The date of January 9, 2007 is probably not familiar to most people, but that day has had a strong influence on our lives. Until that moment, phones were full of keys, photos looked miserable, applications were barely useful and accessing the internet didn't make sense either, because the experience was bad. So what cell phones mainly did was make phone calls, their primary function. But that day, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Steve Jobs took the stage and before showing the first iPhone, he showed an image of four models that were sold at that time: Motorola Moto Q, BlackBerry Pearl, Palm Treo and Nokia E62. They looked like antiques. “Today Apple is going to reinvent the telephone,” he said. And he was right.
Companies like Google, which reoriented its Android operating system project to make it similar to that of the iPhone (iOS) and launched it a year later, together with Samsung, which made a strong bet with its Galaxy phones, turned the market around. In less than two years, the global share of Symbian, the operating system used by Nokia, was 48.8%, that of iOS was 10.5% and that of Android was only 1.6%. In 2013, that of Android was 74.4%, that of iOS was 17.8% and Symbian was already dying at 0.7%. But those simple cell phones never completely died.
They remained alive. Sustained mainly by the digital divide that affects older people who have not adapted to smartphones with their synchronized ecosystems, applications, internet and advanced communications. Mobile phones only for making calls have continued to exist and now there are those who are also considering using them as an alternative to not giving a smart terminal to younger people, although it is likely that they will reject using such a basic device due to the stigma that it can cause within groups of friends, so important for adolescents.
The apparent return to dumb phones - a name as opposed to more modern, intelligent terminals - comes, like many other social currents in the United States, where a double movement has been detected that affects Generation Z - those born between 1995 and 2010–. On the one hand, a current of nostalgia for the aesthetics and products of the 2000s, already considered in the retro category.
On the other hand, awareness about some of the unwanted effects of smartphone use, such as attacks on privacy, addiction to social networks and even the effects of blue light from screens on health. All this would have led a minority group of young people to look for simpler phones than the pocket computers that smartphones have become.
In the United States, the main manufacturers in the market are the Chinese company TCL, with 43% of the market in this sector according to the consulting firm Counterpoint, and the Finnish HMD, licensee of the legendary Nokia, which reaches a share of 26% and ensures which has registered a 5% growth in sales of this type of mobile phones in the last year. Despite this apparent resurrection, these devices only represent 2% of total phone sales in that country.
Nokia is one of the promoters of this nostalgic movement. The Finnish company attended the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2017 with several novelties in smartphones, but what stood out in the press around the world is that it had reinterpreted one of its most successful old models, the 3310, a mobile which for many of its owners 15 years ago had a reputation for being indestructible”, with updated shapes and technologies. Today it is still for sale. It does not need annual updates like those promoted by manufacturers with smartphones.
The evocation of Nokia worked and today the brand has available in its catalog about thirty models that in English are considered “functional” (feature phones), but in Spanish are called “classics”, a word that is often abused for do not say “old”, although in this case it is used to exploit the nostalgic effect on consumers.
In reality, these phones are not so stupid today, because to adapt to the needs of their customers –until recently, an older audience–, they have incorporated some smartphone functionalities, such as NFC connectivity, 4G, the WhatsApp and even some social networks like Facebook.
The nostalgic movement has also been reinforced by a new technology, that of folding mobile phones, which has allowed us to return to a format similar to the “clamshell” ones. Evoking the past is also a sales strategy. In the case of functional mobile phones, they remember a time of mobile communications when things were not only simpler, but also had fewer risks.
Last year, almost 80% of sales of classic phones occurred in 2022 countries in the Middle East, Africa and India, so it is a type of device that, in one way or another, will continue to live. in the market. The challenge for some of the brands that manufacture them is to expand in America and Europe, where they now have a testimonial presence.
To do this, they are beginning to have characters who can awaken these new markets. Last January, the singer Camila Cabello published a tweet with four photos in which she showed a classic TCL folding telephone terminal. “I'm signing up for the folding phone revolution. Maybe I can write the main song,” the artist wrote in a clear advertising campaign – with careful photos in which the terminal looked very good – that attracted thousands of her followers.
Three days later, Samsung's UK division attempted to take advantage of this viral action, likely engineered by TCL. and reacted to the singer's publication with a challenge: “you write the song and we improve your phone, deal?” Camila Cabello did not respond. Contracts are there to be respected.
On the other hand, there are phenomena such as those of the young Sammy Palazzolo, who published a video on TikTok about her preference for a silly folding device instead of a smartphone. Now she dedicates herself to making videos about these types of devices. One day Nokia sent him 45 terminals to distribute however he wanted. His videos have more than 275 million views. So yes, classic phones never went away and may even have a greater presence.
