There are few
cell phones
that have managed to enter the select group of
best sellers
worldwide in the last 20 years.
They are not those that bring together the best of the latest technologies in processors, cameras and even artificial intelligence;
But those that marked the era were the
most rudimentary and productive
, even from brands that today were relegated behind Apple or Samsung, according to a study by the
Visual Capitalist
agency .
It has been more than 50 years since the first call with that gigantic
DynaTAC
, although the explosion of the industry would not occur until the end of the 90s and even the beginning of the 2000s, when
Nokia dominated and the smartphone era was not even noticed,
with telephones so basic that
they could only make calls and send short messages
with limited characters.
Nokia 1100: a classic that marked an era.
These peculiar mobile devices, rare nowadays, are now called
feature phones.
Basically, a basic phone that has only the
fundamental functions
, such as calling, or sending and receiving messages.
But far from any type of underestimation, none of today's powerful smartphones managed to outsell the emblematic equipment that the Finnish Nokia sold in the years 2000-2005.
The 20 best-selling cell phones in history
This is what the ranking looks like.
It is curious to see how
Nokia
is at the forefront:
three of its flagship devices are among the five
and no less than ten positions among the 20 best-selling mobile phones in all of history.
Both records may surprise the youngest, because this mythical brand fell from grace after its errors with
the Symbian operating system to be recovered by HMD Global
.
Samsung and Motorola
appear on the list with one device each, from position 11 the
Samsung E1100
and position 17 the
Motorola RAZR V3
with "tapita" that brought so much success to the brand.
Almost twenty years after its launch, this model returned to sale with the particularity of having
a flexible screen
.
The Motorola razr, the modern and foldable one from 2020 (right) and the one that started the line in the early 2000s.
Another surprising fact about this ranking is that
there is no Android
, and obviously the diversity of options in the catalog available on the Google platform means that the sales figures are diluted without a single smartphone managing to sell too many units.
The
Samsung Galaxy S23
sold more than ever in the flagship Android series, and yet
they did not even reach 40 million units
.
In important markets such as China or India they sell relatively little compared to other options.
Samsung Galaxy S23.
(Photo: Samsung)
As for numbers, the truth is that the data is overwhelming.
Nokia's most basic series in the early 2000s, when the democratization of these devices was beginning, managed to sell no less than
250 million Nokia 1100
and 248 million of the Nokia 1110 model. Almost 500 million phones that cost
around 100 Dollars
.
Historically,
iPhones
have always sold very well as well, especially the more evolutionary series compared to previous generations such as the
iPhone 6
(large screens) or the
iPhone X
(all-screen format with notch).
SL