Smartphone

A smartphone combines traditional mobile phone capabilities with advanced computing power to create a versatile personal device.

Core Technology

Computing Power Drives Innovation

Modern smartphones pack remarkable processing capability through metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuits. These devices contain various sensors like magnetometers, proximity sensors, barometers, gyroscopes, and accelerometers. The hardware supports multiple wireless protocols including LTE, 5G NR, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and satellite navigation.

Touch Interface Transforms Usage

Most smartphones feature sleek, slate-like designs with large capacitive touchscreens supporting multi-touch gestures. This interface lets users download apps, access cloud storage, and interact with virtual assistants. The touchscreen revolution started with the iPhone in 2007, which doubled the common screen resolution of its time.

Historical Evolution

Early Devices Shape Development

The first true smartphone emerged in 1994 as the IBM Simon Personal Communicator. This groundbreaking device could send emails, faxes, and featured a touchscreen interface. Its limitations included bulky size and short battery life due to NiCad technology.

Japanese Innovation Accelerates Progress

In 1999, NTT DoCoMo launched i-mode, bringing mobile internet to Japan with speeds up to 9.6 kilobits per second. Japanese phones pioneered features like mobile payments, near-field communication (NFC), and mobile television, though these remained largely confined to the Japanese market.

Modern Impact

Market Dominance Shows Scale

Smartphone adoption has grown exponentially since 2010. By 2019, manufacturers shipped 1.54 billion units worldwide. The technology has replaced many standalone devices including PDAs, media players, point-and-shoot cameras, and GPS units.

Operating Systems Create Ecosystem

Two major platforms dominate today’s market: Android and iOS. This duopoly emerged after earlier systems like BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Symbian failed to maintain market share. The centralized app store model, pioneered by Apple, has become the standard for software distribution.

Citations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

Smartphone (Wikipedia)

For other uses, see Smartphone (disambiguation).

A smartphone, often simply called a phone, is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multimedia playback and streaming. Smartphones have built-in cameras, GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps.

Smartphones are distinguished from older-design feature phones by their more advanced hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, access to the internet, business applications, mobile payments, and multimedia functionality, including music, video, gaming, radio, and television.

Smartphones typically feature metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) chips, various sensors, and support for multiple wireless communication protocols. These devices leverage sensors such as accelerometers, barometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers, which can be used by both pre-installed and third-party software to enhance functionality. In addition, smartphones are equipped to support a variety of wireless communication standards, including LTE, 5G NR, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and satellite navigation. By the mid-2020s, manufacturers began integrating satellite messaging and emergency services, expanding their utility in remote areas without reliable cellular coverage.

Following the rising popularity of the iPhone in the late 2000s, the majority of smartphones have featured thin, slate-like form factors with large, capacitive touch screens with support for multi-touch gestures rather than physical keyboards. Most modern smartphones have the ability for users to download or purchase additional applications from a centralized app store. They often have support for cloud storage and cloud synchronization, and virtual assistants.

Smartphones have largely replaced personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, handheld/palm-sized PCs, portable media players (PMP), point-and-shoot cameras, camcorders, and, to a lesser extent, handheld video game consoles, e-reader devices, pocket calculators, and GPS tracking units.

Since the early 2010s, improved hardware and faster wireless communication have bolstered the growth of the smartphone industry. As of 2014, over a billion smartphones are sold globally every year. In 2019 alone, 1.54 billion smartphone units were shipped worldwide. 75.05 percent of the world population were smartphone users as of 2020.