The One Device

The Secret History of the iPhone

By: Brian Merchant

Narrated by: Tristan Morris

The secret history of the invention that changed everything-and became the most profitable product in the world.

"The One Device is a tour de force, with a fast-paced edge and heaps of analytical insight."-Ashlee Vance, New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk

"A stunning book. You will never look at your iPhone the same way again." -Dan Lyons, New York Times bestselling author of Disrupted

Odds are that as you read this, an iPhone is within reach. But before Steve Jobs introduced us to "the one device," as he called it, a cell phone was merely what you used to make calls on the go.

How did the iPhone transform our world and turn Apple into the most valuable company ever? Veteran technology journalist Brian Merchant reveals the inside story you won't hear from Cupertino-based on his exclusive interviews with the engineers, inventors, and developers who guided every stage of the iPhone's creation.

This deep dive takes you from inside One Infinite Loop to 19th century France to WWII America, from the driest place on earth to a Kenyan pit of toxic e-waste, and even deep inside Shenzhen's notorious "suicide factories." It's a firsthand look at how the cutting-edge tech that makes the world work-touch screens, motion trackers, and even AI-made their way into our pockets.

The One Device is a roadmap for design and engineering genius, an anthropology of the modern age, and an unprecedented view into one of the most secretive companies in history. This is the untold account, ten years in the making, of the device that changed everything.

Critic reviews

Shortlisted for the 2017 Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award and the 1-800-CEO-READS Award
One of the Best Business Books of 2017 - CNBC, Bloomberg, 1-800-CEO-Read, Financial Times, Marginal Revolution. Business Insider
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

"A remarkable tale... the story it tells is compelling, even addictive--almost as addictive as the iPhone itself."—Wall Street Journal

"Like the best historians, Merchant... unpacks the history of the iPhone in a way that makes it seem both inevitable in its outline and surprising in its details."—The Guardian

"Apple's culture of secrecy is no match for Brian Merchant in The One Device....Merchant tells a far richer story than I--having covered Apple for years as a journalist--have seen before... The iPhone masquerades as a thing not made by human hands. Merchant's book makes visible that human labor, and in the process dispels some of the fog and reality distortion that surround the iPhone."—Lev Grossman, New York Times Book Review

"A fascinating story."—Marketplace

"Merchant does the important work of excavating and compiling large numbers of details and anecdotes about the development of the iPhone, many of them previously unrecorded... Merchant tells a far richer story than the outside world has seen before."—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"Brian Merchant takes readers on an epic journey."—Parade

"Brian Merchant gives us a rare look inside Apple, chronicling the development of the iPhone with details about everything from the selection of raw materials to the product's famous launch event."—Gizmodo

"Fascinating... the author writes in the style of a fast-paced novel, with vivid details that help readers really understand how the iPhone was devised and launched."—John Rampton, Entrepreneur

"A wild ride."—San Francisco Chronicle

"An excellent book."—Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution

"The One Device is a tour de force. Brian Merchant has dug into the iPhone like no other reporter before him, traveling the world to find the untold stories behind the device's creation and uncover the very real human costs that come with making the iPhone. Packed with vivid detail, the book carries the reader from one unexpected revelation to the next with a fast-paced edge and heaps of analytical insight."—Ashlee Vance, New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk

Highly informative, eye opener

Just like Down and Out in London and Paris, this is the author’s first work. With a bit of mischief and a lot of intellectual honesty, the author travels to the ends of the world to better understand the most remarkable product of our time. Unlike Orwell’s first work, this book feels much more polished. It reads like a documentary very well executed. Well done to the author!

Bist Apple Book I've Read to Date (August, 2018)

An excellent book on all the various elements that went in to creating the iPhone. And by "elements" we really do mean, at times in this book, elements. Like, periodic table elements! This may turn a lot of people off but I urge you to give it a chance. This book truly tells a complete story, debunks a lot of well-established myths and gives credit to a lot of key people whose names you may not know, even if you consider yourself an Apple fan-person. In short, this is the best book about what goes on inside Apple that I've ever read.

One note: The audiobook version of The One Device once again brought on my ire that audiobooks are not provided with the same level of editing as print books. There were sentences re-read. (And not for emphasis.) There were pronunciations that show an ignorance of subject matter by the reader/editor ("OS X" pronounced as oh-ess-ecks instead of oh-ess-ten.)

Fascinating!

Great story. Very enjoyable and entertaining.
Would recommend this book to anyone who interested in iPhones.

Extremely mixed feelings

Would you listen to The One Device again? Why?

No. It just wasn't that good.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I felt like it was a very good attempt at making a book about the iPhone and it had many interesting facts and moments.

But I felt that the book was a little meandering and not very cohesive. I like to start a non-fiction book with some kind of mental map of where we're going. In this book I often found myself getting bored and frustrated and just hanging on waiting until the next change in topic (which was often not far around the corner).

So I would have liked a stronger introduction laying out the format.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I wasn't a fan of the narrators voice - it felt like listening to someone with a blocked nose for hours upon hours. I know this is a personal feeling though, and I don't want to knock them, but it made me uncomfortable.

Any additional comments?

I rated the book and the narration 3 stars. But I felt that the book overall was worth 4 stars. Yes - despite not being great, or having a great narrator, there's just no other source like this and I think it's worth listening to.

Very, very good!

Excellent book, definitely not an Apple brownnoser, but still an admirer of all the iPhone is, and those who brought it about. And how much effort it took to make it. Great structure to the book, and amazing amount to detail. Solid writing, great narration. Hats off to author, narrator and production team.