flip phone

Wasei-eigo: ガラケー (flip phone)

flip phone


【 ガラケー (garakē) 】flip phone, feature phone

ガラケー is short for ガラパゴス・ケータイ, or “Galapagos phone,” which refers to flip phones, or feature phones.

At the turn of the millennium, Japanese feature phones were booming, but they only evolved within the Japanese market. They ended up isolated from the world, like the Galapagos Islands, hence called the “Galapagos phone.”

Although smartphones have become more dominant, ガラケー are still in demand in Japan. Some サラリーマン and older generations swear by them and stick to ガラケー for its simplicity and durability.

Learn more wasei-eigo (Japanese-made English) on this YouTube series.


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