You’re sitting in class and suddenly your ringtone blares. With embarrassment, you reach to pull out your new Apple flip phone from the back pocket of your jeans. Is this a crazy time warp back to the 90s and early 2000s? Maybe not. 

Apple has recently put a patent on an electronic device that is foldable, similar to a flip phone, resulting in  technology from the past looking to make another comeback.

When iPhones gained popularity back in 2007, it seemed to be looked down upon to still own a flip phone. People who still had them were questioned “why?” and thus began the steady decline. Now, Apple has patented what seems to be a new form of the infamous flip phone. 

According to CNN Tech, the patent is for an, “electronic device [that] may have a flexible portion that allows [it] to be folded.”  This patent describes an obviously new and more advanced phone, but at the core can still be seen as a flip phone. We are catapulted back to years earlier, continuing the cycle of old to new. 

Over time, technology has proven to surge and die out, although numerous devices and ideas have resurfaced years later as a new trend. From polaroids to podcasts to vinyl records and now flip phones, each has returned with a contemporary flourish. What is it about old technology that has people reminiscing? 

According to Media Genius, “Nostalgia marketing is a powerful strategy that relies on consumer emotion to drive action.” They emphasize that Millennials are the ones most affected by this, therefore in the retro tech category, Millenials are the main demographic. Over the course of history it can be observed that technology comes full circle. What is old now will once be new again in the future, and Millennials feed into this. 

Of course, not all old media trends have made a comeback. However, trends and interests change and progress over time which  causes “old” tech devices to be brought back with a new twist. Because of changing culture, there is always an unknown of what could potentially become popular and return to everyday society with new enhancements. 

 Podcasts came and went, and now, as stated by Forbes, “At least 112 million Americans have listened to podcasts, a figure up 11 percent from last year, with 67 million listening to podcasts at least monthly.” This extreme increase notes the dramatic change in popularity and trends with technology today. 

The well-known polaroid camera has been of high interest within the past couple years as well. As stated by Media Genius,“ This gadget’s comeback is not without a modern twist. While original-style Polaroid cameras are still for sale, many people buy updated models.” The revamping of old things brings sentimental value to a new object, drawing the users in. 

The advancement of today’s technology has provided people the sources to have easy accessibility to what was once not so easy. It is the blend of the past and the present that form ideas of the future. 

We clearly wouldn’t be where we are without the tech inventions of the past, and that, weirdly enough, is of sentiment to some. This is what drives us to revert  to past innovations while the advances of present day allow us to play, change, and revamp old items and ideas.

So, sometime in the future, when your ringtone blares, what phone will you pull out of your back pocket?