In this blog post, we will look at the background behind smartphones becoming essential tools for modern life through the technological evolution and components of smartphones, app expandability, and market changes.
With the functions that were previously distributed across mobile phones, computers, MP3 players, and game consoles now combined into a single smartphone, we can do so many things with a device that fits in the palm of our hands. Smartphones have become a part of our lives, providing various functions to many people regardless of time and place. According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the number of smartphone users in Korea will reach approximately 49 million in 2023. This means that more than 94% of the total population of 52 million in South Korea will be using smartphones. In addition, according to another survey by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the average daily smartphone usage time in 2023 will be about 5.2 hours, which means that people will spend nearly one-third of their waking hours using smartphones. Given that the majority of people spend a lot of time on their smartphones, learning about smartphones is not only an investment in oneself, but also a desirable attitude as a member of society.
The rapid spread of smartphones has brought about significant changes in various aspects of our lives. Smartphones have gone beyond being mere communication tools and now play an essential role in various areas such as education, work, leisure, and finance. For example, many people use smartphones to attend online lectures, conduct business meetings, and make payments using electronic wallets, and the use of smartphones is increasing in almost all aspects of daily life. Reflecting these changes, related industries are also growing rapidly as smartphones become a necessity in our daily lives. This has led to the emergence and expansion of new business models based on smartphones and the development of infrastructure to support them.
Essentially, smartphones can be defined as mobile phones that incorporate smart technology, which is technology that allows applications to be expanded. Just as we use Internet Explorer and Hangul on PCs running the Windows operating system, we use applications tailored to each operating system on smartphones. Unlike other mobile phones, smartphones that incorporate smart technology are compatible with applications (hereinafter referred to as “apps”) running on the same operating system. Therefore, smartphone users can selectively install only the apps they need from the app market, where various apps are shared, thereby expanding the range of applications available. This has enabled smartphones to implement a wide variety of functions. In particular, smartphones released after the Apple iPhone have been equipped with various types of sensors, and since each sensor can be used to run apps, there is a wide spectrum of app usage and development directions.
The hardware configuration of smartphones is also noteworthy. Like computers, smartphones have various electronic circuit components, including CPUs, and their structure can be broadly divided into CPUs, displays, RAM, and ROM. First, the CPU used in smartphones is called an AP (Application Processor) because the programs that smartphones mainly run are applications (apps). Inside the AP is a system called SoC (System on Chip), which integrates all the functions of CPUs, north bridges, and south bridges currently used in general computers, such as GPUs and memory controllers, into a single chip (AP). Therefore, unlike computers, which integrate various types of semiconductors on the motherboard, smartphones can run the system with a single chip called an AP. As a result, there is no need to make the substrate large when designing smartphones, and they consume relatively little power. This is why smartphones can perform the same functions as computers while remaining much smaller than general computers.
The display of a smartphone plays an important role as an output device. When the graphics card issues commands to display images on the screen, the display receives those commands and displays them visually. In addition, RAM and ROM are memory devices. When the AP processes commands from various processors and produces data, the data is stored in RAM and ROM. Therefore, RAM and ROM are essential components for the AP to process commands, and they affect processing speed. RAM is characterized by faster processing speed with larger capacity. For example, DDR4 with large capacity has faster processing speed than DDR2 with small capacity, so DDR4 is used in smartphones that require high performance. To illustrate this, imagine four workers locked in a room and tasked with sorting balls of various sizes. If the room is large, they can sort the balls into large and small piles first, and then sort them further into smaller piles, so the larger the room, the easier it is to do the work. In the same way, the performance and efficiency of smartphones depend on the harmonious operation of these components.
From the mobile phones of the past to the smartphones of today, there have been various attempts to apply smart technologies, resulting in several transitional mobile phones. PDA phones, which added email and office functions to existing mobile phones, are representative transitional mobile phones, and when discussing the first smartphone, the PDA phone called “Simon” announced by IBM in 1992 is often mentioned. While PDA phones continued to be sold mainly for business and industrial use due to their high price and large size, Nokia’s Symbian-powered phones began to establish the concept of smartphones, as opposed to PDAs, in 1997. In 2007, when Nokia’s smartphones accounted for 40% of the global smartphone market share and were on the verge of monopolizing the smartphone market, Apple began to redefine the definition of smartphones. PDA phones before the Apple iPhone and Nokia smartphones emphasized only their functions as office devices, limiting their uses, but the Apple iPhone was equipped with various sensors and the first OS to support multi-touch gestures, enabling the creation and use of various apps. For example, Apple developed an app that detects the position of the user’s fingers on the side of the iPhone and creates icons for tasks that are easy to access with the left thumb when it recognizes that the user is holding the iPhone with their left hand. The iPhone 5S was the first smartphone to feature a fingerprint sensor, which was used for smartphone security apps. Based on these apps, Apple established a unique identity and, after a turbulent period from 2009 to 2013, formed a duopoly with Samsung’s Galaxy.
These developments in the smartphone market were accompanied not only by technological advances but also by social and cultural changes. With the spread of smartphones, various digital cultures were formed, creating a new paradigm not only in individual lifestyles but also throughout society as a whole. For example, the development of social networking services (SNS) is closely linked to the spread of smartphones and has revolutionized the way people communicate. In addition, the popularization of information consumption and production through smartphones has created a new media environment, which is also having a major impact on the existing media industry.
As of August 2015, Apple’s iOS accounted for 41.18% of the global smartphone OS market, while Samsung Galaxy’s Android accounted for 51.65%. Symbian phones, which once accounted for 40% of the market share, have been discontinued, and Nokia has been acquired by Microsoft. With Chinese and Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturers jumping into the low-cost smartphone market in earnest, experts predict that companies such as Huawei and Xiaomi will occupy an important position in the global smartphone market in the future. In addition, Google is currently conducting research called “Project Ara,” anticipating that “modular smartphones” that allow users to assemble their own devices with only the components they want will become popular in the future.
Since the advent of smartphones, the smartphone market has undergone changes due to various external factors. In particular, South Korea has formed a unique smartphone market unlike other countries. The Korean smartphone market, which was dominated by Windows Mobile, began to change in 2009 with the abolition of the WIPI mandatory installation requirement. Previously, due to the IMEI whitelist system, foreign smartphones had to be certified at a cost of 300,000 to 500,000 won in order to be used in Korea, so Korean users did not prefer foreign smartphones. In addition, at that time, there was a law in Korea that required all smartphones to be equipped with WIPI, which was the only platform available in Korea at the time. Since the WIPI platform was different from the platforms commonly used by foreign smartphones, it was difficult for manufacturers, who develop technology by referring to foreign countries, to release new models, and it was inconvenient for general users in Korea to use foreign smartphones. However, with the abolition of the WIPI mandatory installation law in 2009, it became easier to release smartphones, and smartphones, which had been released at a rate of about one per year until then, began to spread widely among general individual users with eight new models released in 2009 alone (according to SKT). The Korean smartphone market also gradually changed, with Nokia’s Symbian phone being released through KT in April 2009, the iPhone 3G also going on sale through KT in November 2009, and Motorola’s Android smartphone, the Motorola MotoRo, being released through SK Telecom in January 2010. Nevertheless, it is still said that South Korea has the smallest market share of foreign smartphones compared to other countries. Experts attribute this to the passive strategy of foreign smartphone manufacturers rather than the closed nature of Korea itself. For example, when foreign smartphone manufacturers sell their products in countries other than Korea, they modify their smartphones to suit the specific market of each country, but in Korea, they only bring in one or two global models and leave the promotion to mobile carriers in Korea. Experts say that this passive strategy of foreign manufacturers is the reason for their lack of success in Korea.
In summary, the key features of smartphones are that they allow users to selectively install various apps regardless of the type of smartphone and that they have a computer-like electronic circuit structure that enables high performance. In the past, smartphones were used as business devices, but they have now become popular thanks to Apple’s efforts to equip them with various sensors. Experts predict that in the future, smartphones will become even more popular as users will be able to select not only the software but also the components. South Korea has formed a unique smartphone market compared to other countries, due to various external factors such as legal changes such as the abolition of mandatory WIPI installation, the development of communication infrastructure, and rapid technology adoption. These factors have contributed to smartphones becoming more than just everyday tools, but also economically and technologically important devices.
Since the advent of smartphones, the smartphone market has grown steadily. As of 2022, global smartphone sales will reach approximately 1.21 billion units, with the introduction of 5G smartphones serving as a major growth driver for the smartphone market. Along with this, smartphone-related technologies and markets, such as apps, games, and wearable devices, are also expanding rapidly. Experts predict that smartphones will continue to be at the center of technological innovation in the future, and therefore, acquiring smartphone-related knowledge is essential for adapting to the present and future. With the continued growth of the smartphone market and the acceleration of technological development, smartphones will continue to play an important role as a core tool in our lives.
