My favorite example is the Haber-Bosch process for fixing nitrogen and producing synthetic fertilizer (invented 1910). Surely a far more “undervalued” technology than the iPhone! It enabled us to scale up global food production to feed at least an extra 3.5 billion people who otherwise would never have been born, or would have starved.[1] Antibiotics are another great example. Several hundred million lives saved.
With respect, I think this is in a different league from saving some people a little time waiting in traffic.
[1] https://ourworldindata.org/how-many-people-does-synthetic-fe...
It also kept Germany going in WW1 far longer than otherwise, by compensating for blockades on saltpeter for explosives.
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-04-29/nitrogen-crisi...
For the vast majority of people, food production is something that just "happens" out there. They don't grow anything, they just get it from a store.
I've seen people on the Internet who can't afford a simple boiler or an indoors toilet (but they have a phone/computer)... and that's sad, but also amazing.
Because the impact is different it’s very hard to compare. One interesting thought experiment that can help is to imagine the technology disappearing and think about what the consequences would be. Thinking that through for smartphones and the Haber-Bosch process is left as an exercise for the reader.