Flip phone sales are on the rise in Japan

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.