The iPhone isn’t innovative, it’s iterative. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Another Autumn, another new iPhone, launched for the first time in the Steve Jobs Theatre at the brand new, UFO-like Apple campus. Naturally, with the launch of a new Apple product, comes the march of a million thinkpieces, and this one is no different.

Normally, I try not to cover Apple product launches. It’s no secret that I don’t like the devices or ecosystem, and have thinly veiled distain for the company itself, albeit partly as a response to some of the sycophancy that they inspire. But, this one was a little different. Apple did indeed launch an upgraded iPhone, in the 8 and 8+ (the company notably eschewing the ‘S’ designation, despite these models being very S-like). These devices feature the new A11 Bionic CPU, a glass back panel and oh god who cares. It’s a speed bump. Boring.

Thankfully, there was also a THIRD iPhone announced, the completely secret and totally unexpected ten year anniversary edition ‘iPhone X’. Firstly, the name. You’re meant to say ‘iPhone Ten’, not ‘iPhone X’. But the iPhone 8 isn’t the iPhone VIII. This is annoying and marks the return of the ‘erm ACKTUALLY it’s TEN’ comments from when macOS was OSX. But I digress.

This phone is unlike any iPhone before it. It has a complete edge to edge display, no home button, uses facial recognition for security ‘FaceID’, supports Qi wireless charging, and much more.

This device is what Apple sees as being the future of the iPhone product line, a glimpse into their future direction of travel, available now, to you Mr Customer for just $999. (or $1149 for the 256GB model). But, there’s nothing in this device that’s completely new.

Samsung have been using OLED displays for years. Qi wireless charging has been around for years, to the extent that you can buy an IKEA lamp with a Qi charging pad in it. Buttonless, gesture based OS? WebOS and BlackBerry10 did that long ago. Face detection authentication? Say hello to Windows Hello. I could go on, but I won’t, you get the point. But if you have been in the IT industry long enough, you probably know that nothing is ever really new, and that all ‘new’ ideas are simply iterations of something done decades ago. Much of the same is true in the mobile industry.

However, the truth of the matter is simple. Apple does not, in any way, shape, or form, need to invent anything new. History will tell us that they are actually, not all that good at it. What they are good at, is taking an existing idea, and refining it to simplicity, before unleashing it on a huge market.

Apple have not been a small scrappy company for a very long time now, and as such, they have long since pivoted the innovation engine from the iPod days to the iteration engine we see today. Apple have two distinct competitive advantages that mark them out in this market; their scale, and their ecosystem.

In terms of scale, Apple can throw an unparalleled amount of resources, both human and financial, at any project, but especially iPhone. Their margins and sales numbers on this line are so vast that nearly any amount of effort or spend can be achieved with the right justification. This allows them to develop software rapidly and with high precision, allocating a number of dev hours to, for example, gestures that Palm and BlackBerry could never have dreamt of. In addition to this, the scale of iPhone allows Apple to put great pressure on their supply chain. The switch to OLED from LCD is already threatening the viability of Japan Display (who make the current iPhone LCD panels), and Apple’s power is such that they will travel far and wide to find whoever can turn Jony Ive’s designs into reality, and reward these companies with huge contracts (at least until that company’s products no longer meet Apple’s vision).

The other aspect is the ecosystem, and this is really the key component in keeping Apple where it is in the mobile market. No other organisation in the market owns the silicon AND the software. Samsung will continue to push Tizen into wearables and other devices, but it has seen what poor app ecosystems and compatibility have done for others, and so it remains hugely dependent upon Google. Google meanwhile try to go their own way with Pixel and the Moto deal, but Samsung remain the undisputed standard bearer for Android. Over in Cupertino, Apple develop chips and software in parallel. This, more than anything else, enables the iteration engine. Last year’s big announcement was the removal of the headphone jack, and the release of AirPods. Though much derided, these tiny buds cram in a huge amount of technology, all of which is enabled by the custom silicon built into iPhone. This is something that cannot be done without strong integration throughout the device, and getting OEMs and software developers to live in perfect harmony is not an easy task. If it were, Microsoft would have never made the Surface.

Apple are not magicians, this much we know, and it was highlighted by an issue with FaceID during the demo (never do live demos!), but FaceID will be improved through software, and can be iterated more quickly due to the ecosystem play. It’s also pretty clear that FaceID is a stopgap until Apple and Samsung can embed TouchID fingerprint sensors underneath the screen glass. You can bet now that when that does happen, Samsung will have done the heavy lifting on the engineering, and Apple will have made it work seamlessly.

Personally, I prefer an open ecosystem as a concept, but with the iPhone X, Apple has proved once again that their biggest talent is to take a good idea, and turn it into great execution.

Perhaps this is the secret to Apple’s success. Because for the consumer, the dirty secret is that no-one cares. Ignorance is bliss and the majority of people buying the iPhone X will do so thinking that Apple have invented all these new features, not refined them from innovations long passed. And in the grand scheme of things, that’s ok.

Tech may exist in a bubble, but it is big business, and the business side of things is clear. Inventions are wonderful, but what matters is getting those inventions working, and into the hands of paying consumers, and that is what Apple is great at. So keep an eye on the latest inventions from the upstarts in the industry, they might just make their way into the iPhone XI.

P.S. With Apple reportedly working on autonomous cars, given what’s been said above, and the market context, may I suggest that they call their auto division ‘Edison Motors’.