original non-phone design)
Hardware wise? no. There is plenty of prior art for everything that went into iPhone 1.
What they did right was the building of their UI around the touch screen. Gave us more than simple taps to work with. Swiping to see new screens, flicking a list to scroll through it fast, those kinds of things. It felt fast and easy in a way that touch UIs never did before.
Hardware-wise? Yes, some of that too.
Like what? Only thing I can think of is the in-screen fingerprint reader. Touch screens were already popular in Blackberries and Windows Phones at this point.