Nokia phones ordered in 2010 finally arrive after 16 years

Sometimes a delivery takes longer than expected — but 16 years might be a new record. According to a report by TRT World, a mobile phone dealer in Tripoli, Libya recently received a shipment of Nokia phones he originally ordered back in 2010.

The long-lost package contained classic button-based Nokia models, including music-edition devices and early business-oriented handsets. However, the shipment never reached the store when it was supposed to.

The reason?

The 2011 Libyan civil war and the collapse of the country’s logistics and customs infrastructure left the package forgotten in warehouses for more than a decade. Ironically, both the sender and the receiver were located only a few kilometres apart in Tripoli, but the turmoil in the country meant the delivery simply disappeared in the system.

When the shipment finally arrived in 2026, the shopkeeper opened the boxes with friends and joked in a video that the devices might be “phones or artefacts.” The clip quickly spread on social media, highlighting just how much mobile technology has evolved since 2010.

Back in 2010, Nokia’s lineup was dominated by devices like the Nokia Lumia 920 era that would soon follow, marking a major shift from classic keypad phones to modern smartphones.

Today, those once-popular devices feel like a time capsule from another era — a reminder of how quickly the mobile industry moves.

Still, few brands have left such a strong impression as Nokia, whose classic phones remain iconic even decades later.

I’ll just say, someone in Tripoli got his hands on one of the best phones ever! Ok, maybe Nokia Lumia 1520 was a bit better…

Thx KaizerAllen for the tip 🙂