IBM created the world's first smartphone 25 years ago

Mar 13, 2018

A man using a smartphone walks past an electronic shop's wall decorated with old cell phones which its owner Watanabe Masanao had collected over 20 years is pictured in Tokyo, Japan July 5, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

It was nearly 25 years ago when IBM released a bulky touchscreen smartphone called Simon. Now demand appears to be slowing down. Image: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Rob Smith

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The first credited smartphone Image: Bcos47/Wikimedia.org

Smartphone ownership is predicted to rise to almost 3 billion by 2020. Image: Statista

Smartphone sales declined in China last year Image: REUTERS/Charles Platiau

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