How much was a cell phone in the 80s

Motorola DynaTAC ($3,995): After the first mobile cell phone demonstration, it took about a decade of further development before it was available to consumers. The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X hit the market in 1983 with a hefty price tag of $3,995.

It was priced at $3,995 in 1984, its commercial release year, equivalent to $9,952 in 2020.

As the Radio Shack ad above demonstrates, a car phone cost a mere $1,399 in 1987 dollars ($3,176 and change in 2020, adjusted for inflation), while a truly portable phone was offered by Radio Shack for $2,495 in 1987 dollars, which works out to an eye-watering $5,665 today.

Cost of a 1983 Motorola cell phone: $3,995

That was the price of a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, the first commercially available cell phone, when it was introduced in 1983. The 2 1/2-pound brick was the result of a decade of research that cost more than $100 million, and it became a symbol of power and wealth.

In 1988, the first cell phone came out. These were the first phones that did not use land lines. It reached nearly 3 inches wide, 10 inches long and 4 inches deep in size. In 1988, the first cell phone came out.

On Jan. 3, 1996, Motorola introduced the StarTAC, which was made of black plastic (this colorful version came a couple years later). It was the world’s first flip phone and it cost $1,000. The StarTAC changed everything.

1989: Motorola MicroTAC

On April 25 1989, Motorola released a very efficient, new cellphone. The Motorola MicroTAC, was the first “pocket phone” and also the first flip phone design. Compared to the Motorola DynaTAC 800x, it was “micro” measuring at about 9 inches and weighing around 12.3 ounces.

It sold for $3,995 and weighed 28 ounces, was 13 x 1.75 x 3.5 inches. It offered one hour of talk time and eight hours of standby time and featured a LED display, according to Motorola.

In today’s dollars, the $799 sale price in 1989 for Radio Shack’s “most powerful, transportable cellular phone system” (featured in the video above) would be more than $1,500, and the full price of $1,139 would be more than $2,000.

In 1987, Nokia launched their first mobile phone, the Mobira Cityman 900. The phone weighed only 800g (28 oz) including the battery, and was considered expensive and exclusive to those of a higher status.

The SMS concept was first developed in the Franco-German GSM cooperation in 1984 by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert. The first text message was sent years later on December 3rd, 1992 from Neil Papworth, a former developer at Sema Group Telecoms.

In the early 1980s, the first commercially available phone hit the market. For just $4,000, which is currently about $10,000 adjusted for inflation, users could get their hands on Motorola’s 1.7-pound monster, the DynaTAC 8000x. … And lo, the mobile revolution was born.

1985: Motorola Dynatac 8000X.