Mobile phones are such a normal part of most people’s every day lives, that we don’t even really think about the world without them any more. What did people do before they had their little constant communication devices? Mobile phones have definitely taken the world by storm. And in the interests of a little history, we’ve compiled a list of the top ten phones with the best ever sales. The results might surprise you just a little…
The Nokia 1100:
It’s not even a smart phone, but the little Nokia 1100 has sold an amazing 250 million hand sets since its release way back in 2003. It’s a pretty basic phone, but that was one of its selling points, it was a cheap, reliable, easy to use device. And people bought it. Lots of it.
The Nokia 3210:
Released in 1999, the Nokia 3210 is the phone that most of us remember as our first. We all played Snake on it at some point. It sold a solid 160 million devices, and was thought sleek and cool because it was the first cell phone without an external aerial.
The Motorola RAZR V3:
Famously advertised by David Beckham, the V3 was a super slim flip phone that sold a huge 130 million hand sets. For a while back there it was the phone to have, mostly because it just looked so cool.
The Nokia 3310:
Selling 126 million units, the Nokia 3310 was introduced in 2000. It was the first phone to really offer functions other than calling and messaging, coming with a calculator, lots of games and a reminder function. Plus, its bigger screen meant longer text messages.
The iPhone 4S:
Not the first iPhone, but the top one on our list (we discounted the iPhone 5 since it’s still a current model, therefore we can’t know exact sales figures). Siri, the digital assistant was the main draw on the 2011 4S, which sold 37 million devices.
The iPhone 3GS:
Another iPhone, this time the 3 GS, released in 2009 and selling 35 million units.
The Nokia 2100:
The Nokia 2100 was launched in 2003, and sold over 20 million devices. It’s not that it had any great new features (it really didn’t), but more that people were so used to Nokia being the best that they bought Nokia by default.
The LG Chocolate:
The Chocolate is a slightly surprising entry on this list, but it’s mostly here due to Asian markets, where the phone was advertised by a popular Korean actress that boosted sales tremendously. It was launched in 2006 and sold around 15 million handsets.
The Blackberry Pearl 8100:
The first of the big Blackberry phones, the Pearl 8100 featured a full physical keyboard. It also sold around 15 million handsets.
The Nokia 5800 Xpress Music:
Launched in 2008 and considered one of the best music phones ever made, the Nokia 5800 sold over 13 million units.
