iPhone is TIME's most influential gadget leaving Sony Walkman, Kodak camera and others behind

It's not hard to imagine Steve Jobs as one of the most influential inventors the world has ever seen. Now, TIME magazine has named an invention he spearheaded — the iPhone — as the most influential gadget to ever exist.

The magazine decided to pick the smartphone over many other breakthrough inventions like the IBM 5150 - the computer every office wanted when things started to get digitised; Sony's Walkman - the first music player to combine portability, simplicity and affordability and even Apple's very own Macintosh - the invention that once defined the company.

The list dwells not on the most important but the most influential inventions. Despite Android dominating the Mobile OS market share, the iPhone as we know it, became a preferred choice among smartphone lovers with long queues outside Apple Stores on the day of an iPhone release. However, the ranking of the device comes at a time when Apple reported its first ever revenue dip in 13 years owing mainly to lower iPhone sales.

As for other devices on the list, close to the smartphone is a television set, and not just any television set. It is the Sony Trinitron — one of the most dominating colour TV models introduced in 1968 and the first TV receiver to win a vaunted Emmy award. It has sold over 100 million units worldwide.

Third on the list is yet another Apple product — the Macintosh. While the Macintosh is not one of the top-selling computer models, it was one of the first to ship with a mouse, helping change the way users interact with computers. Apple has three of its products in the top 10 with the original iPod taking the ninth spot.

The iPod could not, however, take the fourth spot. That belonged to Sony's Walkman, the pioneering device for portable music players that paved the way for CD players and MP3 players in the coming years. Sony is estimated to have sold more than 200 million devices.

The iPod is followed by another computer, the IBM 5150, which became one of the most popular computers for office use. Some of the other inventions in the top 10 are the Kodak Brownie which popularised low-cost photography and introduced the concept of the snapshot at number eight, and the Victrola record player at number six.

New age concepts like VR, wearables and drone also feature in the list with the Oculus Rift at the 39th position, FitBit at 42nd and DJI's Phantom at 46. Some of the other technologies to make it to the list are Amazon's Kindle at 28, Sony's PlayStation at 31, the Raspberry Pi at 45 and even the Google Glass at 50 just nearly making the cut.

Here are the top 10 most influential gadgets of all time as per TIME:

1. Apple iPhone

2. Sony Trinitron television set

3. Apple Macintosh computer

4. Sony Walkman player

5. IBM 5150 computer

6. Victrola record player

7. Regency TR-1 transistor radio

8. Kodak Brownie camera

9. Apple iPod

10. Magic Wand

To view the complete list, click here.