Self-labelled neo-Luddites and the tech-stressed are searching for phones with fewer features. Industry experts cite precarious profit margins and a wobbly market around this niche need.
The big tech giants don't want anything that has to do with reducing your smartphone usage because they are not making money on the hardware of the device – Jose Briones
A viable alternative?
For companies that do still offer dumbphones, Thomas Husson, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, doesn't expect many of these sellers to make it – or at least keep manufacturing these devices in the long run.
Alongside precarious profit margins, there's also the wrinkle that the technology on which these devices run will become so outdated they won't be able to function. For instance, dumbphone users across the globe will be out of luck if the 2G and 3G networks that sustain their functionality disappear entirely. Plus, many jobs – even low-wage positions – require employees to carry phones with app capabilities. At the end of the day, there may not be enough customers to buoy even the savviest business model.
There may be one way dumbphone companies can survive, however. To be economically viable, argues Husson, companies could "develop a niche premium brand to reach these segments". Indeed, some start-ups are trying to capture this specialty market and find economic success – offering a kind of modern take on the feature phone.
New York-based Light creates customisable "Light Phones" that minimise exposure to the internet, social media and other distractions. "What we're trying to do with the Light Phone isn't to create a dumb phone, but to create a more intentional phone – a premium, minimal phone – which isn't inherently anti-technology," Joe Hollier, co-founder of Light, told CNBC in 2023. The device currently costs $299 (£240) – comparable with low- or mid-range smartphone models. It's a high price point for a dumbed-down phone, but the only way for the company to make a niche product economically viable.
Unlike feature phones, which usually sell based on their low price point or ruggedness, Light's phones are intended for conscientious digital detoxers who want some connectivity without sacrificing on style or some functionality. Briones's Light Phone calls, texts and has basic app functions, all viewable through an e-ink screen similar to an e-reader. It can also keep a calendar, get directions, stream podcasts and music and take notes. "That's a good set of features that I've been able to learn how to live with," he says.
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Earlier this year, Swiss brand Punkt also debuted a simplified smartphone for $750, priced at £599 in the UK. They're betting high-end consumers will be interested in hardware that resembles the smartphones they are used to. Punkt has pivoted towards the luxury dumbphone approach; in 2015, the company offered a feature phone that looked similar to an iPhone, but that only made calls, sent text messages and had a calendar and clock. It did not take off.
These new devices will also have to compete with other business models meant to appeal to users who want to wean their digital dependence, but may want to do so in a way that goes down smoother than a hardware transition.
That's the strategy for US-based Ghost Mode. Rather than selling its own phone, the company essentially reprograms a Google Pixel 6a smartphone to a customer's specifications, with all of the apps they need. Once they do, Ghost Mode locks the phone into those settings. Like most of these niche products, this service isn't cheap at $600 (£482), but it may appeal to top-end consumers more than leaving their smartphones behind entirely.
Despite these new players and a heightened interest in dumber phones, success is still precarious.
Bullitt, the licensed manufacturers of the CAT S-22 I purchased, folded the day before my phone arrived. Despite the news, I tried the hardware for about a week. It let me call, text and access the messenger functions of a couple of apps I used to stay in touch with friends and family. My total web use dropped to just an hour a day. I was better able to concentrate on my surroundings, books and music. But I missed my library app.
So, I switched back to my very beaten-up Samsung Galaxy A32 – with a catch. I installed Minimalist Phone, an app that gets rid of flashy app icons and backgrounds in favour of a stark black-and-white interface. I kept Messenger, WhatsApp and Discord to stay in touch, but nearly every other non-basic app went out the window. I don't miss them.
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