Some years ago, for a reason I can't remember, I was browsing tiny phones (not smartphones) in a Chinese e-commerce site. I was amazed by the vast range of devices in this category (at the time).
After a few Google searches trying to understand why there was demand for such small phones, one article suggested that these phones are perfect for getting smuggled in prisons "you know how". Don't know if this is true, but it sounds plausible and the vast range of devices could be explained by this.
They were tinier than the smartphone in this article, though.
There was a time around 2004ish where fashion was smaller the phone the richer you appear. So a status symbol. As they were usually more expensive to make them small back then.
After a few Google searches trying to understand why there was demand for such small phones, one article suggested that these phones are perfect for getting smuggled in prisons "you know how". Don't know if this is true, but it sounds plausible and the vast range of devices could be explained by this.
They were tinier than the smartphone in this article, though.