The word “dumbphone” sounds pejorative but really serves to distinguish these products – more flatteringly referred to as brick phones, feature phones or flip phones – from modern-day smartphones, which these days are large, powerful and complex devices.
Basic mobile phones are the antithesis of smartphones, instead offering the core mobile phone functions of calls and text messages, which for many users is ample “connectivity” to be getting along with.
“Bricks, dumb phones or feature phones are seeing a revival,” says Rob Maule, consumer expert at Currys – one of the leading sellers of phones, smart and otherwise.
And while each handset pretty much does the same thing, I did take into account the other apps available on even the most basic phones, like a basic calculator, a calendar function or games.
“As a whole, sales of these back-to-basic phones are up 13 per cent year-on-year, with the retro Nokia 2660 and Nokia 105 up 50 per cent and 49 per cent year-on-year respectively.”.
