Feature phone is a term used to describe a low-end mobile phone that has less computing ability than a smartphone, but more capability than a "dumb phone". The term was originally used to describe mobile phones which had features which weren't available on most other contemporary mobile phones, and smartphone and feature phone were not mutually exclusive categories. As mobile phone technology advanced, newer low-end phones were categorized as feature phones, and by 2007, the smartphone and feature phone categories were considered mutually exclusive.
Newer feature phones can often run applications based on Java ME or BREW. However, the feature phone has less advanced programming APIs and is unable to run native software specific to a smartphone platform. Some analysts have predicted that as the price of smartphones comes down, the smartphone may eventually eclipse the feature phone.
In 2009, feature phones accounted for 83% of all mobile (cellular) telephone sales in the United States.
