Yes, old flip phones do have SIM cards. In fact, all mobile phones have SIM cards. The SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module) is a small memory chip that stores your phone’s settings and allows you to use your phone on different networks. Before the popularity of smartphones, mobile phones came in two main types: those that could make calls and send text messages and those that couldn’t. The latter were called “feature phones” because they had extra features like cameras and music players.

The term “flip phone” refers to a specific type of feature phone in which the screen flips open horizontally like a clamshell phone or clam shell. You might also hear these devices called clamshells or clam shells.

Today when people talk about flip phones, they usually mean feature phones without touchscreens or other modern features (like Wi-Fi).

Last modified: September 6, 2022