37705


For example:

  * Gintama:

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vUoupm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vUoupm.jpg)

  * Oregairu: I can't think of any examples I can back up right now, but for Oregairu you just need to watch any episode and you'll see Yui's flip phone.

  * Haganai

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JqvZmm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JqvZmm.jpg)

  * Black Rock Shooter

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uk3HSm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Uk3HSm.jpg)

Is it because the authors are just from an older generation than the fanbase?
No way, right? They have to have smartphones.

[This](https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1348101) says it's because
smartphones aren't popular in Japan. I don't think that's
[true](https://www.google.ca/search?tbm=isch&q=japan+smartphone&tbs=imgo:1&gws_rd=cr&ei=UhVGWJfUF4nMjwOJuKPwAQ)
(bad evidence alert).

Several Reddit posts also agree that flip phones are more popular. Why are
flip phones still so popular, (if you can endeavor to answer) in both society
and anime/manga?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-06T01:34:49.400
37702
2016-12-06T05:36:27.590
2016-12-06T05:36:27.590
2604
25814
question
tropes
Why aren't most of the phones in anime smartphones?


Of the shows you cite, _Haganai_ was animated in 2011; _Black Rock Shooter_
was animated in 2012; and _Oregairu_ was animated in 2013. The source material
for each is even older (albeit kind of irrelevant for _Black Rock Shooter_ ).
I omit _Gintama_ because it's long-running and I don't know when your
screencap is from.

Smartphone adoption in Japan is _hugely_ up between 2013 and now, and even
more so between 2011 and now. According to [the
CIAJ](http://www.ciaj.or.jp/en/) (as cited in a whitepaper titled ["Japan’s
Smartphone Surge and Its Impact on the Mobile
Marketplace"](http://www.lek.com/sites/default/files/1837_Japans-Smartphone-
and-impacts-on-the-mobile-marketplace.pdf)), smartphone penetration in the
Japanese market was a mere 9% in 2011, rising to 39% in 2013, and skyrocketing
to 84% in 2016.

[![Figure 1 "Smartphone penetration in Japan,
2011-2016"](https://i.stack.imgur.com/X5ppol.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/X5ppol.png)

Is it any wonder, then, that anime set in "the present" that aren't from the
past year or two would tend to have more non-smartphones ("feature phones", as
they're called) than smartphones?

(I specify "the present" because we should exclude from discussion any shows
set in the future. They tend to have fanciful notions of how
telecommunications would work that don't tend to involve feature phones _or_
what we would consider "smartphones".)

* * *

> Is it because the authors are just from an older generation than the
> fanbase? No way, right? They have to have smartphones.

This effect may exist - according to the Pew report ["Smartphone Ownership and
Internet Usage Continues to Climb in Emerging
Economies"](http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/02/22/smartphone-ownership-and-
internet-usage-continues-to-climb-in-emerging-economies/), in 2015, Japanese
people age 18-34 were about 2.5 times as likely to own a smartphone as
Japanese people age 35+.

I doubt it is a substantial effect, though. Any animated production involves
multiple people with creative input (not just the author of the source
material), and I would imagine that at least some of them would know what kind
of technology youngsters use.

> I don't think that's
> [true](https://www.google.ca/search?tbm=isch&q=japan+smartphone&tbs=imgo:1&gws_rd=cr&ei=UhVGWJfUF4nMjwOJuKPwAQ)
> (bad evidence alert).

[Best Korea is
proud](https://www.google.com/search?q=north%20korea%20smartphones&tbm=isch)
of the way you confirm your priors.

> Why are flip phones still so popular, (if you can endeavor to answer) in
> both society and anime/manga?

[The article](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2014-10-24/.80264)
[@Maroon linked](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/37702/why-are-
arent-most-of-the-phones-in-anime-smartphones#comment51289_37702) in the
comments is a good overview of why smartphones were not common in Japan (prior
to 2014 or so).

And why were smartphones not common in anime/manga? Because smartphones were
not common in Japan. Simple as that.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-06T03:09:28.643
37705
2016-12-06T03:09:28.643
2017-04-13T12:54:48.953
-1
1908
37702
answer