Apple’s 2008 began with the difficult second-album launch of the second iPhone. With its critical upgrade to 3G cellular connectivity, Steve Jobs dropped the idea of iPhone 2 and instead highlighted the new feature up front. Attendees at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June 2008 were introduced to the iPhone 3G .

This is Day 4 of 30 Days of iPhone, a look at the moments that shaped the smartphone era .

iPhone 3G US Sales And Global Rollout

The new smartphone went on sale on Friday, July 11. Three days later, the iPhone 3G passed the 1 million mark . In comparison, the original iPhone took 72 days to reach 1 million units, and nearly two years for the original iPod to reach that mark. Apple did have one advantage with the 3G; it launched in 21 countries as opposed to the four countries of 2007’s iPhone.

By the end of 2008, Apple’s iPhone 3G had conquered the U.S. market. Its closest competitor was the Motorola Razr family, and in the final calendar quarter, NPD reported that the iPhone overhauled the flip phone in time for Christmas . This wasn’t the only present under Cupertino’s tree. The volume of sales at a corporate level saw Apple overtake Research In Motion and its totemic BlackBerry family to claim silver as the second-largest smartphone vendor in the US.

BlackBerry And Razr Defeated By The iPhone

Apple would hold on to the U.S. market from this point onwards. The only blip in sales in which it lost out to the competition was the third quarter of 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the world economy, Apple delayed the launch of the iPhone 12 from the second week of September to the second week of October. Thanks to strong summer sales of the Galaxy Note 20 and the mid-range Galaxy A portfolio, Samsung snuck into the top spot – for just one quarter.

Nevertheless, the iPhone 3G gave Apple a lead in the United States that endures to this day.

This is Day 4 of 30 Days of iPhone. Yesterday we looked at how a scratched iPhone prototype led to a new design of glass that would protect 8 billion devices .