Did You Know? Nokia 1100 Is the Bestselling Mobile Phone of All Time

The Nokia 1100, a basic feature mobile phone made by Nokia, is the world’s best-selling handset of all time.

Best-seller

One would think a more sophisticated device would take the spot of best seller, but the Nokia 1100, which was mostly useful for making calls, sending SMS and playing Snake Xenzia, occupies the position with over 250 million units sold since its launch in late 2003. This outrageous number also makes it the best-selling consumer electronics device in the world. The Nokia 1100 case was designed at Nokia Design Center in California and patented for the US by Bulgarian-American designer, Dimitre Mehandjiysky. The software was adapted and ported to the DCT4 platform at Nokia Copenhagen, Denmark by members of the S30 group. The 1100 had only 2G network and used a mini-SIM. It weighed in at about 80g and had a monochrome display (black and white). Display resolution was 96 x 96 pixels, phonebook could only take 200 entries, call log could only store 10 numbers in call log probably because of the small internal memory which was just 4MB. It had a 900mAh removeable battery on board. Some other fancy features include a built-in flashlight, the famous Nokia monophonic ringtones, and the very popular Snake Xenzia game. The 1100 achieved its popularity despite being made during a time when more modern mobile phones with more features (e.g. colour screen, internal camera) were available in the market. It was targeted towards developing countries and users who do not require advanced features beyond making calls and SMS text messages, alarm clock, reminders. The model was discontinued in 2009.

Fun fact:

Nokia’s one billionth phone sold was a Nokia 1100 purchased in Nigeria in 2005.

Nokia seems to dominate the list of highest selling devices. The Nokia 1100 and Nokia 3310 take the first two spots with 250 million units sold from both devices respectively. Apple swoops into the countdown to claim its crown at third place with the iPhone 6/6s which sold 220 million units worldwide.