Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

What’s the most influential gadget ever? According to Time, it starts with an “i”

Steve Jobs iPhone
If you’re an iPhone owner, you happen to own the most influential gadget ever, according to Time’s new list.

Apple Offer: Trade up to a new iPhone for as low as $10 a month

The “50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time” list was published on Tuesday. It notes that while smartphones existed before the 2007 iPhone, “none came together as accessibly and beautifully as the iPhone.”

It goes on to say that Apple truly changed the game, putting a powerful computer “into the pockets of millions.” The phone market was just another industry that Apple revolutionized, having previously changed the music business with the iPod and iTunes.

The iPhone wasn’t the only Apple product on the list. Actually, it wasn’t even the only Apple product in the top 10, with the Macintosh sitting in third place and the original iPod snagging the ninth spot. Both products were arguably the most important in their category. While the Macintosh wasn’t the top-selling computer by any means, it was one of the first to ship with a mouse, helping change the way we interact with computers.

Of course, there are plenty of other great and influential gadgets on the list. In second place is the Sony Trinitron television, which was released in 1968, just as color TVs were taking off. This TV, however, was notable for merging what until then was three separate electron guns, an innovation that helped Sony sell more than 100,000 units.

The list is a good read, if not just for nostalgia’s sake — the Sony Walkman comes in at fourth, the Victrola record player is No. 6, and the Atari 2600 sits in 13th place. A few more recent devices also made the list; the Apple iPad features at number 25 as the device that pushed tablets into the limelight, and the Oculus Rift came in at 39th, despite the fact that it hasn’t even gone through its full release yet. Even Google Glass made the list, albeit just by a whisker, coming in at number 50.

Christian de Looper
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
5 months later, the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island isn’t what I expected
Dynamic Island Spotify Chaiyya Chaiyya song.

“Welcome to a shape-shifting, multitasking, head-turning, game-changing iPhone experience,” says the Apple website's introduction to Dynamic Island. While it is a shape-shifting experience, it isn’t head-turning or game-changing in any sense. And it is in no way or form “multitasking.”

The Dynamic Island is good to look at when it’s working, but five months into its life span, the feature hasn’t caught up to the promises Apple made at launch. There's plenty of potential for it, but we're still waiting for something to actually come of it.
The Dynamic Island still isn't what I expected

Read more
iPhone Flip: what we know about Apple’s first foldable phone
Folding iPhone concept from iOS Beta News

In the past few years, Samsung has become one of the leading manufacturers of foldable devices, including the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4. Though it's not the only brand making foldable devices, it's the most mainstream and available option, especially in the U.S. But that leads to the question of whether Apple will follow suit with a foldable iPhone — or even an iPad.

There have been longstanding rumors that Apple could be working on such a device, including a foldable iPhone, which we'll call "iPhone Flip" for now. Apple's a secretive company, so there may very well be at least some research and development (R&D) on such a device. But, of course, this continues to just be all speculation for now. From the latest news, rumors, and reports, here's everything we know so far about Apple's folding iPhone!
iPhone Flip: design and display

Read more
This may be the strangest iPhone mod we’ve ever seen
A modded iPhone with a Lightning and USB-C port on the bottom.

Apple is rumored to be working on an iPhone with USB-C this year, but creative users have taken matters into their own hands and created their own USB-C-equipped iPhones. The latest of such mods is by an engineer who created an iPhone with both a USB-C port and a Lightning port side by side.

The iPhone mod comes from an engineer on YouTube. Using an iPhone 12 mini (though presumably, any iPhone would work), the engineer added another port to the iPhone. This means that not only is this modded iPhone capable of using the modern USB-C standard, but it can also do something as simple as listening to music through wired headphones while charging. Apple's iPhones are capable of playing music through the Lightning port, so any combination of USB-C and Lightning-wired headphones or charger would work.

Read more