<P> In October 2013, Motorola Mobility announced Project Ara, a concept for a modular smartphone platform that would allow users to customize and upgrade their phones with add - on modules that attached magnetically to a frame . Ara was retained by Google following its sale of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, but was shelved in 2016 . That year, LG and Motorola both unveiled smartphones featuring a limited form of modularity for accessories; the LG G5 allowed accessories to be installed via the removal of its battery compartment, while the Moto Z utilizes accessories attached magnetically to the rear of the device . </P> <P> The first smartphone with a fingerprint reader was the Motorola Atrix 4G in 2011 . In September 2013, the iPhone 5S was unveiled as the first smartphone on a major U.S. carrier since the Atrix to feature this technology . </P> <P> By 2014, 1440p displays began to appear on high - end smartphones . In 2015, Sony released the Xperia Z5 Premium, featuring a 4K resolution display, although only images and videos could actually be rendered at that resolution (all other software is upscaled from 1080p). Microsoft, expanding upon the concept of Motorola's short - lived "Webtop", unveiled functionality for its Windows 10 operating system for phones that allows supported devices to be docked for use with a PC - styled desktop environment . Other major technologies began to trend in 2016, including a focus on virtual reality and augmented reality experiences catered towards smartphones, the newly introduced USB - C connector, and improving LTE technologies . As of 2015, the global median for smartphone ownership was 43% . Statista forecast that 2.87 billion people would own smartphones in 2020 . </P> <P> New trends for smartphone displays began to emerge in 2017, with both LG and Samsung releasing flagship smartphones utilizing displays with taller aspect ratios than the common 16: 9 ratio . These designs allow the display to have a larger physical size, but with a slimmer width than 16: 9 displays with an equivalent screen size . Another trend popularized that year were designs--colloquially known as a "notch"--where the front - facing camera, and sometimes other sensors typically located along the top bezel of a device, are contained into a tab - like area at the top of the device that the display wraps around . These designs allow for "edge - to - edge" displays that take up nearly the entire height of the device, with little to no bezel along the top . This design characteristic was popularized by the Essential Phone (which featured a circular tab for its camera) and iPhone X (which used a wider tab to contain a camera and facial scanning system). In 2018, the first smartphones featuring fingerprint readers embedded within OLED displays were announced . </P>

When was the first smartphone released to the public