The modern-day smartphone has taken a bumpy ride of twenty-nine years to reach our hands. Since its incredible launch in 1992, it has progressed in tremendous ways and has surely taken the tech industry storm.
What once was considered a luxury is now considered a necessity. According to research, around seventy-seven percent of Americans have a smartphone of their own, whereas ninety-five percent of Americans use a cellphone of some kind.
Due to our extreme reliance on smartphones, it is important for each one of us to understand its extraordinary evolution, as it also provides us with a glimpse of how far we have come. So, let’s get started!
Table of Contents
The World’s First Smartphone – IBM
About twenty-nine years ago, in 1992, IBM launched a high-performance tech device, that had way more capabilities and features than existing cellphones of that era. Basically, it was a prototype smartphone that was named the Simon Personal Communicator. However, due to some ongoing issues, it just couldn’t make it to consumers till 1994.
The device had many high-end features that are similar to modern-day smartphones, such as:
- Touch screen
- Notes and Calendar
- Fax
- Specific apps and widgets
Although it made a pretty bold entry into the industry, still it couldn’t get into many hands, as it was way too advanced for its time. Also, even though it included many of the modern-day smartphones features, still it consisted of a pretty small monochrome LCD screen and a short battery life that lasted for ‘one’ hour only.
However, one thing was pretty cool; the users could make landline calls easily instead of waiting in long queues of telephone booths. Unfortunately, the major reason for its failure was its whopping $1,100 price at retail. The developers could hit sales of only 50,000 units in six months.
But no matter what, IBM surely motivated the other developers to come up with their versions of smartphones, and that too with enhanced features and improved pricing plans.
Although we have pretty much covered the main features of Simon Personal Communicator, still if you wish to know more about its processing power and capabilities, then do check out its in-depth guide on Wikipedia.
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The Successful Launch of BlackBerry
The first model of BlackBerry was its 5810 model which had all the important cellphone features like:
- Music
- Calendar
- Advanced security features
- A full keyboard
- Internet access
However, the users had to make phone calls through the headset. Initially, BlackBerry targeted corporate professionals. With time, they kept launching various other models that were even more advanced. This drastic progression turned them into leading developers until the iPhone era started.
Slowly, there was a major decrease in their sales. Finally, in 2017, they bottomed out from the industry with zero percent market share.
Apple Joined the Smartphone Race
With its gorgeous launch of the iPod, Apple had already made its grand entry in the tech industry and had completely transformed how people used portable technology across the globe.
In January 2007, Apple came up with its gorgeous first model of the iPhone. It was truly the most beautiful, high-performing smartphone that people had ever seen on the market. Initially, it was priced at $499 for the 4GB unit and $599 for the 8GB version.Apple successfully sold 1.4 million iPhone models in its first year of launch. After a year, the company sold 11.6 million iPhones across the globe due to its immense fan-following and huge customer base.
Although Apple had already launched its iPod Video, still one drawback was its 4:3 ratio screen – it was not a suitable size for video watchers. However, the iPhone came up with a bigger LCD screen that was ideal for everyone. Moreover, it had an improved battery life which allowed the users to enjoy eight hours of continuous talk-time and 250 hours on stand.
Soon after its first launch, iPhone came up with more and more improvements in every new model. Today, we have about 1 billion iPhone users around the world, and the number still keeps increasing each day.
The Modern Smartphone of 2021
Since 2007, the smartphone industry has made a drastic progression. There’s a huge difference between the cellphones of 2007 and 2021. To sum it up, every feature in the smartphone has become more advanced and improved. Some of the major differences include:
- There’s more storage space and memory.
- Inner processors are faster than before.
- Multiple apps can be used at the same time.
- Smartphones have HD cameras.
- Music, video streaming, and online gaming have become much easier.
- The battery can easily last for days instead of hours or minutes
Today we have two primary smartphone operating systems in the market. Google’s Android, and Apple’s iOS. Although Apple has a huge customer base, still Android is ruling the world. Today, we have nearly 2.8 billion Android users across the globe that own different types of Android phones.
So for the moment, it would not be wrong to say that Android is winning – it has clearly stepped up its game because of its cheaper rates, and a huge variety of models. As per the data shared StatCounter, Android currently holds the most of the worldwide market share, which is more than forty-two percent.Interestingly, it is even more than Microsoft Windows on laptop PCs, or desktops.
If you wish to know more about the exact number of Android users in different countries, then do check out the detailed stats given BankMyCell. However, before you click on the link, please make sure that you are connected to a high-speed, and robust internet connection so that you can avoid the usual network congestion and lagging during browsing.
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The Future of Smartphones
As mentioned earlier, IBM’s Simon surely hinted to our ancestors about what present-day smartphones could be capable of. However, in 2007, we finally got to witness their full strength iPhone – thanks to Apple. Now, in 2021, smartphones continue to prosper and become a constant necessity in our everyday lives.
From replacements for our tape recorders and cameras to digital voice assistants like Alexa and Siri, the smartphone industry has surely come a long way to facilitate its users around the world.
Because of its constant growth, it’s kind of hard to predict the future of smartphones. However, one thing is for sure, we can expect the voice commands to become more advanced. Or, we can even forecast the addition of more smart features in our phones related to health, traveling, security, etc. Who knows?