ANTI-ANDROID
Flip phone turning into statement of protest amongst the #DeleteFacebook crowd,
NEW YORK— Exactly one year ago, Roman Cochet swapped his $500 iPhone 7 for a $30 LG flip phone. Overwhelmed by constant alerts, Cochet felt his time was disrupted, his creativity drained.
His flip doesn’t do email, Instagram, Facebook, Uber or news alerts. The 30-year-old Parisian painter, who lives in Brooklyn, said he regrets nothing.
“I’m way more focused now on what I’m doing. I’m less distracted,” Cochet said.
In an age where everyone seems glued to their smartphone, the flip phone is turning into a statement of protest and individuality. These relics of the 1990s, still in wide use as disposable “burners” by crooks and FBI informants, are prized by a wider population for their simplicity, durability and affordability, not to mention their low-tech appealto the burgeon- ing #DeleteFacebook crowd.
Wait Until 8th, an organization that urges parents to delay their children’s smartphone use until eighth grade, has an ad that reads, “Need to get in touch with your child? Buy a flip phone.” The group collected about10,000 signatures from all 50 states in March.
About 24 million Americans own a non-smartphone, according to Forrester Research.
Steve Van Dinter, Verizon’s public relations manager for the Great Lakes market, said there’s definitely a “subset” of customers who buy flip phones, primarily those who work outdoors and need a device that can withstand drops, corrosive materials, water and other extreme conditions.
Verizon wouldn’t continue to stock them, he said, if there wasn’t “consistent demand.”
If ditching your smartphone completely feels too extreme, there’s an in-between option: Light Phone, the self-described “anti-smartphone phone.”
The first Light Phone went on sale in 2015. The latest version is in testing now and slated for release next year. It’s just as pleasing to look at as the iPhone, but reduces your apps to a handful, such as calls, messaging, GPS, contacts and ridehailing. It won’t have social media, a browser or email.
More than 4,000 people have preordered the Light Phone 2, according to company CEO Kaiwei Tang. He expects that figure to increase to more than 10,000, which is the number of people who bought the original Light Phone.