Of the 12.05 million mobile phone units assembled during the first five months of 2025, 54pc or 6.53 million were 2G feature phones, PTA data reveals.
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Years ago, when I got a feature phone at the age of 12 — my very first cellphone, a hefty little brick — I quickly developed the terrible habit of slamming it on the ground for dramatic effect. It was a cool way to punctuate very ordinary statements, I thought.
In reality, though, it was a ridiculous joke; a silly imitation of television drama that got old really fast, but was mostly inconsequential since the phone was a little black Nokia 2220, cheap but sturdy. Its only worthwhile feature was the single greatest game in mobile phone history — Pinball Club (sorry Snake fans). You could throw that thing off the second floor of your house at least half a dozen times before any real damage occurred, not exactly how I’d handle my current, delicate, shatter-prone smartphone — 80 per cent glass screen, 100pc pain in my clumsy neck.
Today, these small, stocky phones are making a resurgence. In the US, folks call them ‘dumbphones’ tied directly to their use case as tools for social media cleanses.
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