What is an iPhone

The iPhone is not a phone. It hasn't been a phone for a long long time now. Steve Jobs had announced the iPhone as being three things:

1. An iPod,
2. A Phone, and
3. A breakthrough internet communicator

The phone was a third of what the iPhone as a whole was. It is even less of a phone now, then it was then.

If not a phone, then what is an iPhone?

1. It is a pocket computer. For a lot of people, perhaps their only computer.
2. It is a camera. For a lot of people, their only camera.
3. It is a gaming device.
4. It is a screen, to watch stuff on.
5. It is a reading device.
6. It is a messaging device.
7. And yes, it can still make a phone call.

I have been thinking about this over the past week. As I have been playing with my new phone. Apple as a company is very good at making you want their new phones. This is my third iPhone. I upgraded to iPhone 13 after four years. And to 16 after three years. I feel like three years is a good time to upgrade. The battery had just started to degrade. So either I was going to replace the battery. Or, get a new phone. I got 350 euros for my current phone and so it made getting a new phone slightly more palpable.

But again, I did not have to.

There are people who upgrade every year. They talk about incremental updates. For me, even after three years, even though there are quite a few changes. It still feels like the same device. If only, there was a way to upgrade the cameras.

For me, primarily, an iPhone is a camera. I like taking pictures with it.

I feel torn. Between wanting something and seeing that it can't be good for our home.

iPhones should be built to last. All devices should. These are computers after all. Computers should be built to last. They should be easier to upgrade.

I don't know if there are any incentives for Apple as a company to make repairability a central theme of their devices. Apple could do it. They have the resources to do it. It is weird that in this world we live in, growing at the cost of everything else seems to be the only viable option for corporations. And still, Apple is the only company which updates each year on their environmental goals.

It feels impossible to think that we would get to that future. But I believe we will. Sooner rather than later. We have to. We have to think of the planet. There's only one.