Flip phone sales are on the rise in Japan

Samsung flip phone
The classic flip phone design could be coming back.

Just about the coolest thing you could do in the early 2000s was pull out your phone, flip it open and take a call, all with one hand. Gradually, though, the clamshell design lost out to large, touchscreen alternatives.

But hold on one minute: flip phones are enjoying a renaissance in Japan, where shipments went up 5.7 percent to 10.6 million in 2014. Smartphone shipments declined 5.3 percent over the same period.

One reason might be the high price of data in the country, which makes dumber phones that little bit more appealing; more older users getting phones could also be behind the jump in shipments.

We prefer to think it's because the classic design offers something the smartphones of today can't: tapping on an end call button is far less dramatic than snapping your phone shut with a twist of the wrist before muttering 'tw*t' under your breath.

Via PhoneArena

  • If you liked this then have we got the flips... er, the Blips for you.
David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.