When did the Smartphone Age began exactly? (general, biggest, countries)

[SoCal25]

There's never the clear demarcation people seek, but definitely before 2008. Internet capabilities began in the late 90s. Cameras showed up in 1999. The Ericcson R380 was the first phone advertised as a smartphone in 2000. MP3 playback on phones came in 2001. By 2002 or so Blackberries were everywhere in the business world and yes people were obsessed with them in meetings, while driving etc. and we had all the distracted behaviors we enjoy today.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by MalaMan

I know for sure that in 2008 we weren't in the Smartphone Age yet, so when did it began?

My Windows phone from 2006:

[Clark Fork Fantast]

To me it was when I felt forced to abandon my beloved Blackberry for my first Android. Boy, did I hate that virtual keyboard! And now it's second nature. I still own all my old cellphones except one which I stupidly turned in for a rebate. I did a photo display a few years ago of a classic phone from the 1950s, same model we used to have when I grew up, to a 1970s phone, to a series of cellphones from the past 30 years. Flip-phone, Blackberry, Android. It made me feel really old .

[Therblig]

The OP question might be best viewed as not when glass-screen-display phones or phones that had simple apps became available, but when it became normal/expected for pretty much every working adult to have one.

I'd put that around 2010-11.

And now, of course, Fisher-Price makes them for newborns.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by Milky Way Resident

I reckon the arrival of the original iPhone in 2007 paved the way for how smartphones are perceived these days.

I agree with this. The introduction of the iPhone and the subsequent death of the iPod was when smartphones started to spread like wildfire.

[DTWflyer]

Really around 2010-2011 is when it started to really become mainstream and mass adoption started.

[greenvillebuckeye]

Originally Posted by Therblig

The OP question might be best viewed as not when glass-screen-display phones or phones that had simple apps became available, but when it became normal/expected for pretty much every working adult to have one.

I'd put that around 2010-11.

And now, of course, Fisher-Price makes them for newborns.

Agreed.

[ABQConvict]

I got my first smartphone in 2014. I was not exactly an early adopter myself, but there were still a lot of people without them at the time. The phone section at Best Buy was still at least 50% flip phones, if I recall. Now you can get a (cheap and bad) smart phone for under $50.

I remember it was not even until my second smart phone, maybe in 2016, that I started really using the web functionality because I finally had 3G.

These things have really taken over and we are not even a single decade into their ubiquity.

[grega94]

I would say 2013 is when it started as that was the year that smartphone sales made up more than 50% of mobile phone purchases worldwide

[Taffee72]

I can remember around 2010/2011, a number of friends suddenly got iPhones. I still had a flip phone and then received an iPad as a birthday gift in 2012, which I returned and got an iPhone instead.