dumbphone

plural dumbphones · alternative dumb phone

1. informalA cell phone that does not have any functionality characteristic of a smartphone.

   The Boring Phone is part of a new dumbphone boom, built on the suspicion of gen Z towards the data- and attention-harvesting technologies they have grown up with.

   2024 April 27, James Tapper, Aneesa Ahmed, “The ‘boring phone’: stressed-out gen Z ditch smartphones for dumbphones”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC

   1 more example

   But kids don’t really need an internet-enabled phone at the start of high school, [Jean] Twenge argues, because they can get a “dumbphone” (a term Twenge dislikes).

   2025 September 6, Catherine Pearson, “She Started the Debate About Kids and Phones. Now She Wants to End It.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

   Synonyms: basic phone