While developing countries continue to buy up feature phones, where prices continue to plummet, Japan's feature phones remain resistant to the smartphone substitution seen in western countries. Docomo has also started offering an unlimited voice call service -- a feature that's arguably more comfortable on longer-shaped feature phones and another reason for the carrier to continually refresh its gara-kei lineup. 
 
 Fujitsu's latest model, the F-07F, has a 13-megapixel camera, 1,000mAh battery and a 3.3-inch color display: specs that make it a high-end feature phone, but (camera aside) pale in comparison to cheap, entry-level smartphones like the Moto E. Here's one more surprising point: feature phones might cost less to make, but due to carriers subsidies for smartphones (in a bid to keep its customers upgrading), feature phones often cost more per month than mainstay Android devices from the likes of Samsung and Sony. There may have been a few smartphones in flip-phone clothing, but Japan's gara-kei aren't going anywhere soon. 

 A pedestrian holding her mobile phone walks past an electronic board showing the stock market indices of various countries outside a brokerage in Tokyo October 20, 2014. 
 
 TOKYO Japanese shipments of traditional flip-phones rose in 2014 for the first time in seven years while smartphone shipments fell, highlighting Japanese consumers' tenacious attachment to the familiar and typically less expensive older models. 
 
 Dubbed "Galapagos" phones because they have evolved to meet unique Japanese standards and tastes, flip-phone shipments rose 5.7 percent to 10.58 million in 2014, data from market researcher MM Research Institute Ltd shows. Smartphone shipments fell 5.3 percent to 27.70 million, down for a second year. 
 
 Users in Japan pay some of the highest smartphone fees among developed nations, the telecommunications ministry says, while flip-phone rates are among the lowest. Many Japanese accustomed to years of deflation are content with old-style flip-phones offering voice calling, email and in most cases basic Internet services. 
 
 Japanese electronics companies Panasonic Corp and NEC Corp have pulled out of the consumer smartphone business, unable to compete with dominant brands Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. They still make flip-phones, though, competing in a crowded market with Fujitsu Ltd and Sharp Corp, among others. 
 
 But with a mobile penetration rate of 98.5 percent, or 125 million subscriptions, there is little scope for significant overall growth in Japan's mobile market, MM Research said. "Smartphones are also peaking in terms of functionality and they tend to last a long time as well, so there are fewer renewals," said MM Research Executive Analyst Hideaki Yokota. He said 2014 was a particularly strong year for renewals in the subscription cycle for flip-phones, suggesting that last year's growth may not be repeated this year. 
 
 Japan's mobile phone shipments: link.reuters.com/gex93w 
 
 (Editing by Edmund Klamann)
– Remember the golden days of yore, when your phone was a lot smaller, used primarily for calling people, and opened with a satisfying flip? Well, it seems those days haven't died in Japan, where last year, the number of flip-phone shipments actually increased, a first in seven years, Reuters reports. Flip-phone shipments climbed 5.7% to 10.58 million, while smartphone shipments went the other direction, dropping 5.3%. It was the second year in a row that smartphone shipments fell, though their total number last year—27.7 million—still dwarfs the number of flip-phone shipments. Reuters suggests some possible explanations: For one thing, Japan's smartphone fees are some of the highest in the developed world. Also, flip-phones are particularly cheap to own in Japan. In fact, it seems a flip-phone culture of sorts exists in the country: As Engadget reported last year, the phones are known as "Galapagos phones" because they couldn't make it anywhere else (Reuters says the term refers to the phones' evolution in Japan). But the market still faces trouble: It'll be tough to grow when the mobile phone penetration rate is at 98.5%.