Vintage 'New' Phone Ads That Are So Out of Date
You probably cannot think of your current life without a smartphone, but there was a time when phone meant landline and nothing else. During that time, every new phone would try to revolutionize the market with groundbreaking technology and futuristic designs that caught everyone's eyes. However, looking back, they now look pretty ridiculous in most cases.
Cordless phones allowed people to take calls from anywhere, like the couch, their room, or even the bathroom. Lots of people thought that was going to be it, but phone companies continued innovating by putting phones in cars, which made sense at the time. Then, mobile phones appeared, and they evolved into tinier and tinier cellphones until becoming smart around the 2010s. And in every step of the way, there were cool-looking ads selling you the future of communications.
So, here are vintage ‘new’ phone ads that are so out of date you'd probably think they're fake if you weren't there.
Panasonic KX-T3000 cordless phone ad in 1988
Before cell phones were a concept, cordless phones were taking over the world as a groundbreaking invention.
Car or Carry
The first ever mobile phones were made for cars, because texting and driving wasn't a problem yet. Then, you could carry them outside of your car. Can you believe it?
Maxwell Portable Cellular Phone
Having the latest technology in your hands was always expensive.
1988 Lightweight Handheld Cellular Phone
You could even use it on your boat!
1957's Ericofon
We don't want to ask about this one.
Garfield Phone
You have to admit that Garfield's eyes closing when you hung up was pretty cool.
Radio Shack ad
Cordless Phone AND Clock Radio? It was just too good to be true.
Cordless Extension Phone
They were right, telephones were never the same after this.
Motorola 1985 ad
You would see this phone on TV all the time, so the ad didn't need to be over the top.
Nokia 9000
You could feel like a spy with this phone if you could fit it in your pocket.
Motorola MicroTAC in 1995
The perfect Valentine's Day gift.
Nokia 8200 series
There was a trend with the 90s and 2000s cellphones that would feature people dressing in the same colors as their phones, but that didn't happen in real life.
Strap-On Telephone
AT&T was so ahead of the game that they predicted smartwatches.
Nokia 7250
Phones with cameras? What's next? Phones with internet access?
Jennifer Love-Hewitt ad
Celebrities would star in ads that didn't age very well.
CNN on your phone
This was groundbreaking then. Now, you wish you could stop watching the news on your phone.
Nokia and Transformers crossover ad
You could transform this Nokia from a phone to a messaging keyboard, and we were all here for it.
Nokia Tracfone
A simpler life where a phone was just a phone.
Motodelic
Cellphones in the 2000s tried to look futuristic with colors you could find inside an alien spaceship.
Western Electric
And BTW, this is what future phones were supposed to look like, according to this 1959 ad.