Vintage cell phones: 48 classic devices that predated the iPhone (2024)

Mobile phones have come a long way. When mobile phone tech entered the market in the '80s, they were large, heavy and required special cases to carry them around. Now, powerful computers can fit in our back pockets.

There were plenty of phone styles throughout the years as designers experimented with the ever-changing technology. Some cell phones rocketed to worldwide prominence and popularity, while others flopped as design failures.

Here's a look at some of the most popular, quirkiest and technologically important mobile phones, from 1984's Motorola DynaTAC to 2007's iPhone.

By Anne Nickoloff, cleveland.com

(Photo by Eric Risberg/AP, Fabian Bimmer/AP, Joerg Sarbach/AP, Paul Sakuma/AP)

Motorola DynaTAC

Release: 1984

When Martin Cooper invented the Motorola DynaTAC, it was groundbreaking. The phone was at the time convenient, weighing "only 30 ounces!" (To put that in perspective, most modern iPhones weigh between 4 and 7 ounces.)

(Photo by Eric Risberg, AP)

Motorola MicroTAC 9800X

Release: April 1989

It was seriously high-tech when Motorola put out the MicroTAC 9800X, an early flip phone. The phone was "designed with you in mind," to make it more comfortable for phone conversations. The flip phone folded down from below the keypad.

(Photo by Mark Elias, AP)

Nokia 1011

Release: November 1992

The Nokia 1011 was one of the first cell phone models to become a normal sight in the early '90s. The phone was able to send and receive SMS text messages and had an extendable antenna.

IBM Simon

Release: August 1994

Was the IBM Simon the first smart phone? Some people would argue it was. It had a touch screen and access to email, built into its cell phone base.

Motorola StarTAC

Release: January 1996

The StarTAC built off of the MicroTAC's innovation, improving the flip phone design to fold up from above the cell phone's keypad instead of below it. This design was used in many cell phones following the StarTAC.

(Photo by Fabian Bimmer, AP)

Toshiba TCP-6000

Released: 1996

The Toshiba TCP-6000 had its antenna built into the cell phone, and was known for its long battery life.

Nokia 8110

Release: September 1996

Nokia continued to release updated versions of its cell phones in the 90s, and reached another milestone with the curvy Nokia 8110. The phone's shape was known as a "banana phone." It was an iconic piece in the 1999 film "The Matrix."

Nokia 9000 Communicator

Release: August 1996

The Nokia 9000 Communicator is understood to be one of the very first smart phones to hit the market. The phone's applications included faxes, a web browser, email and digital camera connection.

(Photo by Fabian Bimmer, AP)

The Q Phone

Release: 1997

The Q phone, released by Qualcomm, was known for its smart phone capabilities and silent vibration call alert.

BlackBerry 950

Release: 1998

The BlackBerry became a well-known device when it was released in 1998. The cell phone was released with a full QWERTY keyboard and could connect to email.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan, AP)

Nokia 5110

Release: March 1998

Nokia made a move towards young adult phone buyers with the Nokia 5110. The phone had interchangeable face plates meant to personalize the phone, and it also introduced phone games like "Snake."

Nokia 3210

Release: March 1999

The Nokia 3210 was popular and cheaply priced. It was also one of the first phones to make the antenna an internal feature.

Nokia 8210

Release: 1999

The Nokia 8210 improved older Nokia models, even smaller and more lightweight than ever before. The phone also had an infrared port that allowed it to connect to printers, and to enable games like "Snake" in two-player mode.

Nokia 7110

Release: October 1999

The Nokia 7110 arrived in 1999, and it was the first mobile phone to come with the Wireless Application Browser. This allowed Nokia 7110 owners to access news sites and check their emails on their devices.

Ericsson R380

Release: 2000

Another groundbreaking advancement in cell phone technology came with the Ericsson R380. The phone was the first to be marketed as a smart phone, and it incorporated normal cell phone abilities with PDA uses. The phone had a black-and-white touch screen.

Nokia 6250

Release: 2000

Nokia is known for creating nearly indestructible cell phones, and that reputation might be in part due to the Nokia 6250. The phone is known for being waterproof and shock absorbent.

(Photo by Christof Stache, AP)

Samsung SPH-M100 Uproar

Release: 2001

The Samsung Uproar was the first mobile phone that had MP3 music included in the cell phone, making it one of the standout cell phones on the market in the early 2000s.

Nokia 5510

Release: October 2001

The Nokia 5510 had an unconventional cell phone design with a full QWERTY keyboard and a small digital display. The phone focused on its digital musical capabilities—it could store audio files and tune in to FM radio. The phone was known for its tagline: "Looks weird. Sounds great."

Ericsson T39

Release: 2001

The Ericsson T39 was one of the first phones with a built-in Bluetooth feature, allowing callers to connect to hands-free systems.

Nokia 5210

Release: 2002

The Nokia 5210 featured an orange back light and was easily customizable with various colored shells. The Nokia 5210 was known for its insane durability; you can see the cell phone (sort of) survive flames in the video above.

Danger Hiptop/Sidekick

Released: 2002

The Danger Hiptop was later rebranded as the T-Mobile Sidekick and was popular for texting and connecting to the internet, helping to normalize mobile Internet access. The Sidekick was also popular with the deaf and hard of hearing community because of its full QWERTY keyboard and ability to make unassisted TTY calls.

(Photo by Beth A. Keiser, AP)

Ericsson T68

Release: 2001

One of the early full-color display screens appeared in the Ericsson T68. The cell phone's display showed 256 colors, and it appeared in 2002 James Bond film "Die Another Day."

Siemens S45

Release: 2001

The S45 was Siemens' first GPRS mobile phone. The new data service was quick and enabled phone owners to send multimedia messages and instant messages.

Nokia 3510

Release: 2002

The Nokia 3510 improved on data services with GPRS and updated Java programs. Users could download Java apps, ringtones and images. The updated Nokia ringtone used polyphony, giving it a more textured sound that was used on all subsequent Nokia phones.

Nokia 6310i

Release: March 2002

The Nokia 6310i had great battery life and was simple to use, making it a favorite even after it was discontinued in 2005. It's even still used today.

Nokia 7650

June 2002

Photo-taking capabilities arrived on Nokia phones with the Nokia 7650—it was the first Nokia phone with a built-in camera. The smart phone was also the first to run on the Symbian operating system and the first to use the S60 platform.

(Photo by Lehtikuva, Kimmo Mantyla, AP)

Nokia 1100

Release: 2003

If you had a cell phone in the early 2000s, it might have been a Nokia 1100. The cell phone is the world's best-selling phone handset ever. The phone was not the most technologically advanced for its time, but it was mostly sold to developing countries and users who wanted a basic phone design.

Nokia 6600

Release: June 2003

The Nokia 6600 was seriously high-tech when it was released in 2003, with a music player, video player, VGA camera and memory card storage. It became one of Nokia's best-selling products with 150 million phones sold.

Nokia N-Gage

Release: October 2003

The Nokia N-Gage was a commercial failure. The N-Gage was meant to compete with gaming consoles like the Gameboy Advance, but the cell phone's buttons weren't well-made for phone games. When used as a cell phone, the N-Gage was called a "taco phone" because of its odd shape.

(Photo by Eckehard Schulz)

PalmOne Treo 650

Release: November 2004

The Palm Treo 650 built off of the original 600 model, but had a few well-known bugs. The phone would reset itself at random and audio quality was low. Phone updates eventually helped solve these issues.

(Photo by Elise Amendola, AP)

Nokia 7600

Release: 2003

The Nokia 7600 is one of the strangest-looking cell phones that came out in the early 2000s. Its teardrop shape was awkward to use unless using both hands, and it wasn't as technologically savvy as other products released at the time.

(Photo by Joerg Sarbach, AP)

Motorola Razor V3

Release: 2004

If someone had a Razr phone, you knew they were cool. The phone, released in 2003, was fashionably sleek and became massively popular around the world. Several updates followed the original V3 version, but they all stuck to the same thin design.

(Photo by Ben Margot, AP)

Sony Ericsson P910

Release: 2004

The P910 improved its texting function with multiple text methods available. This included the T9 text input with number keys, hand-writing recognition on the touch screen, a touch screen keyboard and a QWERTY keyboard.

Nokia 7610

Release: 2004

The Nokia 7610 was all about fashion. The phone had a unique shape and striking colors, and featured a one-megapixel camera.

Nokia 3220

Release: 2004

The Nokia 3220 was pretty funky for a cell phone. Edge lights would flash different colors and patterns for different ring tones, making the phone light up like a rave every time someone called.

Nokia 6630

Release: June 2004

Video calling became possible with the Nokia 6630. The phone was Nokia's first 3G cell phone to enter the market. Later models of the phone featured a forward-facing or "selfie" camera.

(Photo by Ed Wray, AP)

Nokia 7280

Release: 2004

The Nokia 7280 looks like a strange mobile phone by today's standards, but when it was released in 2004, it was very high-tech. Instead of a keypad, the phone had a navi-spinner and a slider end. When the phone was inactive, the screen faded to a mirror. The Nokia 7280 is featured in the music video for The puss*cat Dolls' "Beep."

Nokia 6680

Release: February 2005

The selfie became a possibility on Nokia phones with the Nokia 6680—it was the first Nokia phone to include a front camera.

(Photo by Lionel Cironneau)

HTC Universal

Release: 2005

The HTC Universal had a nifty screen swivel that allowed it to open up for a full QWERTY keyboard, or to flip shut as a touchscreen slate phone.

(Photo by Ted S. Warren, AP)

Nokia N73

Release: April 2006

The Nokia N73 packed in tech to its features, but one of the phone's standout features was its 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera.

(Photo by Mark Lennihan, AP)

Motorola Q

Release: May 2006

As a response to phones continuously getting smaller and thinner, the Motorola Q was created, at just 11.5 millimeters thick.

(Photo by Damian Dovargane, AP)

HTC TyTN

Release: June 2006

The TyTN incorporated lots of emerging mobile phone technology, with WiFi connectivity, email, media player, instant messaging and a camera. It featured a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen front.

Nokia N90

Release: April 2005

The Nokia N90 added lots of movement to its screen. With multiple moving components, the screen could swivel 270 degrees to operate like a camcorder, then return to its normal flip-phone design.

Sony Ericsson P990

Release: August 2006

The P990 had better resolution on its touchscreen than earlier smartphones and also incorporated a full QWERTY keyboard. The phone could also connect to Wi-Fi.

LG Chocolate

Release: August 2006

The sleek LG Chocolate phones were released all around the world, and included mp3 players, an internet browser and games.

(Photo by Gurinder Osan, AP)

BlackBerry Pearl

Release: September 2006

One problem with early BlackBerry models was its open-face design. The BlackBerry Pearl improved the classic phone with a special flip design, to avoid "butt dials."

(Photo by Mark Lennihan, AP)

Samsung BlackJack

Release: 2006

The BlackJack was released by Samsung, potentially to compete with BlackBerry phones. The brand was sued because of the name's similarity to "BlackBerry," and was released in Canada as "Jack" instead.

(Photo by Mark Lennihan, AP)

iPhone

Release: June 2007

The first iPhone was released by Apple just over a decade ago in 2007, and it set off a chain of successful phones that are owned by millions of people around the world. The original iPhone was slower and had a smaller screen from modern models.

(Photo by Paul Sakuma, AP)

Read more: Apple's 2018 iPhones

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(Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast)