The history of smartphones in the UK can be traced back to the early 1990s, when consumers had to choose between mobile phones for talking and texting, or personal organizers for business. The term "smartphone" began to appear around 2004–2006, and by 2023, 92% of UK mobile users owned a smartphone.
Key milestones in the history of smartphones in the UK:
1992 - The Nokia 1011 became the first mass-market GSM phone.
1994 - The IBM Simon is often considered the first smartphone, with a touchscreen, fax, email, and calendar functions.
1997 - The Nokia 6110 was the first GSM phone to use a processor made by Arm, a Cambridge-based semiconductor and software design company.
1999 - The BlackBerry was launched, with a keyboard instead of traditional phone buttons, for sending and receiving emails.
2006 - Nokia released the N95, which came with a five-megapixel camera, built-in GPS, web browsing, and Wi-Fi.
2007 - Steve Jobs announced the iPhone, which combined a music player, internet capabilities, and a touchscreen mobile phone. The iPhone 3G allowed users to download apps from an online store.
The Timeline of Mobile Phone activity and events:
April 3 1973 – The first ever mobile telephone call was made on 3rd April 1973 on a Motorola DynaTAC8000X.
1979 – The first mobile cell network
1982 – Europe joins the network
1985 – The first UK mobile call
1987 – GSM – the Global System for Mobile Communications approved
1989 – The first flip phone – The Motorola Micro TAC
1992 – The Nokia 1011 with GSM - the first mass-produced mobile handset to have GSM
1992 – The first ever text message sent from a mobile phone
1994 – the first touch screen (and maybe smart phone)
1996 – no-contract mobile - Vodafone launched the very first no-contract mobile package
1997 – The first mobile phone to offer a colour (although it was only four colours)
1998 – The very first downloadable content for a mobile was a ring tone from Radiolinja in Finland.
1999 – Blackberry changes the game with emails on phones
1999 – The first mobile phone capable of connecting to the internet
1999 – Emojis first introduced to text messages
1999 – Pay as you Go - no-contract mobile phones
2000 – The Nokia 3310 quite possibly the most iconic of mobile phones.
2000 – The world’s first mobile phone with a camera was launched in Japan
2003 – This year saw the worldwide adoption of the 3G standard
2007 – The Apple iPhone was introduced
2008 – Android launched
