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Personal Devices · Recorded milestone

Camera phone

Recorded year1999

Phones gain a built-in camera, so most people carry a camera everywhere and can send a picture seconds after taking it.

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Built on

Handheld mobile phoneRecorded · 1983enables
Flash memoryRecorded · 1984enables
2G digital mobile & SMSRecorded · 1991enables
CMOS image sensorRecorded · 1993enables

Led to

Phone photo-sharing appRecorded · 2010enables
Disappearing messages and StoriesRecorded · 2011enables
AI beauty advisorForecast · ~2028enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.