Mobile phone
Martin Cooper of Motorola stood on a New York City street on the 3rd of April 1973. He held a prototype handset that weighed approximately two kilograms or 4.4 pounds. This device marked the first publicized handheld mobile phone call in history. Cooper spoke to Joel S. Engel, a rival engineer at AT&T, during this demonstration. He told his colleague, I am calling you on a cell phone, but a real cell phone, a personal, handheld, portable cell phone. The radio frequency link connected directly to switching systems without requiring vehicle installation. Early predecessors included analog radio communications from ships and trains after World War II. Finnish inventor Eric Tigerstedt filed a patent for a pocket-size folding telephone with a very thin carbon microphone in 1917. Bell System's Mobile Telephone Service and its successor, Improved Mobile Telephone Service, represented early zeroth-generation services. These initial systems were not cellular and supported only a few simultaneous calls while costing a fortune.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone launched the world's first commercial automated cellular network in Japan in 1979. This system used analog technology known as first generation or 1G. Nordic Mobile Telephone followed in 1981 across Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Radiolinja introduced second-generation digital cellular technology in Finland in 1991 using the GSM standard. A Memorandum of Understanding signed by 13 European countries in 1987 committed them to launch a commercial service by 1991. The first version of the GSM standard contained 6,000 pages. NTT DoCoMo launched third-generation networks in Japan in 2001 on the WCDMA standard. TeliaSonera released the first publicly available LTE service in Scandinavia in 2009. Deployment of fifth-generation cellular networks commenced worldwide in 2019. Download speeds for these modern networks can achieve gigabit-per-second ranges with latency aiming for one millisecond. By 2014, there were more than seven billion mobile phone subscribers globally.
A central processing unit serves as the processor inside every mobile phone. Modern handsets typically use lithium-ion batteries designed to endure between 500 and 2,500 charge cycles. Input mechanisms vary from keypads on feature phones to touch screens on most smartphones. Displays range from liquid-crystal displays to organic light-emitting diode screens. Speakers allow users to listen to digital audio files or watch videos without holding the device close to their ear. Subscriber Identity Module cards function as small microchips approximately the size of a postage stamp. Giesecke & Devrient created the first SIM card in 1991 for the Finnish wireless network operator Radiolinja. NAND flash memory adoption allowed smartphones larger storage capacities compared to NOR flash used in earlier devices. Screen sizes often measure in diagonal inches or millimeters with aspect ratios shifting toward taller formats after 2017. The typical lifespan of a mobile phone battery lasts approximately two to three years depending on usage patterns.
Motorola held market leadership in mobile phones from 1983 until 1998. Nokia took over the top position from 1998 through 2012. Samsung surpassed Nokia in Q1 2012 selling 93.5 million units against Nokia's 82.7 million units. As of 2022, the top five manufacturers worldwide were Samsung at 21 percent, Apple at 16 percent, Xiaomi at 13 percent, Oppo at 10 percent, and Vivo at 9 percent. Smartphone sales represented about 50 percent of total mobile phone sales in 2024. Android became the best-selling system worldwide on smartphones since 2011. By March 2025, Android held 71.9 percent of the overall market share while iOS had 27.7 percent. China Mobile stands as the world's largest individual mobile operator with over 902 million subscribers. In the UK, the total number of mobile phones overtook the number of houses in 1999. From 1993 to 2024, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew to over 9.1 billion.
Kenya's M-PESA mobile banking service allows customers of Safaricom to hold cash balances recorded directly on their SIM cards. Cash can be deposited or withdrawn from accounts at retail outlets throughout the country. The United Nations reported that mobile phones have spread faster than any other form of technology. One study by Motorola found that one in ten mobile phone subscribers keep a second phone often secret from family members. Text messaging led to the creation of SMS language and growing popularity of emojis. A study by the London School of Economics found that banning mobile phones in schools could increase pupils' academic performance. Mobile telephony facilitates activism and citizen journalism across developing nations. People in Mali used to travel village to village for news about weddings and births before mobile coverage arrived. Eighty-six percent of Americans use their mobile phone while watching television according to recent estimates.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 995 people were killed by drivers distracted by cell phones in September 2010. Egypt, Israel, Japan, Portugal, and Singapore ban both handheld and hands-free use of mobile phones while driving. In the UK, motorists caught using a hand-held mobile phone receive three penalty points plus a fine of £60 starting the 27th of February 2007. Between 2011 and 2019, an estimated 30,000 walking injuries occurred in the US related to cellphone usage. Studies show around 40 to 50 percent of environmental impact occurs during manufacture of printed wiring boards. The average user replaces their mobile phone every 11 to 18 months contributing to electronic waste. Apple Inc developed a robotic disassembler called Liam specifically for recycling outdated or broken iPhones. Demand for metals used in electronics fueled the Second Congo War which claimed almost 5.5 million lives. Fairphone has worked to develop a mobile phone that does not contain conflict minerals.
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Common questions
Who made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call and when did it happen?
Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call on the 3rd of April 1973. He spoke to Joel S. Engel, a rival engineer at AT&T, while holding a prototype handset that weighed approximately two kilograms or 4.4 pounds.
When was the world's first commercial automated cellular network launched and where?
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone launched the world's first commercial automated cellular network in Japan in 1979. This system used analog technology known as first generation or 1G before Nordic Mobile Telephone followed across Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in 1981.
Which companies held market leadership in mobile phones from 1983 until 2012?
Motorola held market leadership in mobile phones from 1983 until 1998. Nokia took over the top position from 1998 through 2012 before Samsung surpassed them in Q1 2012 selling 93.5 million units against Nokia's 82.7 million units.
What percentage of the global smartphone market did Android hold by March 2025?
By March 2025, Android held 71.9 percent of the overall smartphone market share while iOS had 27.7 percent. Android became the best-selling system worldwide on smartphones since 2011 with sales representing about 50 percent of total mobile phone sales in 2024.
When did mobile phone subscriptions surpass the number of houses in the UK?
In the UK, the total number of mobile phones overtook the number of houses in 1999. From 1993 to 2024, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew to over 9.1 billion according to available data.