[GOBOOST Blog] Changing Times from the History of Cell Phones

On June 6, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued 5G commercial licenses to China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Radio and Television, marking the official crossing of China's mobile network into the 5G era. Mobile networks, although only seemingly a short five-generation turnover, but from the birth of the first 1G cell phone, so far there has been 46 years of history. This is a time of change, just from the change in the history of cell phones you can appreciate the rapid development of the times.

The 1G Era

It belonged to Motorola's world. The first cell phone in China appeared in 1987, and the model was the now-defunct Motorola 3200, or what we call the Big Brother. The reason why it has such a domineering name is because of its high price, the price of a cell phone is as high as tens of thousands of dollars, and at that time, the monthly salary of the working class is only a few dozens to a few hundred dollars, so it can be said that at that time, only the rich can afford to consume.

2G-GSM cell phone era

Compared to the 1G era, 2G used digital transmission instead of analog, and the number of cell phone users grew rapidly during this period. Motorola refused to give up the existing analog network and did not keep up with the development of the times, so the arrival of the 2G era put an end to the situation of Motorola's dominance, and brands such as Ericsson and Nokia became the backbone of this era. Although China still did not have its own cell phone brand in this era, China's cell phone manufacturing industry was also budding.

3G-Smartphone Era

Entering the 21st century, the cell phone industry seems to have entered a brand new era. 2009 January 7, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued a 3G license, China officially entered the 3G era. Apple launched the first touch-screen iPhone in 2008, which shocked the whole cell phone market and pushed forward the development of cell phone. It has a cross-generation significance, and undoubtedly opened up a new direction of global smartphones. With the release of iPhone4, smartphones began to develop rapidly.

4G - The Rise of Domestic Mobile Phone Brands

When Apple was still the dominant player in the cell phone industry, China's cell phone market also saw the emergence of its own brand. From appearance design to technological innovation, cell phones in the 4G era ushered in a real blossoming of flowers.

5G - Internet of Everything Era

Compared with 3G and 4G, the most significant feature of 5G is faster network speed. Compared with the 3G and 4G era, Apple's cell phone is the only one, in 5G, China has walked in the forefront of the world, and more core technology mastery also allows us to have more sufficient confidence in the opening of a new era.
 
Cell phones in the past few decades of change is incredible, and similarly, our world is also so rapidly developing, so in the future, our cell phones will go through what changes, into what kind of appearance? Let's wait and see!