Kirsten Ulve/theispot.com
As the phrase “brain rot” has exploded in usage over the last couple of years, evolving from a humorous jab at wasting time online into a genuine descriptor for the mental fatigue brought on by endless scrolling, many have resorted to a solution that is surprisingly retro. From 2021 to 2024, feature phone purchases among 18- to 24-year-olds jumped 148%, with users abandoning smartphones for devices that can only make calls and send texts.
For a variety of reasons, consumers are increasingly drawn to products that recall the past but are meaningfully updated with today’s technologies to meet current consumer expectations. Consider the Analogue 3D, a modern version of the Nintendo 64 console from the 1990s, with hardware designed for today’s living rooms. Consumer interest has reportedly been so strong that the company has struggled to keep pace with demand.
Despite living in a new era of artificial intelligence, many people, including younger digital natives, are turning to technologies that have long been surpassed by newer innovations. This resurgence is being driven by more than just nostalgia and represents an opportunity for savvy companies. Businesses that are able to modernize older technologies for today’s technological standards and meet the needs of today’s consumers are capitalizing on what is known as retro-innovation.
Retro-innovation can involve specific product features rather than entire products. Physical buttons, for example, are making a comeback in automobiles after years of touch-screen dominance. A 2024 survey found that 89% of drivers prefer tangible controls for core functions.
To successfully capitalize on the opportunities such technologies represent, executives must understand the drivers propelling the movement.
What’s Really Driving the Retro-Innovation Wave
Our examination of 30 recent retro-innovations across 12 product categories identified three vital and interconnected market drivers.
Wellness and environmental concerns. The dumbphone phenomenon, dubbed the “appstinence movement” by a Harvard graduate student, is driven not by baby boomers and members of Generation X clinging longingly to the past. Rather, it’s being propelled by Generation Z users who are opting out of the digital deluge for reasons such as screen fatigue, digital detox goals, privacy concerns, and a desire for more mindful technology use.
The always-on nature of today’s technology has spawned a countermovement toward simpler products. According to a 2023 Deloitte survey, digital fatigue has reached critical levels, particularly among younger consumers who are digital natives.
Many other retro-innovations are direct responses to rising digital fatigue. Some electronic-ink devices, like the reMarkable tablet, reproduce a paperlike reading and writing experience but have been updated for modern productivity workflows. They deliberately strip away notifications and app clutter, offering a focused alternative to traditional tablets.
Environmental concerns also contribute to the trend, as consumers increasingly recognize the environmental costs that come with constant upgrades and planned obsolescence.
This awareness is driving interest in products designed to last longer and generate less waste. The Framework modular laptop, for example, brings the repair-friendly ethos of early personal computing to the modern era with user-replaceable components that significantly extend device lifespans.
Reintroducing well-designed, durable products from the past can be both a sustainable business practice and a compelling value proposition for consumers weary of planned obsolescence. This might explain the resurgence of interest among parents in vintage wooden toys for their children.
Demand for durability. Organizations are discovering that the most efficient solution is not always the most robust. A single faulty software update by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike cascaded into the biggest IT outage in history, forcing airports to process passengers manually. Such evidence of the fragility of modern systems can lead people to place a higher value on older technologies and practices, such as manual verification systems, physical documentation, and analog systems.
Many libraries and government archives, including the U.S. National Archives and the National Archives of Singapore, are continuing to rely on film-based storage alongside digital storage as an archival technology. The reason: Silver-halide film reels are eye-readable and can last for centuries, far longer than digital formats.
The Arctic World Archive (AWA) in Svalbard, Norway, is a more recent example of the renewed popularity of film for long-term preservation but with a modern twist. The underground archive, which opened in 2017, employs film-based storage; over 30 countries are using it for long-term conservation of national documents. The AWA uses preservation technology developed by Norwegian company Piql, a co-owner of the facility: Digital data is converted into microscopic QR codes that are encoded onto photosensitive polyester film coated with silver halides. Those reels can remain stable for up to 500 years.
The goal of retro-innovation in the above cases is to build resilience with redundancy and control with analog complements.
Consumers are also sensitive to durability concerns as they increasingly recognize that digital purchases, such as streaming subscriptions and digital games, offer temporary access rather than long-lasting ownership. The demand for permanent ownership of physical media that persist regardless of licensing changes or service shutdowns is another major trend driving retro-innovation, prompting manufacturers such as Sony to continue supporting formats like DVD and Blu-Ray on their newest generation of consoles.
Addressing the authenticity crisis. Generative AI has created a crisis of authenticity. As synthetic content becomes indistinguishable from human-created work, consumers are gravitating toward genuine in-person experiences. This helps explain why the global board-game market has grown strongly in recent years, crossing $17 billion in 2025 and projected to grow to around $30 billion by the end of the decade. Today’s board-game makers continue to innovate on a centuries-old medium, incorporating twists such as “legacy” mechanics that permanently change the game over time, and hybrid digital-analog features that allow players to use their phones or other technology to enhance the experience. Online crowdfunding platforms have also been major drivers of the board-game renaissance in the internet era.
To remove the distraction smartphones create in other in-person experiences, phone-locking pouches like the one made by Yondr have seen widespread uptake by live entertainment venues and schools. Although these products aren’t themselves drawing on older technology for inspiration, the innovation helps restore in-person experiences to what they were like before smartphones became ubiquitous.
Three Keys for Retro-Innovation Success
How can companies tap into the consumer trend toward older, more analog technologies without abandoning their forward-looking capabilities? Based on our examination of retro-innovations, we believe that companies must master three strategic competencies.
Legacy management: You may already have what you need. Retro-innovation can involve complex efforts to resurrect a legacy. In 2016, HMD Global acquired a long-term license from Nokia to use its brand name. Around the same time, Microsoft sold the feature-phone assets it had acquired from Nokia in 2014 to HMD. That allowed HMD, a company led by former Nokia chief procurement officer Jean-Francois Baril, to revive classic dumbphones, including the 3210, with modern upgrades, such as 4G, USB-C charging, a long-lasting battery, and a full-color version of the iconic Snake game. The original Nokia 3210, launched in 1999 and one of the bestselling phones of all time (with over 160 million cumulative sales), inspired the HMD retro-innovation Nokia 3210 4G, which sold well in several markets.
The challenge in such cases lies in mastering technologies and processes that mainstream businesses have abandoned. The new Polaroid company (Polaroid BV), grew out of the Impossible Project, which rescued Polaroid’s last instant-film factory in Enschede, Netherlands. The company later acquired the Polaroid brand, unifying cameras and film under a single banner and allowing it to pursue higher-end retro-innovation, developing new instant cameras that combined analog technology with new electronics.
To develop the I-2 Instant Camera, Polaroid turned to industry veterans who had engineered mechanical cameras for optics company Olympus in the 1970s and could infuse the camera with analog know-how that few companies possessed.
Successful retro-innovation often takes advantage of existing assets, whether from a company’s own archives or acquired from others, that are waiting to be rediscovered and reimagined. Leaders should examine legacy manufacturing processes and dormant patents and designs that could be reactivated with modern materials or production methods.
Fusion offerings: Having it both ways. Modern vinyl record players exemplify the fusion of older and newer technologies. The vinyl market, which reached $1.4 billion in 2024, thrives today because hybrid turntables allow customers to preserve the physical ritual of record playing while incorporating Bluetooth connectivity, USB ports, and Wi-Fi streaming capabilities to connect with digital systems. Manual tonearm control coexists with digital output options, while strategic partnerships with digital ecosystems like Sonos ensure compatibility with contemporary smart homes.
Similarly, products like the Freewrite Traveler “smart typewriter” resurrect the typewriter’s single-purpose focus and feel but fuse mechanical keys with modern capabilities like digital storage and cloud syncing.
Fujifilm has used this approach successfully. In the late 2000s and 2010s, the company treated digital imaging as a growth pillar, investing steadily in its digital cameras. But the company also preserved core analog competencies, such as silver-halide chemistry, coating processes, and film production lines, even as the mass market shifted to digital. That decision gave Fujifilm an option it could exercise when it reintroduced a discontinued line of black-and-white film in 2019 by substituting scarce raw materials and reengineering the process around supply chain constraints to meet the demands of modern film photographers. Today, Fujifilm’s product portfolio is designed to take advantage of the past and present, as well as blend the two, as with its Instax Evo series of instant cameras, which combine digital and analog photography.
Selective design: Adding and subtracting. Retro-innovation can require identifying which product elements to remove or simplify while maintaining core functionality through a process of strategic subtraction. In some cases, this involves adding features, such as physical controls, that bear the tactile hallmarks of the past.
The mobile phone startup Light offers a powerful example of strategic subtraction for retro-innovation. The company designed its phone to be “used as little as possible,” deliberately stripping away internet access, social media capabilities, and apps and focusing on calling and texting capabilities. Yet the phone includes attractive modern elements, such as a 3.92-inch AMOLED screen. The company saw its revenue double year over year from 2022 to 2024, with particularly strong demand from churches, schools, and after-school programs.
In contrast to Light, Fairphone gives users the option to switch off smartphone functionality by adding (rather than subtracting) a novel physical feature. The Fairphone 6, launched in June 2025, has a feature no other smartphone offers: a physical switch that instantly transforms the device from a fully functional smartphone into a minimalist dumbphone for digital wellness. Unlike software-based focus modes buried in settings menus, the physical switch employs a commitment device — a physical action that reinforces the intention to disconnect while acting as a bridge between smartphone and dumbphone worlds.
Less can be more when it comes to retro-innovation. Limited production runs, fewer features, and artisanal manufacturing methods signal exclusivity and can command a premium.
Retro-innovation requires companies to differentiate through simplicity, extend product life cycles, and tap into new markets by mining old ones. Retro success stories show us that progress doesn’t have to add complexity. In a world obsessed with what’s next, sometimes the smartest move is to remember what has been and reimagine it for today’s consumer.