The dumb phone trend and why Christopher Nolan & Ed Sheeran are on it

From Afaqs

Around the time when phones were losing more and more keys, India was entering the smartphone era. Equipped with screens that respond to touch, better cameras, email, social media, and the internet of things, smartphones can essentially be described as pocket-sized computers that also make phone calls. Back then, trading in a basic phone with a keypad—whose best features were a radio and the game Snake—for a smartphone was seen as a status symbol and a luxury everyone aspired to own. Cut to 2026, and the world has come full circle, with only the crème de la crème able to afford the choice of basic ‘dumb phones’ over smartphones. A dumb phone is the antithesis of a smartphone. It includes a basic camera, an alarm clock, a flashlight and the ability to make calls and send texts, intentionally lacking touchscreens, advanced cameras and access to the internet. While dumb phones were already making a comeback with those who could afford to stay offline and out of touch with their school friends and jobs, the devices of yesteryear have lately been in the news courtesy of The Odyssey director Christopher Nolan. View this post on Instagram In an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show , Nolan confirmed that he does not have a smartphone or an email address, citing his fear of becoming “horribly addicted” to a smartphone if he were to get one. “I would lose those pockets of time that I really value where you are just thinking. Just sort of looking out of the window and thinking what your next film might be,” Nolan told Fallon. His solution? “I have a flip phone, a dumb phone I use when I travel and stuff.” Hardly surprising for a man who is famously obsessed with making his movies only on analogue IMAX cameras. Another proponent of a dumb phone is singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran. Way before Nolan, Sheeran announced he was ditching his smartphone because constant notifications left him overwhelmed. He famously noted that having a dumb phone improved his mental health and forced him to be bored, which sparked his songwriting creativity. Fellow singer and songwriter Camila Cabello has also declared herself “team dumb phone,” in her own words. Cabello posted photos of her retro flip phone on social media, captioning it: "I'm team flip phone revolution." She reportedly swapped to a dumb phone to cut down on doomscrolling and regain her focus. Actors Christopher Walken and Michael Cera, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, historian and author of Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari, and Stephen Schwarzman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone (one of the world's largest private equity firms), are among the famous people worldwide who claim to use dumb phones. On the other hand, actor Tom Cruise reportedly owns no phone at all, frequently making headlines for his out-of-the-ordinary ways of life. Another actor erroneously associated with the dumb phone trend is Keanu Reeves. While the Matrix actor owns a standard iPhone, ironically, his character Neo in The Matrix (1999) famously used a modified Nokia 8110. It became one of the most famous dumb phones in cinema history, and Nokia even reissued a 4G version of it years later, marketing it as the "Matrix Phone". Nokia 8110: The Matrix Phone In India’s collective consciousness and the global mobile phone market, Nokia remains the biggest player in the dumb phone boom. HMD (which holds the licence to manufacture Nokia-branded phones) continues to release updated versions of classic models. They not only revamped the iconic Nokia 3310, 2780 Flip, and 8210 but also doubled down on Gen Z appeal by partnering with Mattel to release a hot-pink HMD Barbie Phone and creating the limited-edition Boring Phone in collaboration with Heineken. Other brands hopping on the dumb phone trend include: Light : The American tech firm behind the Light Phone II and Light Phone III . They employ black-and-white E-ink screens mindfully designed without internet browsers, social media, or app stores. Punkt : A Swiss electronics brand that hired industrial designers to make high-end, elegant calls-and-SMS-only phones like the Punkt MP02 , focused on minimalist design and privacy. Mudita : A Polish company founded specifically around digital wellness that produces phones like the Mudita Pure and Mudita Kompakt featuring low-EMF radiation, E-ink screens, and customised offline operating systems. Minimal Company : An American startup that developed the Minimal Phone , combining a physical QWERTY keyboard (similar to an old BlackBerry) with a distraction-free E-ink display. Dumb phones and digital detox may be the global buzzwords on the internet right now, but the reality in India may take a while to do a 360-degree flip (pun intended). Actors Aamir Khan and Fahadh Faasil are perhaps the only celebrity names on the list of dumb phone users in India so far. While industry research and telecom reports confirm that India remains one of the world's largest dumb phone markets, with well over 200 million active users, the number comprises a demographic that could never afford to switch to a smartphone, rather than a demographic that intends to switch back. For this segment of rural India, Reliance Jio launched 4G keypad phones equipped with UPI payments, keeping the dumb phone ecosystem relevant even in the 4G/5G era. According to 2025 Lancaster University research, the digital detox market around the world, encompassing dumb phones, app blockers, and offline retreats, is an estimated $2.7 billion market that is expected to double in the next decade.