![]() There’s no mystique, no scarcity, and not much in terms of novelty. For a time during the pandemic, the Kardashians ripped through them on a weekly basis to film their show without risking exposure to a film crew. Parents handle them while pushing strollers. Toddlers handle them while sitting in strollers. ![]() As of this summer, for the first time ever, more Americans now use an iPhone than any other smartphone. In these early years, buying one was the fashionable choice, not the pragmatic one. Many reviewers rightly pointed out that the touch screen was worse to type on than a physical keyboard, and complained about the iPhone’s fragility. In a market generally defined by boring hunks of plastic, Apple gained an edge through impeccable design that was actually less functional than most of the competition. Most Americans didn’t have a smartphone, and many had no mobile phone at all. I wasn’t just concerned about slipping and dropping the thing: It was dark, I was in a crusty part of New York, and I looked like I got scared at Death Cab for Cutie shows-would someone punch me in the face and yank it? The iPhone was relatively uncommon back then BlackBerry-the traditionalist’s choice-was still more popular, but both were outnumbered by Android. The precise model was the iPhone 4, which looked like an ice-cream sandwich from the side and felt about as sturdy. It was an absolute luxury, by far the fanciest and, I felt, most fragile thing I owned-more Fabergé than farmstand. The ground was slushy, but I was too nervous to take the thing on the subway. ![]() ![]() I cradled my first iPhone like an egg after I bought it. ![]() This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. ![]()
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