Topic

The Patents That Built the iPhone

The inventions Apple filed that made the modern smartphone possible.

When Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, it shipped with hundreds of patents — but a small number became famous because they captured the intuitive gestures that everyone immediately understood. Slide to unlock. Pinch to zoom. The bouncy snap-back when you scroll past the end of a list. These patents would later become central evidence in some of the largest patent lawsuits ever filed, most famously Apple v. Samsung. Here's what each one actually covers — and importantly, what it doesn't.