10 Surprising Facts About the US Cellular Phone

The first handheld cell call in America weighed over two pounds, and the first commercial phone cost nearly $4,000. Today there are more wireless connections in the US than people. Here are 10 sourced, easy-to-scan facts about the US cellular phone, from the 1973 prototype to 5G.

1. The first handheld cell call was made on a New York street in 1973

   On April 3, 1973, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper stood on a Manhattan sidewalk and placed the first public call from a handheld cellular phone. He called Joel Engel, a rival researcher at Bell Labs, which was racing Motorola to build cellular technology. The prototype weighed about 2.5 pounds (1.1 kg).

2. The first US commercial cell network launched in Chicago in 1983

   Ameritech Mobile Communications switched on the first commercial cellular system in the United States in Chicago on October 13, 1983. Service spread to other major cities over the following years, and the era of "mobile phones" as a consumer product began.

3. The first consumer cell phone cost $3,995

   The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, the first commercially approved handheld cell phone in the US, retailed for $3,995 when it went on sale in 1984. That is well over $11,000 in today's money. It offered roughly 30 minutes of talk time after about 10 hours of charging, and it weighed nearly 2 pounds. Nicknamed "the brick," it was a status symbol rather than a mass-market device.

4. In 1985, only about 340,000 Americans had a cell phone

   Industry data from CTIA shows the US had roughly 340,000 cellular subscribers by the end of 1985. By the mid-1990s, that figure had grown to tens of millions, and cell phones shifted from luxury item to everyday tool.

5. The iPhone arrived in the US on June 29, 2007

   Apple's original iPhone launched on June 29, 2007, exclusively on AT&T, at $499 for the 4 GB model and $599 for the 8 GB model. It had no App Store at launch (that came in 2008), yet it reshaped the US phone market and set the template for the modern touchscreen smartphone.

6. About 9 in 10 US adults own a smartphone

   Pew Research Center surveys find that roughly 98% of American adults own a cell phone of some kind, and about 91% own a smartphone. In 2011, Pew found only about 35% of adults owned a smartphone, so adoption has more than doubled in little over a decade.

7. Most American homes no longer have a landline

   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tracked phone use for years through its National Health Interview Survey. Recent results show that roughly 7 in 10 US households are wireless-only, meaning they rely entirely on cell phones and have no landline.

8. Around 80% of 911 calls come from cell phones

   According to the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), roughly four out of five 911 calls in the US are placed from wireless devices. That is why the FCC's Enhanced 911 (E911) rules require carriers to provide location information for wireless 911 calls, so dispatchers can find callers who cannot say where they are.

9. The airwaves cost carriers tens of billions of dollars

   Cell service runs on radio spectrum licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC's C-band auction, which concluded in early 2021 to support 5G, raised more than $80 billion in bids, making it the largest spectrum auction in US history.

10. 5G arrived in 2019, and the 3G networks were shut down in 2022

    Verizon launched the first US mobile 5G service in April 2019 in Chicago and Minneapolis. Meanwhile, the nation's older 3G networks were retired in 2022: AT&T in February, T-Mobile in July, and Verizon at the end of the year. The shutdowns freed up spectrum for 5G but left some older phones and devices unable to connect.