Introduction
Cell phones, or mobile phones, are portable devices that enable the user to make and receive calls. First created in the early 1970s by Motorola engineer Martin Cooper based on Eric Tigerstedt’s invention, the technology rapidly evolved, from first using radio frequency links to now using cellular network architectures. Modern cell phones – also called feature phones – are now lighter, faster, smaller, and have additional features, including text messaging, emails, Internet access, or digital photography. They are principally sold by Alcatel, Nokia, and Samsung. The most recent advances in hardware and software capabilities allowed the development of smartphones, devices that combine telephony with computing functions. They have a number of additional and more extensive functionalities in comparison to feature phones such as multimedia services (video, music, photography, gaming) and Internet services (web browsing). Worldwide, the main smartphone developers are Apple, Huawei, and Samsung.
Today, cell phones are widely popular and used all around the world, to the point that in almost half of the countries where data is available, 90% of the population owns a cell phone. They are considered to be an important technological invention that changed the way people communicate.
Learn more about cell phones by country by scrolling the map and charts.
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