In pictures: 40-year history of mobile phones told through Cornish exhibition

  • ITV News' Grace Pascoe explores the popular exhibition in Porthcurno

An exhibition at a museum in Cornwall charting the history of the mobile phone is being extended due to its popularity.

Curated by PK Porthcurno, 'Going Mobile' has over seventy phones ranging from the earliest ‘brick’ devices of the 1980s, through flip phones, sliders, and clamshells, to the latest smartphones.

The phones have been selected from the Mobile Phone Museum’s collection of over 2,700 unique devices to chart the development of mobile phone communication over the past 40 years.

It's the first time phones from the collection have gone on public display.

The exhibition was due to end in October but has been extended until September 2025 after proving "extremely popular".

Julia Twomlow, chief executive of PK Porthcurno, said: " I think people really love seeing those old phones and spotting phones that they recognise from their youth and childhood."

"People really enjoy coming in and seeing not only their first phone, but also the breadth of design that there was and how many different phones have been designed over the years."

Mobile phones of all shapes and sizes are on display at PK Porthcurno
The Nokia 3310 was unveiled in September 2000 and became an instant hit
Flip devices are among some of the mobile phones on display at the exhibition
The Vodafone VT1 was used to make the first ever mobile phone call on the Vodafone UK network on 1st January 1985
The exhibition charts the development of mobile phone communication
The exhibition draws from the Mobile Phone Museum, external's collection of more than 2,700 unique devices
Curated by PK Porthcurno, 'Going Mobile' has been extended until March 2025