smartphone

noun

smart·​phone ˈsmärt-ˌfōn 

variants or less commonly smart phone

plural smartphones also smart phones

: a cell phone that includes additional software functions (such as email or an Internet browser)

Examples of smartphone in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Starting tomorrow, January 23, inside Samsung Experience Stores, Samsung is allowing potential buyers to test out its wildly ambitious Galaxy Z TriFold, a three-part smartphone that’s essentially a 10-inch tablet which can origami into a slim, portable communication rectangle. —Mitch Wallace, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026

In today’s North Korea, smartphones are becoming more common. —Will Ripley, CNN Money, 21 Jan. 2026

Gorilla Glass’s revival from an earlier, shelved technology to an essential smartphone accessory was jump-started by Apple’s request for a collaboration. —Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 21 Jan. 2026

What’s changed since Minneapolis became a global reference point for bystander video in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder is how thoroughly camera systems, especially smartphones, are now entangled with the wider surveillance ecosystem. —Nicole M. Bennett, The Conversation, 21 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1996, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for smartphone

• alone
• atone
• backbone
• bemoan
• bluestone
• breastbone
• brownstone
• capstone
• cheekbone
• condone
• curbstone
• cyclone

Kids Definition

smartphone

noun

smart·​phone ˈsmärt-ˌfōn 

: a cell phone that includes additional functions (as email or an Internet browser)