Gabriella GershensonJun 24, 2026 – 6.12amAnyone walking down the street in the 1990s would not have been surprised to see a passerby toggling between a couple of pagers at once, and maybe retrieving an early flip phone or a Discman from a Kate Spade purse.But after years of progressive slimming down and merging of our electronics into single devices that do everything, clunky seems to be back. The screens are bigger, the headphones are more obtrusive, and, crucially, there are two or even three phones on hand.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles