dumbphone

noun

dumb·​phone ˈdəm-ˌfōn 

plural dumbphones

: a cell phone that does not include advanced software features (such as email or an internet browser) typically found on smartphones

… we've leapt from 8-Bit to 16-Bit, from Genesis to PlayStation, from offline to online and from dumbphone to smartphone.

—Dean Takahashi

"It appears fashion, nostalgia, and them appearing in TikTok videos, have a part to play in the dumbphone revival," says Ernest Doku, mobiles expert at price comparison site Uswitch.com. "Many of us had a dumbphone as our first mobile phone, so it's natural that we feel a sense of nostalgia towards these classic handsets."

—Tyler Durden

Word History

Etymology

dumb entry 1 + phone entry 1, after smartphone

First Known Use

1997, in the meaning defined above