History Main / StatusCellPhone

* In "Brian Wallows, Peter Swallows" on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Brian sings a song about how society has changed since the 50's, which includes a line about a businessman with a cell phone:

* Parodied on ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'', where the title character's cell phone is impractically tiny.
* In ''Film/RomyAndMichelesHighSchoolReunion'', one of the two girls gets a flip phone to complete the image of their being successful businesswomen so they could impress their classmates.

* Music/SaltNPepa reference this in their song, "Express Yourself". They talk about a "business man with [[TechnologyMarchesOn a beeper]] for a reason, not like Tim because [[TrendAesop it's in this season]]."

* Crowley having a car phone in his Bentley (also owning a Bentley) and an answering machine in ''Literature/GoodOmens'' is a symbol of his being filthy rich.

* Touga is the only one in ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' with a cellphone, signifying both that he's rich and is such a [[TheCasanova ladykiller]] he needs a way for all his girlfriends to contact him quickly.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Gordon Gekko on ''Film/WallStreet'' has an extravagant, top-of-the-the-line, and brick-sized cell phone. This is used as a TechnologyMarchesOn gag in the sequel ''Money Never Sleeps'' when he [[spoiler: is released from prison]] and gets said phone, now obsolete, returned to him.

* ''Film/MeanGirls'': Gretchen, the wealthy daughter of the inventor of toaster strudel, is the only character in the film with a cell phone, which she lends to [[AlphaBitch Regina]] so that she can humiliate a classmate.
* ''[[Film/OceansEleven Ocean's Thirteen]]'': [[BigBad Willy Bank]] demands that his assistant get him an extremely fancy, [[ConspicuousConsumption gold-and-jewel-encrusted]] cellphone. She tries to explain that it's only just entered production and won't be available for months but Bank wants it ''now''. Ocean's crew take advantage of this, and Yen having a connection with the company responsible, to send a rigged version of the phone that will knock out the security system in Bank's casino for them.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' ''Literature/PastDoctorAdventures'' novel ''Business Unusual'' (written in 1997, set in 1986) Mel's dad is a businessman who's extremely proud of his mobile phone. The Doctor, who knows that in ten years they'll be a fraction of the size and a lot more common (and has ''vastly'' more advanced tech in the TARDIS), isn't impressed.
* In Creator/KimNewman's short story "Organ Donors", Sally Rhodes's new job includes being provided with a "portable phone", which is indicative of how important it is (although being Sally, she doesn't actually use it). Newman notes this as one of the things that makes the story an UnintentionalPeriodPiece.

* ''Literature/TouhouKourindouCuriositiesOfLotusAsia'' has a spin on this thanks to ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}''[='s=] SchizoTech setting. When Sumireko (a person from the Outside World) visits Kourindou, she unintentionally takes some wind out of Rinnosuke's sails by saying that the Outside World technology he has on display is 20-30 years out of date; in particular she's somewhat surprised to see an old model cellphone that doesn't fold. She then impresses Rinnosuke by showing him her smartphone and describing some of the things it can do.

* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' was one of the earliest examples, as Zack Morris' cellphone is a sign that's he's [[HighSchoolHustler an ambitious schemer]].
* On ''Series/CornerGas'' the town of Dog's River is in the middle of nowhere and has really lousy cell reception. The residents are forced to use special cellphone with bulky signal boosters. When it is announced that a new cell tower will be erected in the town, the main characters get new cellphones and a try to show up each other by getting progressively smaller cellphones. However, when the plans for the new cell tower are abandoned, they have to go back to their old bulky models.
* In the "Jeffery's" recurring sketch on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' the manager of a Jeffery's (designer clothing) store has a very tiny phone, about half the size of his thumb. In the last sketch he has a really large brick phone. When the sales clerks laugh at him he says "big is the new small. [[Creator/CameronDiaz Cami Diaz]] has one '''twice''' this size."

* ''Series/TheBarrier'': Cell phones exist, but have become too expensive for most people, who share public landline phones. Because of this, people who own cell phones are rich, high-ranking or someone who has been provided one by a member of the two former categories.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CJIz6VlETw i got no iphone]] by [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/ParryGripp Perry Gripp]] seems hilariously dated today, but back in 2009 when the song came out, dumbphones were still the norm, and the iPhone was both relatively expensive and exclusive to AT&T.

* Almost no one in ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'' has a cellphone besides the rich kids.

* Rich kid Lorenzo from ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' has a cellphone at a time when pagers were still commonplace. This wasn't a sign of him being {{spoiled|Brat}}, rather that he was acting ''way'' too much like an adult businessman.
** In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie'', which was made several years after the show ended, despite the evolving technology that took place over that time, Rhonda is the only student seen with a smartphone, to emphasize her RichBitch status.
* When Timmy goes to the 1980s in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'', he sees that Chet Ubetcha's short stature stems from radiation poisoning due to his human-sized cellphone.

** In ''VideoGame/GrandThefAutoViceCity'', Tommy Vercetti steals a cellphone from a hitman, Leo Teal, in order to search and trace for possible assailants behind the botched deal. Teal carrying a cellphone implies that his boss, Mr. Black paid him handsomely to afford it.
** ''VideoGame/GrandThefAutoViceCityStories'' by contrast has Vic, being from a poorer background, only carry a pager to get contacts. It's only after stealing the coke that he managed to procure one (albeit briefly, since he still uses a pager for most of his contacts).

This trope is [[TropeBreaker almost dead]] in today's day and age. Nowadays, cellphones have become so mainstream and so much more affordable that it's basically expected for someone to have one, and having a top-of-the-line model doesn't really mean that much anymore either--especially since [[TechnologyMarchesOn it's probably got at least a dozen nearly identical competitors and is only an incremental upgrade to phone's previous model anyway]]. Certain ''brands'' still play it straight to a point, but if the trope appears in contemporary fiction it's likely to be either {{satire}}, {{parody}} or {{deconstruction}} (unless it's a PeriodPiece set in an era when cell phones were less ubiquitous). A contemporary variant is for a character ''lacking'' a cellphone to be more notable, signifying poverty, [[BornInTheWrongCentury being out-of-touch]] ([[TechnologicallyBlindElders especially if they're elderly]]), or technophobia.

This trope is [[TropeBreaker almost dead]] in today's day and age. Nowadays, cellphones have become so mainstream and so much more affordable that it's basically expected for someone to have one, and having a top-of-the-line model doesn't really mean that much anymore either--especially since [[TechnologyMarchesOn it's probably got at least a dozen nearly identical competitors and is only an incremental upgrade to phone's previous model anyway]]. Certain ''brands'' still play it straight to a point, but if the trope appears in contemporary fiction it's likely to be either {{satire}}, {{parody}} or {{deconstruction}}. A contemporary variant is for a character ''lacking'' a cellphone to be more notable, signifying poverty, [[BornInTheWrongCentury being out-of-touch]] ([[TechnologicallyBlindElders especially if they're elderly]]), or technophobia.

* Parodied by ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' in [[https://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/1998/11/09 this series of strips]] from 1998. Roger, tired of being the only one at the office without a cell phone, decides to one-up all his co-workers...with an ''absurdly'' oversized phone that must be half his own height, and needs to be ''plugged in'' because no battery can hold a charge long enough to power it. Naturally, [[TechnologicallyBlindElders Roger]] is the only person who thinks this is a good idea.

* Gretchen in ''Film/MeanGirls'', the wealthy daughter of the inventor of toaster strudel is the only character in the film with a cell phone, which she lends to [[AlphaBitch Regina]] so that she can humiliate a classmate.

* In one round of "Swankers" on ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'', in which the panellists have to keep one-upping each others' boasts, they describe increasingly absurd features of their cellphones, until Jeremy Hardy wins by saying ''his'' phone plugs into the wall, so he'll never lose it.

* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' uses an AfterTheEnd, practical twist. [[SupernaturalPhone Smartphones]] are important because they're needed to [[ItMakesSenseInContext summon and command]] [[{{Mons}} demons]] [[labelnote:Why phones?]]It's not because they're phones; it's because they're portable computers. The Demon Summoning Program has been a mainstay of the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series since the late 80s, and works by digitally simulating a summoning ritual. Any general purpose computer will do, but the heroes prefer portable ones; the less than canon [[Literature/DigitalDevilStory first user]] had a laptop, and the canonical [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI first user]] had a bulky wearable computer.[[/labelnote]], and it's said that a grunt in the [[{{Yakuza}} Ashura-Kai]] has to deal [[FantasticDrug Red Pills]] for months before they're given a phone.

** In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie'', which was made several years after the show ended, despite the evolving technology that took place between that time, Rhonda is the only student seen with a smartphone, to emphasize her RichBitch status.

* In the 1980 comedy film ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}'', Rodney Dangerfield plays Al Czervik, a real-estate developer who is shown to be eccentric/filthy rich right from the start. He has a telephone right in his golf bag, which he answers while out on the course. This was not a typical "brick" phone, but from what we could see it was more like a typical 1970s desk phone, complete with an acoustic ringing bell and a coiled handset cord.

* Gretchen in ''Film/MeanGirls'', the wealthy daughter of the inventor of toaster strudel, is the only character in the film with a cell phone, which she lends to [[AlphaBitch Regina]] so that she can humiliate a classmate.

* In the [[RussianHumor modern folklore]] version of [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia 1990s Russia]], a cell phone is a stereotypical attribute of a nouveau riche New Russian, along with a Mercedes 600 and a crimson jacket.

* An urban legend from when cell phones were still a rarity: On a busy commuter train, some businessman is loudly chatting on a cellular phone, mostly with "important" sounding talk. Then an older man on the train suffers a heart attack. When other passengers and/or a conductor approaches the businessman to call 911 on his cell phone, he eventually sheepishly admits that the phone is a fake (and was obviously just trying to impress people with it).

* One of the few times ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' directly emphasizes its [[TwentyMinutesIntoThePast late-90s setting]] is when Asa Mitaka reveals she has a cell phone handed down from her recently-deceased mother. It briefly impresses her peers [[YankTheDogsChain before she accidentally breaks it]].

* The Chinese nickname for cell phones is due to this trope; back in the day, they were most often seen being carried by Triad head honchos, so cell phones were referred to as 大哥大 ("Big Brother's Big [Phone]").

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' ''Literature/PastDoctorAdventures'' novel ''Business Unusual'' (written in 1997, set in 1986) Mel's dad is a businessman who's extremely proud of his mobile phone. The Doctor, who knows that in ten years they'll be a fraction of the size and a lot more common, isn't impressed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HortonHearsAWho'', one of the mayor's girls wants a cell phone, claiming that everyone else in class has one. When her dad says she's exaggerating, she shows him her class photo, with everyone but her talking on their cells.

This trope is [[TropeBreaker really dying out]] in today's day and age. Nowadays, cellphones have become so mainstream and so much more affordable that it's basically expected for someone to have one, and having a top-of-the-line model doesn't really mean that much anymore either--especially since [[TechnologyMarchesOn it's probably got at least a dozen nearly identical competitors and is only an incremental upgrade to phone's previous model anyway]]. Certain ''brands'' still play it straight to a point, but if the trope appears in contemporary fiction it's likely to be either {{satire}}, {{parody}} or {{deconstruction}}. A contemporary variant is for a character ''lacking'' a cellphone to be more notable, signifying poverty, [[BornInTheWrongCentury being out-of-touch]] ([[TechnologicallyBlindElders especially if they're elderly]]), or technophobia.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/AmericanPsycho https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batemanmotorola.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[WebVideo/OneyPlays "I'm on a cellphone, it's real big like the eighties!"]]]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/WereBackADinosaursStory'', LonelyRichKid Cecilia explains her situation of ParentalNeglect as “my father’s very business, and my mother’s very social.” And just ''how'' “business” is her dad? When we see a “wish you were here” photo of him and his wife (without Cecilia, of course) on a tropical vacation, they’re on the beach in bathing suits and yet he still has a big early-90s brick clutched to his ear.

--> Jadis [...] pulled out her phone, which I now knew was a gift from her father. That meant it had features that even my bPhone probably didn’t have, although Bunny had designed an entire phone OS so that she could write or update apps for the phone to give it new functionality whenever she felt like it.

--> “Like I would give you just some mass market techno-trinket?” Zach asked with a grin. “I had ABBY assemble this inside a gPhone casing. It can do everything a gPhone can do- except maybe fink you out to the MCO- and a whole lot more. It has ten times the RAM, its battery holds 15 times the charge, and- hey, just check out the ‘handbook’ for all the apps, otherwise we’ll be here all day. I basically told ABBY to go for ‘awesome’, and I’d say that she did a good job of it.”