With the end of 3G, Japan’s beloved flip phones go dark

Drained by hyperconnectivity, hipsters around the world are trading in their smartphones for dumb ones. Meanwhile, a class of users in Japan is coming fully online for the first time.

This week, NTT Docomo will end its 3G data service — and along with it access to the feature-packed flip phones the company once pioneered.

As 4G and 5G data connections have become more widespread, telecommunications companies around the world have been switching off older networks. By 2012, Japan stopped offering 2G; in 2022, au ended 3G service, and SoftBank followed suit in 2024. On March 31, Docomo, which introduced 3G to the world in 2001, will end service for the last 500,000 users on the network.