This 'time-traveling' iPhone is 150 years old! Just take a look at this awesome painting of a girl

The iPhone is as much of an iconic smartphone as it is a cultural symbol. Everywhere, from movies, commercials, music videos and art, you will find it lying somewhere where it is conspicuous. The oldest iPhone was rolled out in 2007 and its journey thereafter has turned it into one of the most recognizable devices on the planet. However, recently, something has made the internet think that the iPhone also influenced the past. While Tim Cook has not added the time-traveling feature to the iPhone 14, some people have found an iPhone in a 150-years old painting! And ever since this painting has been found, people on social media sites are going bonkers over it. Whether it is magic or science fiction come true, nobody can agree upon. Is that the oldest iPhone ever? The truth seems a lot simpler.

The painting in question is called The Expected One and it was made by Austrian painter Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller in 1860. The painting shows a teenage girl walking on a dirt path with mountains in the background. A bit ahead in the road, a boy with a flower in his hands can be seen waiting expectantly. But the strange part of the painting is a small rectangular box in the girl's hand which she is looking at intently. Netizens believe the box is nothing but an iPhone and the she is actually scrolling.

150 years old time traveling iPhone creates debate online

The first to start this entire argument was a man named Peter Russel. According to a report by VICE, Russel and his partner were visiting the Neue Pinakothek, an art museum that houses 18th and 19th century artifacts in it. It is here where Russel spotted The Expected One and immediately exclaimed that the girl in the painting was holding an iPhone. The lowered glance and the shape of the object was unmistakable. But how did an iPhone get to the 1860s? Is time-travel real?

The answer is simple and not quite as interesting, sadly. Art experts have revealed that the girl is merely holding onto a prayer book. The image is highlighting the contrast between a girl who is devoted to her faith and a man who is trying to show affection towards her.

But it sure is fun to imagine things! Russel also had a special revelation of his own that shows how people's perception of reality changes over time.

“What strikes me most is how much a change in technology has changed the interpretation of the painting, and in a way has leveraged its entire context. The big change is that in 1850 or 1860, every single viewer would have identified the item that the girl is absorbed in as a hymnal or prayer book. Today, no one could fail to see the resemblance to the scene of a teenage girl absorbed in social media on their smartphone,” said Russel.