Generations and varieties of iPhone

Since the summer of 2007, when the first generation of the iPhone was released, there have been a lot of models and varieties of the Apple smartphone:

• iPhone 2G (aluminum)
• iPhone 3GS in two varieties - with old and new bootrom
• iPhone 4 in three varieties - regular model, CDMA model and 2012 model
• iPhone 5 in two varieties - a model for America and a "global model"
• iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
• iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus
• iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
• iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max

The very first, aluminum iPhone, unlike other generations. A characteristic difference is a large black plastic insert for antennas in the lower part of the rear wall of the case. Although the name stuck to this generation, it does not refer to the generation of the iPhone itself, but to the generation of cellular networks in which it works. The first iPhone only supported second-generation networks (including GPRS and EDGE).

It has a completely plastic body in white or black. All inscriptions on the back wall are made in gray paint. The iPhone was named so due to the fact that it had support for 3G cellular networks.

Outwardly, it almost completely repeats the look of the iPhone 3G, the only difference is that the inscriptions on the back wall are applied in exactly the same silvery mirror paint as the Apple logo.

Old and new iPhone 3GS bootroms

From the point of view of jailbreak prospects, there are two types - with the old bootrom and with the new bootrom. Butrom(bootrom) is a non-rewritable hardware device bootloader, and the prospects for jailbreak largely depend on the presence of vulnerabilities in it. The difference between the old and the new bootrom is manifested to this day: for iPhone 3GS with old bootrom guaranteed untethered jailbreak on any version of iOS, and for iPhone 3GS with new bootrom- only tethered (read about the difference between tethered and untethered jailbreak).

It is easy to distinguish an iPhone 3GS with a new bootrom by its serial number. It is necessary to take the third, fourth and fifth of its digits. The third digit encodes the year of production (9 = 2009, 0 = 2010, 1 = 2011), the fourth and fifth - the ordinal number of the week of the year in which the iPhone was released (from 01 to 52). The first iPhone 3GS with the new bootrom began to appear in the 40th week of 2009, and from the 45th week the new bootrom began to be used in all released iPhones. Thus, if the third digit of the iPhone 3GS serial number is 0 or 1, it definitely has a new bootrom. If the third digit is 9, look at the fourth and fifth digits. If they are less than or equal to 39, the bootrom is definitely old; if they are greater than or equal to 45, the bootrom is definitely new.

You can find out the serial number of the iPhone 3GS without turning on the device, because. The serial number is printed on the SIM card tray. However, this is not a very reliable method, especially when buying, because. Tray is easy to change. You can find out exactly the serial number either in iTunes (on the main page of the device properties), or on the device itself, in the "Settings-General-About this device-Serial number" menu.

Significantly different from all previous iPhones, firstly, by design, and secondly by the display. Both the front and back panels are made entirely of glass, and around the perimeter the smartphone is surrounded by a metal rim-antenna.

There are three iPhone 4 models:

• ordinary GSM model which looks exactly like the photo above
• CDMA model iPhone 4 differs by the absence of a SIM tray and a different antenna design - it lacks a black strip to the right of the headphone jack.
• second revision of iPhone 4, which launched in 2012, looks no different from the regular iPhone 4 GSM, but its processor has far fewer jailbreak vulnerabilities. You can only distinguish this iPhone model with the help of third-party utilities, for example, redsn0w. Connect the gadget to the computer, download redsn0w for OS X or for Windows, run the utility. Go to the Extras-Even more-Identify menu, in the window that opens, scroll down the text and look at the value in the ProductType line. If there "iPhone3,1" is a regular GSM-iPhone 4, if "iPhone3,2" is a new revision of iPhone 4 GSM; and the CDMA model is designated "iPhone3,3".

It looks almost the same as the iPhone 4 GSM but has the same antenna design as the iPhone 4 CDMA and the iPhone 4S always comes with a SIM tray.

However, the most reliable way to distinguish the iPhone 4S is the model code on the back. If the second line says "Model A1387" under the word "iPhone", it's definitely an iPhone 4S.

It differs from all other generations of the iPhone in height - with the same screen width, its diagonal has grown to 4 inches. The back panel of the iPhone 5 is made of aluminum, and glass inserts are placed at the top and bottom to cover the antennas.

Initially, the iPhone 5 was released in two varieties - "model for America" ​​and "global model". The difference between them is in the list of supported LTE bands, but for Russia this practically does not matter, because. none of these models can operate on Russian frequencies allocated for 4G.

You can distinguish between iPhone 5 models by the model code on the back. "Model A1428" returns "US model" and model A1429 returns "global".

The first iPhone to be released in a colorful plastic case. Available in blue, green, pink, yellow and white models.

iPhone 5c was released in 6 hardware models - A1532 (for North America and China), A1456 (CDMA model for the US and Japan), A1507 (worldwide model), A1529 (for Southeast Asia), A1516 and A1526 (for China) which differ in the composition of the supported LTE bands.

First iPhone with Touch ID. The fingerprint scanner is built into the Home button, which has lost the icon, but received a metal rim. Other external differences between the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5 are the dual flash and the reduced gap around the Power button and volume buttons.

iPhone 5s was released in 6 hardware models - A1533 (for North America and China), A1453 (CDMA model for North America and Japan), A1457 (global model), A1518 and A1528 (for China) and A1530 (for Southeast Asia) ), which differ in the composition of the supported LTE bands.

An unusual version of the iPhone, as evidenced by its name. It has no numbers, and the letters SE stand for Special Edition. Externally, the smartphone differs little from the iPhone 5s, but its hardware stuffing corresponds to the iPhone 6s. In terms of performance, the smaller iPhone even leads the way, ahead of Apple's top flagships of 2015. There are practically no external differences between the iPhone 5s and SE: SE is available in rose gold colors, while 5s is not; in addition, an additional marking is applied on the back of the iPhone SE - a square with rounded corners and the inscription "SE" inside.

iPhone SE is released in 3 hardware models - A1662 (for America), A1724 (for China) and A1723 (for the rest of the world). It is important to note that the American model A1662 does not support the popular LTE band 7 in Russia.

In 2017, the iPhone SE line was redesigned, instead of models with 16 and 64 GB of memory, models with 32 and 128 GB of memory were released.

It was marked not only by a change in design, but also by another increase in the diagonal of the screen. Externally, the iPhone 6 is similar to the very first generation of the iPhone - a lot of metal, rounded corners. But that's where the similarities end: the iPhone 6 is much thinner, with a different shape and button placement. So, the Power button has moved from the top to the right side of the smartphone. Another characteristic (and not the most pleasant) difference between the iPhone 6 and previous generations of the iPhone is the camera protruding from the case. The iPhone 6 has only one hardware model, universal for all regions. iPhone 6 is available in three hardware models - A1549 (for North and South America), A1589 (for China) and A1586 (for the rest of the world).

The only thing that looks different from the iPhone 6 is the size. But this is quite enough, because anyone will notice the difference between diagonals of 5.5 and 4.7 inches. This is actually the largest iPhone in history. Like the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus has three different hardware models targeting different regions of the world: A1522 for the Americas, A1593 for China, and A1524 for most other countries.

iPhone 6s cannot be visually distinguished from iPhone 6, they are completely identical. However, the iPhone 6s is the first iPhone in history to also come in a new rose gold color. Other standout features of the iPhone 6s are a 3D Touch display that senses pressure and a 12-megapixel camera. But the turned off iPhone 6s can only be unambiguously calculated after examining the back cover. There, under the iPhone label, you will see a capital letter S in a square with rounded corners. Below, in small print, the hardware model code will be engraved - A1633 (US model), A1700 (for China), A1691 (for Southeast Asia) or A1688 (for the rest of the world).

With regard to the iPhone 6s Plus, everything that is written above about the iPhone 6s is true. The 6s Plus is also indistinguishable from the 6 Plus without looking at the back cover and making sure there is an "S" there. Like the iPhone 6s, the iPhone 6s Plus comes in four hardware models - A1634 (US model), A1699 (China), A1690 (Southeast Asia), or A1687 (Rest of the world).

In 2016, Apple's longstanding rule that a new digit in an iPhone's model number always meant a redesign of the case was broken. Of course, the iPhone 7 can be distinguished from its predecessors, but only if you look closely. First, the new generation iPhone doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone jack. Secondly, the camera now does not stick out so much from the body, the protrusion has been smoothed out. Thirdly, the design of the antennas on the case has been simplified - the transverse straight stripes have been removed, leaving only the strips that envelop the upper and lower edges of the iPhone along the perimeter. The iPhone 7 is no longer available in space gray, but has been replaced by two shades of black - matte and glossy (marketing name "black onyx"). The iPhone 7 has one of 4 hardware model numbers on the back wall - A1660, A1778, A1779 or A1780.

In the spring of 2017, a new color for the iPhone 7 case appeared - red.

For the iPhone 7 Plus, what is written in the paragraph above is again relevant, with the exception of the camera. It is difficult to confuse it with other models ... if only because the iPhone 7 Plus has more than one. The iPhone 7 Plus was the first iPhone ever to feature a dual camera for 2x optical zoom and bokeh. Like the iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 Plus is available in 4 hardware models at once - A1661, A1784, A1785 and A1786.

In the spring of 2017, the iPhone 7 Plus also began to be released in a red body color.

Although the iPhone 8 received the next number in the name, in fact it should have been called the iPhone 7s. There are really few differences from the “seven”: a glass back cover that makes wireless charging possible, updated cameras and a processor. Even their dimensions are the same, which makes it possible to use cases from the iPhone 7/7+. The iPhone 8 has fewer colors than its predecessors: silver, space gray and gold. iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus received 4 hardware models each: A1863, A1905, A1906 and A1907 for iPhone 8; A1864, A1897, A1898 and A1899 for iPhone 8 Plus.

iPhone X is the same anniversary iPhone, dedicated to the decade of the iPhone era that changed the world. This iPhone is radically different from anything that has come before. It does not have a Home button (and indeed there are no front buttons at all) - this alone allows you to clearly distinguish it from other iPhones. It's also the first iPhone to feature an OLED display and the new Face ID 3D face recognition technology that replaces the Touch ID fingerprint scanner. The iPhone X has only two body colors: silver and space gray.

The iPhone X has two hardware models - A1865 and A1901.

iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max

iPhone XS is a logical continuation of the development of iPhone X. This generation was the first in history to support 512 GB of memory. Unlike the iPhone X, this iPhone was sold in three colors (a gold tint was added to silver and space gray) and in two sizes - along with the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max.

The Max version of the iPhone XS also received two hardware SIM cards for the first time (in versions for China and Hong Kong, model A2104), the rest are content with eSIM. The remaining hardware models are the US version (A1920 and A1921 for XS and XS Max respectively), the global version (A2097 and A2101), the Japanese version (A2098 and A2102), and the China XS model (A2100).

The iPhone XR was Apple's next major experiment since the not-so-successful iPhone 5c. iPhone XR is deliberately cool - even the name emphasizes that it is only one letter of the alphabet behind the XS. There are not so many compromises in it: an IPS display instead of OLED, one camera instead of two and the absence of 3D Touch, but 6 bright body colors.

The iPhone XR has four hardware models - A1984 (American), A2105 (worldwide), A2106 (Japanese) and A2108 (Chinese, with two physical SIM).