A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It makes calls, sends texts, browses the web, takes photos, plays music, navigates, and runs millions of apps. It is a phone, a camera, a GPS, a wallet, a library, and a computer in your pocket. The first iPhone launched in 2007. The world changed.

Smartphones pack incredible technology into a slab of glass and metal. A processor, memory, storage, battery, touchscreen, cameras, speakers, microphones, and dozens of sensors. They connect via cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, and GPS. They are the most personal computers ever made.

Major platforms

• Android: Google, open source, many manufacturers
• iOS: Apple, closed ecosystem, iPhone only
• HarmonyOS: Huawei, growing in China

Smartphones changed how people live. They connect billions. They also distract, track, and addict. The average person checks their phone dozens of times a day. The device is powerful. The habits it creates are still being understood.