A smartphone is a serious funding. Higher-end Apple and Samsung fashions price as a lot as an honest laptop computer and even a lot much less premium choices will be dear. But this pocket-sized powerhouse is exceptional worth for cash when you think about all of the issues it could do.
Over the previous twenty years, the smartphone has absorbed the capabilities of numerous devices. From compact digital cameras and MP3 gamers to sat navs, alarm clocks and desktop scanners, one system now does the job of many.
Read on for a reminder of 11 as soon as must-have gizmos the smartphone has forged apart.
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Once a staple in just about each residence, landlines have been in steep decline because the smartphone got here on the scene. In the US, solely about 28% of households nonetheless have one. Usage has additionally dropped dramatically in different nations together with Canada and the UK. And in 2025, simply 12% of Australians used a landline cellphone.
With smartphones now common and telecom networks phasing out previous copper programs in favour of internet-based calling, the standard landline has develop into largely redundant. A small Gen Z and Alpha-driven ‘dumb tech’ revival is offering one thing of a reprieve, however for many households the house cellphone is historical past.
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Topping many a birthday and Christmas want listing, compact digital cameras have been in every single place within the pre-iPhone days. But as smartphone cameras turned significantly extra succesful, their attraction swiftly light. With the newest units filled with superior options, most individuals merely now not want a separate point-and-shoot for day-to-day images.
Global digicam shipments have fallen sharply from their early 2010s peak, down over 90% from the beginning of that decade. These days, the market is basically restricted to fanatics and professionals, a far cry from the state of affairs 15 years in the past.
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Likewise, standalone camcorders have been pushed apart by the rise of the smartphone. In the noughties, folks routinely splashed out on dear fashions from manufacturers like Sony and Panasonic to seize holidays, birthdays and faculty performs.
But as smartphone cameras advanced from grainy clips to crisp HD and now 4K video with stabilisation and cinematic modes, the necessity for a separate video digicam evaporated. Add on the spot modifying and one-tap sharing, and it is little surprise camcorders are actually principally confined to fanatics and professionals.
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An MP3 participant was the go-to gadget for music on the transfer earlier than the smartphone took over. The Spotify impact, which started within the early 2010s, rewrote the rule guide. Streaming meant you now not needed to obtain and retailer hundreds of tracks on a separate system. Bigger cellphone storage, higher batteries and improved audio tech solely accelerated the shift.
The transition was so full that Apple discontinued the iPod in 2022. Audiophiles, digital detox followers and gym-goers who do not need to lug round a cellphone to hearken to music are fuelling a modest revival. But, for most individuals, the smartphone has killed the MP3 star.
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Back within the late noughties, motorists did not suppose twice about dropping $800 (£600) on a standalone Garmin or Navigon sat nav. Even fundamental fashions have been removed from low-cost, although they beat wrestling with a paper map within the passenger seat.
The tide turned within the early 2010s as smartphones arrived with built-in GPS and ever smarter mapping apps. Free navigation with stay site visitors and fixed updates made devoted units appear redundant, whereas factory-fitted automotive navigation programs and later smartphone mirroring added additional stress. Today, standalone sat navs survive primarily in area of interest markets, with the lion’s share of drivers counting on their telephones or built-in GPS as a substitute.
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The arrival of the smartphone within the late noughties was a harsh wake-up name for alarm clock makers. Basic cell phones had already began changing standalone alarms, however smartphones completed the job by combining alarms, timers, sleep monitoring and infinite customized tones in a single system.
During the 2010s, the bedside staple quietly turned redundant for tens of millions of households. Dedicated alarm clocks nonetheless exist, however for most individuals the smartphone now handles the morning name.
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Once vital for maths college students and professionals, standalone calculators have principally been changed by smartphones. Basic mobiles may deal with easy sums, however trendy smartphones put highly effective scientific and even graphing instruments in each pocket. Apps like Desmos and Calculator Plus, which launched within the early 2010s, turned telephones into full-blown graphing calculators, eradicating the necessity for dear devoted units that might price properly over $100 (£74).
While calculators are nonetheless required in some situations, for on a regular basis maths the usual apply right this moment is to easily attain in your cellphone.
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Not so way back, pocket voice recorders have been important for many college students, journalists and enterprise executives. Back within the noughties, a no-frills system might be picked up for round $25 (£19), however the sound high quality was usually patchy at greatest. Anyone severe about recording lectures, interviews or voice notes sometimes needed to fork out $150 (£111) or extra for a dependable Olympus or Sony mannequin with first rate microphones and storage.
Then the smartphone hit document. Today’s voice memo apps seize crisp audio, clear up background noise and retailer recordings within the cloud, successfully muting the marketplace for devoted units.
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No, not public shows of affection. Before smartphones turned fixed companions, private digital assistants (PDAs) have been the final word pocket tech. From the early Nineteen Nineties till the late 2000s, units just like the PalmPilot and HP iPaq let customers handle calendars, contacts, notes and fundamental apps on touchscreens operated with a stylus.
They have been primarily early pocket computer systems, however most lacked built-in web and required syncing with a PC. When the iPhone debuted in 2007, combining a cellphone, organiser, music participant and internet browser in a single modern system, the standalone PDA was consigned to the tech graveyard.
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Flatbed scanners have been previously a fixture in research and residential workplaces, used to digitise letters, photographs and paperwork. In the noughties, costs ranged from round $50 (£35) for a fundamental flatbed mannequin to properly over $1,000 (£741) for high-end machines with quicker speeds and higher decision.
The decline started as scanning capabilities have been built-in into printers. But smartphones have all however completed them off. With an honest digicam and a free scanning app, you may scan, crop, straighten and convert paperwork into polished PDFs in seconds. Or you may simply snap a photograph and hit ship. For most individuals, that is greater than adequate, and much simpler than dusting off a clunky gadget that eats up desk area.
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Dinky handheld TVs have been a novelty within the pre-smartphone period, peaking in reputation within the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties. Gadgets just like the Sony Watchman and Casio TV-30S promised TV on the go, however they have been usually dear, with tiny screens and patchy aerial reception making for an underwhelming expertise.
Smartphones made them absolutely redundant. Rocking crisp shows and streaming apps that ship stay and on-demand TV anyplace, they obtain every little thing the analogue handhelds have been meant to, plus an entire lot extra moreover.
