For those who aren’t sports fans, Lebron James became the leading scorer in NBA history Tuesday night after hitting a jumper with 10 seconds remaining in the third quarter. With 38,388 points, Lebron passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in front of a capacity crowd at the Crypto.com Arena.
For the people who were there, some of whom paid as much as $75,000 for a seat, it was a moment in history they’ll never forget. Literally. As Lebron went up for what would be the record-breaking shot, everyone who was close enough whipped out their phones to record to moment. And nearly every one of those phones was an iPhone.
Lebron James takes a shot to score his 38,388th point and break a 39-year-old NBA record.
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
Just take a look at that shot above and try to find a phone that isn’t an iPhone. It’s gotta be a record for the most iPhones recording a single moment. I can spot a couple of Galaxy and Pixel phones, but the large majority of phones used to capture the moment are iPhones. It’s hard to distinguish exactly which models people are using, but there seem to be a bunch of iPhone 12/13/14 Pros, some iPhone 12/13/14 models, and even a few iPhone SEs.
It’s a remarkable testament to the immense popularity of the iPhone and how much has changed in the 20 years since Lebron entered the league. Back in 2003, the iPhone didn’t even exist, and the first model that came out in 2007 had a 2MP camera that couldn’t even take videos. Now the iPhone is a tool for capturing history as it unfolds.
One of the only people not reaching for their iPhone as the big moment arrived? Nike founder Phil Knight, sitting in the front row next to Lebron’s sons, Bronny and Bryce, both of whom captured the moment with their iPhones.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.