iPhone's Future Could Depend on These Breakthrough Technologies

Apple's smartphone is turning 15. Experts say technologies like lidar and AI will define its future.
Lucy Edwards, a blind UK-based journalist and broadcaster, found it difficult to maintain a social distance in public during the height of the pandemic. That's why she tried the iPhone's People Detection feature, which uses the iPhone 12 Pro and 13 Pro's lidar sensor to detect when others are nearby.
Lidar, or light detection and ranging, is just one example of how the technology inside the iPhone has evolved in the last 15 years. When the first iPhone launched, on June 29, 2007, it had a 3.5-inch screen that would be considered minuscule by today's standards and a single 2-megapixel camera.