There’s a reason iPhone boxes are notoriously difficult to open

Anyone who’s ever opened a sealed box for an iPhone knows that it’s not exactly a quick process. You pull on the joints on the back and start lifting the top in anticipation of getting your hands on the smartphone. But the lid moves incredibly slowly because the top and bottom halves fit almost perfectly. The tight tolerances make it difficult to move the cover and you have to wait. You could force it open, but most people probably don’t, given surveys that iPhone users tend to keep empty boxes despite Apple’s advice to recycle them.

You get the same experience of opening an iPhone over and over again, and that’s by design. Apple created this ritual on purpose, to build anticipation and provide the user with a premium experience. The company doesn’t systematically address its iPhone retail packaging strategy, but comments from Steve Jobs and Jony Ive over the years may help explain Apple’s intentions. Apple’s patents for retail boxes also show the company’s intentional approach to retail box design.

“When you open the box of an iPhone or an iPad, we want that tactile experience to set the tone for how you perceive the product,” Steve Jobs said of Apple’s marketing philosophy, adding that he learned this from early investor and Apple Chairman Mike Markkula. These comments appeared in Walter Isaacson’s biography of “Steve Jobs.”

According to RetailBrew, Jony Ive said he spent a lot of time with Steve Jobs on packaging design. I made these revelations to Isaacson in interviews for the book. I noted his love for the unboxing process. “You design an unboxing ritual to make the product feel special,” Ive said. “Packaging can be theater; it can create a story.”

I didn’t specifically mention the iPhone in his remarks for Isaacson, but the iPhone has been Apple’s main product for years. The packaging has evolved since Jobs introduced the first model, but it maintains the same user experience. RetailBrew spoke to design expert Greta Dirsel of design agency Landor & Fitch about the iPhone’s retail box in 2023. She explained that the packaging is intended to make the user wait for the product to be revealed. “There’s a suspense created in how long it takes – time, the most precious commodity, we’re just used to ripping things apart,” the design manager said. “It’s like, ‘Slow down. Calm down. You’re about to be transported. You’re about to be amazed.'”

Since the original iPhone model in 2007, Apple has used a similar approach to retail packaging, although the company made a major change with the iPhone 12. The box has a minimal footprint, being barely larger than the iPhone itself. It is made of rigid cardboard, because the box should still offer solid protection, but otherwise has a minimalist design. It is black or white, with the top showing an image of the product inside. On the sides, the product name appears, while additional details about the iPhone are printed on the back, alongside the various regulatory markings.

The iPhone screen, protected by a sheet of paper, is the first thing that appears once the cover is removed. It’s the product the buyer wants, and Apple makes it available immediately, after that anticipation period during the opening process. Underneath the iPhone there is a separate compartment that holds accessories.

In a conversation with Stripe in 2025, Jony Ive talked about his deliberate work on designing detailed iPhone unboxing experiences for the user. He mentioned the charging cable and its packaging in the box, saying there was something “spiritual” about this user experience for him, as a designer. “I think when someone unpacked that box and took out that cable, and they thought, ‘Someone’s messing with me,’ I think that’s a spiritual thing,” he said. In 2020, the charging cable was the only accessory left in the iPhone box.

Apple has removed the power adapter and EarPods from the iPhone 12 box, citing environmental concerns. This allowed Apple to reduce box size and ship 70% more boxes per pallet than before. Apple also said the smaller retail box allowed it to avoid 2 million tons of carbon emissions per year, which was the equivalent of removing 450,000 cars from the roads. This had a practical impact on the experience of opening the iPhone box. The box shrank, so lifting the lid didn’t take as long as before, although the experience didn’t change significantly. Buyers still had to wait to get their hands on the iPhone in the box.

Apple continued to optimize the iPhone’s retail box over the next few years, without changing its design. The iPhone 13 series has removed the plastic film from the box. In 2024, iPhone 16 packaging was made from 100% fiber, including 64% recycled content. The packaging volume was 8% smaller than the retail box of the iPhone 15 that preceded it. But despite the changes, Apple has retained the ritual of opening retail boxes and the difficulties that come with it.