The Losers of the Smartphone Boom

When the original iPhone hit the stores in the United States exactly ten years ago, nobody could have predicted the impact it would have in the years to come. Its (at the time) unique touchscreen soon became the standard for mobile phones and over the years, as smartphones got better and better, the iPhone and its many relatives became the center of our digital lives.

Many companies profited immensely from the smartphone boom that followed the iPhone’s release in 2007, but there were some losers as well. As smartphones became smarter and more powerful, people started using them for more and more tasks and other, previously popular devices became obsolete.

Our chart, based on data from the Consumer Technology Association, shows how sales of digital cameras, MP3 players, portable navigation systems and camcorders all plummeted in the past decade. Considering that today’s smartphones do everything these devices used to be doing, it’s no surprise that consumer interest in them has faded.