Can you survive without your mobile phone? Mobiles have become a crucial part of our daily life nowadays. Almost, everyone has a personal cell phone of their own. But, the mobile phones we see now didn't look this earlier, instead, they were something totally different, something you wouldn't even think of having around you.
SEE ALSO: Top 20 Best Smartphones To Buy In February 2016
In the beginning, many of the cell phone were considered to be "car phones," as they were too large and cumbersome to carry around in a pocket. However, with the advancement of technology, the history of mobile phones, transformed the huge brick-like device of 1992 to sleek and stylish smartphones that we carry with us now.
The Motorola StarTAC from 1996 was the first phone to be widely popular, then comes the Nokia 3310 in 2000, which made a record-breaking sale of 126 million units. Motorola and Nokia ruled the cell phone industry for almost a decade. Then comes the Samsung with futuristic devices selling mobile phones globally.
SEE ALSO: Top 10 Rumored Smartphones with 5GB - 6GB RAM Expected in 2016-2017
Apple, the Cupertino-based company, was the first one to introduce a touchscreen smartphone - the iPhone. Apple and the South Korean device maker - Samsung, started ruled the smartphone industry for almost a decade. The evolution of Android operating system helped many desi and other smartphone makers to produce a wide range of device differentiating in display size and performance.
Let's take a ride back to the past and look at how cellphones developed from the bulky look to today sleek touchscreen handsets and the units sold.
Motorola Personal Phone sold 8 million units.
Only 2 phones launched in 1992 Year
- Motorola Personal Phone, 8 million sold
- Nokia 101, 5 million sold.
Motorola StarTAC from 1996 was the first phone to be widely popular
Year of 1996
- Motorola StarTAC, 60 million sold
- Nokia 1610
The Motorola StarTAC from 1996 was the first phone to be widely popular.
The Motorola StarTAC is a clamshell mobile phone manufactured by Motorola. It was released on January 3, 1996, being the first ever clamshell/flip mobile phone. The StarTAC is the successor of the MicroTAC, a semi-clamshell design that had been launched in 1989.
Nokia being the best selling mobile in 1998 with 21 million units
Year of 1998
- Nokia 6120, 21 million sold
- Motorola Montreal
The Nokia 3210 is a GSM cellular phone, announced by Nokia on March 18, 1999.
Year of 1999 (Nokia 3210, 150 million sold)
- Nokia 3210, 150 million sold
The Nokia 3310 from 2000 sold 126 million units
Year of 2000 (Nokia 3310, Nokia 8890, Siemens M30/M35i)
- Nokia 3310, 126 million sold
- Nokia 8890, 15 million sold
- Siemens M30/M35i, 15 million sold
The Nokia 3310 from 2000 sold 126 million units.
This year 5 phone crossed 12 millions sales
Year of 2002 (First colour-screen phones to sell over a million in this year)
- Nokia 6100, 15 million sold
- Nokia 6610, 15 million sold
- Nokia 3510, 15 million sold
- Siemens A50, 15 million sold
- Samsung SGH-T100, 12 million sold
The Nokia 6100 and 6610 (above) from 2002 were the first colour-screen phones to sell over a million.
In this year Nokia and Samsung sold million mobile units
Year of 2003 (First camera phone to sell over a million units)
- Nokia 1100, 250 million sold[1]
- Nokia 3100/3120, 50 million sold
- Nokia 3200/3220, 30 million sold
- Nokia 2100, 20 million sold
- Samsung SGH-E700, 15 million sold
- Nokia N-Gage, 3 million sold
- Nokia 6600, 2 million sold
The Nokia 6600 from 2003 was the first camera phone to sell over a million units.
In this year nokia sold 500 plus million phone units
Year of 2004 (In this year there are lot of mobile got released and sold also)
- Nokia 2600/2610/2626/2630, 135 million sold
- Motorola RAZR V3, 130 million sold
- Nokia 6010/6020/6030, 75 million sold
- Nokia 6230/6233, 50 million sold
- Nokia 3220, 35 million sold
- Nokia 2650, 35 million sold
- Nokia 2300, 15 million sold
- Nokia 3120, 15 million sold
- Nokia 6170, 15 million sold
- Nokia 5140, 15 million sold
- Nokia 7260, 15 million sold
- Sony Ericsson K300, 15 million sold
- Samsung SGH-D500, 12 million sold
In this year around 1000 plus million units got sold
Year of 2005 ( The Nokia N70 was the first smartphone to sell over a million)
- Nokia 1110, 250 million sold
- Motorola/C139/C200, 60 million sold
- Nokia N70/N72/N73, 45 million sold
- Nokia 6101, 35 million sold
- Nokia 6060, 35 million sold
- Nokia 6270/6280, 30 million sold
- Nokia 6670, 19 million sold
- Motorola V220, 15 million sold
- Motorola V195, 15 million sold
- Sony Ericsson J300, 15 million sold
- Sony Ericsson K750, 15 million sold
- Nokia 6680, 15 million sold
- Nokia 8800, 15 million sold
- Nokia 6111, 15 million sold
- Nokia 2680, 15 million sold
- LG Chocolate, 15 million sold
- Motorola Q, 1 million sold
The Nokia N70 was the first smartphone to sell over a million.
In this year 2000 million Mobile phone units got sold
Year of 2006 ( The Motorola Q from 2005 was the first QWERTY phone to sell over a million.)
Nokia 1600/1650/1661, 130 million sold
Nokia 6070/6080, 50 million sold
Nokia 7360/7370/7380, 45 million sold
Nokia 6300, 35 million sold
Nokia 2310, 35 million sold
Nokia 5200/5300, 30 million sold
BlackBerry Pearl 8100, 15 million sold
BenQ-Siemens S68, 15 million sold
Sony Ericsson K310, 15 million sold
Sony Ericsson W810, 15 million sold
Sony Ericsson W300, 15 million sold
Motorola PEBL U6, 15 million sold
Motorola KRZR K1, 15 million sold
Motorola SLVR L6, 15 million sold
Motorola SLVR L7, 15 million sold
Nokia 6085, 15 million sold
Nokia 6125, 15 million sold
Nokia 6131, 15 million sold
Samsung SGH-D900, 3 million sold
Nokia 3250, 1 million sold
The Motorola Q from 2005 was the first QWERTY phone to sell over a million.
In this year Apple has entered the smartphone market with iPhone 1st Gen.
Year of 2007 (The Nokia N95 was the first non-candybar smartphone to sell over a million)
- Nokia 2600 classic, 15 million sold
- Nokia 2760, 15 million sold
- Nokia 5610, 15 million sold
- Nokia 3110 classic, 15 million sold
- Nokia 6500 Slide, 15 million sold
- Nokia 3500, 15 million sold
- Nokia 6500 classic, 15 million sold
- Samsung SGH-E250, 12 million sold
- LG Shine, 8 million sold
- Apple iPhone, 7 million sold
- LG Viewty (KU990), 2 million sold
- HTC Touch, 2 million sold
- Palm Centro, 2 million sold
The Nokia N95 was the first non-candybar smartphone to sell over a million.
In this year Apple released iPhone 3G, which sold 25 million units.
Year of 2008 (Apple managed to jointly top the table with a Nokia product
- Apple iPhone 3G, 25 million sold
- Nokia 2330 classic, 15 million sold
- Nokia 7210 Supernova, 15 million sold
- Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, 15 million sold
- Nokia 5000, 15 million sold
- Nokia E71, 15 million sold
- Samsung Tocco (SGH-F480), 12 million sold
- Samsung SGH-J700, 12 million sold
- Samsung Tocco TouchWiz (SGH-F480), 5 million sold
- Samsung Soul (SGH-U900), 1 million sold
Apple's iPhone 3G, which sold 25 million units, managed to jointly top the table with a Nokia product.
The Samsung Star/Tocco Lite (S5230) sold 10 million units.
Year of 2009 (In this Year there are lot of new companies entered to phone market)
- Nokia 5230, 150 million sold
- Apple iPhone 3GS, 35 million sold
- Samsung Tocco Ultra (S8300), 12 million sold
- Samsung Star/Tocco Lite (S5230), 10 million sold
- LG Cookie (KP500), 10 million sold
- Alcatel One Touch Mini (OT-708), 5 million sold
- Motorola Ming A1200, 3 million sold
- Nokia N97, 2 million sold
- Motorola Milestone/Droid, 1 million sold
- HTC Magic, 1 million sold
- Nokia 3720 classic,
- Nokia E52
- Nokia 6700 classic
The Samsung Star/Tocco Lite (S5230) sold 10 million units.
In this year lot of smartphone got launched in mobile market.
Year of 2010 ( Apple solds 40 million iPhone units)
- Apple iPhone 4, 40 million sold
- Samsung Galaxy S, 20 million sold
- Samsung S5620 Monte, 7 million sold
- Nokia N8, 6 million sold
- Motorola Milestone/Droid, 2 million sold
- Samsung Wave (S8500), 2 million sold
2011 has been the year of the smartphone, where almost every third mobile device sold is a smartphone.
Year of 2011 (Apple iPhones - all variants: 140 million sold)
- Apple iPhones - all variants: 140 million sold
- Samsung Galaxy S II, 20 million sold
- Samsung Galaxy Y, 15 million sold
- HTC Evo 4G, 14 million sold
- Motorola Droid Bionic, 13 million sold
- ZTE Blade, 10 million sold
- Samsung Infuse, 9 million sold
Apple's total iPhone shipments increased 46.9 percent last year.
Year of 2012 (Apple iPhones - all variants: 110 million sold)
- Apple iPhones - all variants: 110 million sold
- Samsung Galaxy S III, 50 million sold
- Xiaomi Mi 2, 10 million sold
Apple's total iPhone shipments increased 46.9 percent last year, from 93.1 million handsets in 2011 to 136.8 million in 2012.
Annual Smartphone Sales Surpassed Sales of Feature Phones for the First Time in 2013
Year of 2013 (Samsung - all variants: 444 million sold)
- Samsung - all variants: 444 million sold
- Samsung Galaxy S4 40 million sold
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
- Nokia all variants: 250 million sold
- Apple iPhone - all variants: 150 million sold
In this year Smartphone Sales Surpassed One Billion Units in 2014
Year of 2014 (Samsung Galaxy All variant, 520 million sold)
- Apple all variants, 169.2 million sold[14]
- Samsung Galaxy All variant, 520 million sold[15]
- Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini
Emerging Markets Drove Worldwide Smartphone Sales to 15.5 Percent Growth
Year of 2015
- Apple
- Samsung
- Microsoft
- Huawei
- ZTE
- LG Electronics
- Lenovo
- Xiaomi
- OPPO
- Others
