The desk phone has been a prominent part of the enterprise communication system. As an endpoint it has served diligently over the years providing quality communication over wired networks. However, with the evolving technology in enterprise communication and networking, the desk phone has lost its significance in the office. The following changes have driven the drop in usage of desk phones:


Wi-Fi Office – The modern offices are fully Wi-Fi with many now having no LAN cabling or telephone wiring. Easier for the technical team to manage the network and also reduces the cost of hardware to be purchased.

Mobility / Open Office – The open office architecture provides people to work from anywhere in the office as long as they are on the Wi-Fi network. Helps better collaboration between co-workers.

IP Telephony – Thanks to IP telephony and Cloud based communication systems, now the employees can be connected to the office no matter where they are. They can be reached on a single number.

Unified Communication System – UC solutions like Microsoft Teams / Jabber / Skype have become widely accepted as a better means for communication. Soft clients/mobile apps have replaced the desk phones. The UC Solutions not only provide voice communication but are feature rich providing video / chat / conference / email all in one.

Work from Home – The people who work from home are using UC solutions as they communicate and report from their home. All they need is the laptop / mobile for communication.

Does it mean that the desk phone is on an end of life journey?? Well not yet …People still prefer desk phone for many reasons.

- Desk phones are simpler to use than laptop and USB. 

- Old School – Many employees mostly managers have been using desk phones all their lives and are uncomfortable with UC headphones and mobile apps. They still prefer the good old desk phone for all calls.

- Easy configuration – Desk phones / IP phones are easy to configure over the LAN. They can be connected to multiple IPPBX solutions.

- Reliability – Desk phones are less prone to quality of service issues as compared to the softphones.


The future is still bright for the desk phones -

The future is still bright for the desk phones

The desk phone manufacturers are fighting back with new features like Codecs, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Video Calling to provide better user experience & collaboration.

The enterprise customers may be switching to UC Solutions but the SMB / SOHO customers are still using the on premises IPPBX / EPABX solutions. This market is growing for the desk phones -

Intercom / Home users –  Apartments home users will continue to buy desk phones for IP telephony & Intercom. However, this will be driven by the budget entry level phones in the price for under INR 2000.

Service Providers –  IP telephony service providers are bundling the desk phone with their Minutes and Broadband for home users.

Conference room equipment requires quality endpoints with speakerphone. Many IP phones manufacturers are having conference phones certified on VC solutions like Microsoft Teams / Zoom room etc.

Hopefully the hard phones and endpoints will evolve and continue to provide solutions for reliability, quality, and simplicity. In this battle between Desk phone and UC solutions we are yet to see the end… It’s still time to say “REST IN PEACE – DESK PHONES”.