HMD will release a Barbie flip phone this summer
Human Mobile Devices says that there is a market for feature phones as 38% of those 16-24 years of age worry about spending too much time online. Maybe I’m just an old phone nerd, but if you want to take my smartphone away from me, you’ll have to pry it out of my cold dead hands. Is anyone out there with me on this?
No, this is not a render of HMD’s Barbie flip phone
A guy in Denmark named Arne Mathiasen is said to be the advocate of the feature phone movement and tries to get young people in Denmark to switch to a feature phone from a smartphone. He has converted 1,500 university students so far and says, “My students take part in experiments where they switch to a feature phone for ten days. The students noticeably chatted more with each other, reported better sleep and also said their anxiety levels dropped. It’s all about the balance; I like to say to my students, use your smartphone like a tablet, use it for what you need, then put it away, don’t get lost in it.”
Flip phone sales doubled in Europe last year according to HMD with further gains expected this year. Talking about the Barbie flip phone, Human Mobile Devices says, “This device promises to embody the vintage chic of the original girl empowerment brand with a dash of pink and of course, sparkle.” If a Ken model is made, we wonder if it will have a camera bump.
