Sales of This One Throwback Device Grew 14-Fold in a Year — And Your Boss May Be Using One The most-coveted tech might not be the iPhone 16 or Pixel AI — it's the "dumbphone."
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- "Dumbphones" are phones with limited features, usually with calling and texting but no Internet or apps.
- One CEO said they prefer a phone with limited features even if it causes “a bit of disruption” in the workplace.
- Sales of dumbphones grew over 14-fold within a year, according to a phone marketplace.
Apple's iPhones have been criticized for existing within a "walled garden" and commanding a high price in exchange for entry. And while the big tech companies are competing with the latest smartphones from the likes of Google, Apple, and Samsung, there might be competition from an unexpected place: the "dumbphone."
These phones, which usually go back to the basics with a limited range of features, are now being adopted by CEOs who can afford to be less accessible, reports the Wall Street Journal.
DumbWireless, a marketplace that sells dumbphones from brands like Nokia and Punkt, saw sales of $68,000 in March alone compared to $5,000 in March 2023 — an over 14-fold increase.
Benjamin Crudo, the 41-year-old CEO of retail software company Diff, told the Journal that he uses a Punkt MP02 phone, which offers calling and texting and costs $299. He said he only answers emails or Slack messages when he's on his desktop, and if any emergencies occur after hours, employees can reach him with a phone call.
Crudo said his way of communicating causes "a bit of disruption because everybody around me is communicating in a certain way, and I'm choosing to communicate differently."
"Lucky for me, I'm the boss," he said.
In addition to the Punkt phone, other "dumbphones" include the Light Phone 2, a $299 device with a black-and-white E-ink screen that focuses mainly on calls and texts, and the $329 Sunbeam F1 Pro flip phone which can come with navigation, weather, and hotspot, or without any media at all.
Light Phone 2 (L) and Sunbeam F1 phone (R). Photo by JASON CONNOLLY/AFP via Getty Images
Dumbphones have managed to capture interest, even if they aren't guaranteed a camera. The Light phone fundraised $400,000 from thousands of individual backers on Kickstarter starting in 2015. Now the company says it has shipped more than 100,000 phones.
Despite their limited functionality when compared to smartphones, dumbphones aren't always the cheaper alternative. The $799 Light Phone 3, for example, adds 5G, a camera, and a bigger screen to the Light Phone 2 at a price point comparable to the new iPhone 16.
