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On September 19 2025, Apple released the iPhone 17. It’s the 19th generation of iPhone in 18 years and, while it boasts some flashy new features – a bigger screen, a new chip, a better camera – it doesn’t represent a huge leap forward. Since the first mobile phone hit the market in the 1980s, though, the evolution of phone technology has been like something out of science fiction.
These days, mobile phones – also known as cell phones – are so much more than their primitive, voice-calling ancestors. We use our phones for everything from finding street directions to ordering a pizza and watching videos on the bus.
Phones are advanced, indispensable, all-in-one tech hubs – but just how big is the impact of mobile phones on our daily lives? To help us answer these questions and more, we’ve phoned a friend – Deakin University’s lecturer in communication, Ross Monaghan.
‘Mobile phones have evolved from large analogue devices that handled only voice calls to compact digital devices capable of performing a wide range of online tasks,’ says Monaghan. ‘They’ve decreased in size and cost, while their functionality has dramatically increased.’
To see just how much mobile phones have changed over the time since those early analogue days, take a look at Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street. The film – which stars Michael Douglas as wealthy New York financier Gordon Gekko – features a famous early mobile phone scene. Gekko, standing on the beach and a long way from the office, uses a bulky mobile phone to call Bud Fox, played by Charlie Sheen. The phone – the Motorola DynaTac 8000X – weighed over 1kg, had a battery life of 30 minutes and cost $4000USD. And all it could do was make calls!
By the early 2000s, phone technology was ready for some serious change. First came the Blackberry – the first smartphone, by some definitions – and, in 2007, the all-conquering iPhone.
With its first iPhone, Apple succeeded in creating a phone built for mobile internet usage. Mobile internet seems almost mundane by today’s standards, but Apple’s iPhone changed the mobile phone industry. It’s a change that’s still felt today.
‘iPhones have had a profound impact on mobile technology,’ says Monaghan. ‘Whilst today’s models are more capable and faster than the original designs, the core design and usability have remained largely the same.’
Monaghan’s point is an interesting one – that despite constant upgrades and evolution, the iPhone hasn’t changed radically over time. Instead, each iteration feels more about refinement than reinvention, adding upgraded features like biometric authentication and multiple camera lenses, and focusing on wireless peripherals.
Unless you grew up before the all-conquering smartphone, you might not even realise how much change the evolution of cell phone technology has had on our day-to-day lives.
‘Today, mobile phones are affordable, widely accessible, and used for entertainment, personal communication, as well as business purposes,’ says Monaghan. ‘Having handheld, internet-enabled devices has had a profound impact on society. From the way we navigate through cities to how we entertain ourselves and engage with others, mobile phones are now an essential part of modern life.’
Consider all the ways you might have already used your phone today. You could have woken up to an alarm on your phone, then scrolled social media or read your emails. Maybe you checked the weather, ordered breakfast delivery, took a photo of your dog or played a mobile app game. Phones are ingrained into our routines now. As Monaghan says, they are an essential part of modern life.
But, for all the benefits of phones, there are some potential issues to consider, too. As phone technology has improved and capabilities have expanded, we’ve started using phones more than ever – with some research showing we check our phones as much as every five minutes.
Some research suggests that heavy phone use can impact our ability to learn, as well as being distracting and a source of social pressure.
Mobile phones are inherently social devices – they were invented to communicate with others. But, with the evolution of phone technology, have cell phones actually changed us socially? According to Monaghan, the answer isn’t quite clear.
‘Experts disagree on how society has changed,’ he says. ‘Some argue that we’re less social because many of our interactions now take place online, while others believe we’re better connected with friends and family around the world, not just those who live nearby.’
Those online interactions largely come through social media and messaging services. Some research suggests that digital social media platforms have replaced traditional socialising, like with friends, family and workmates. In this definition, social media is still social – it’s just that smartphones and other digital devices have changed the way we socialise.
Despite this, some experts argue that phones (and similar digital devices) have created a phenomenon of being ‘alone together’. That is, families and other groups spending time in close proximity, but not really socialising with each other – a change in social interaction from the pre-smartphone era. Again, it’s a potentially significant change in how we interact socially, largely thanks to the evolution of phone technology.
When the iPhone was released, it represented a giant step forward for mobile phones. ‘Whilst the introduction of the iPhone was initially viewed with scepticism by some, it was clear from the day it launched that it would have a profound impact on mobile phone handsets,’ Monaghan says. ‘Seamlessly combining a phone and touchscreen computer with excellent usability made the internet accessible to almost everyone, wherever they went.’
So, will there be another iPhone-level evolution of phone technology? Or just smaller, iterative changes like the differences between the iPhone 16 and 17? Some experts are predicting technology like holographic displays to become part of phones, or augmented reality glasses and ‘spatial computing’ to take the focus away from our phones. Whatever happens, it’s going to be exciting watching the way phone technology continues to evolve.
Lecturer in Communication
Deakin University
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