The future of phones was expected to be about downloading football clips and video calls. Instead, it turns out, it’s all about fashion.

Prada, the Italian designer, has become the latest label to bring out a mobile phone, in collaboration with the South Korean handset maker LG.

Industry experts say that the latest fashion-house foray into the market shows that as features and prices of handsets converge, one factor is increasingly important: style.

Dolce & Gabbana have done it with Motorola, Versace and Cath Kidston have done it with Nokia, and Bang & Olufsen, the consumer electronics company, have put their name to a Samsung phone.

With “next generation” 3G technology resolutely failing to take off — a recent survey found that many people still do not know that the technology allows users to talk and send data at the same time — the phone companies are turning to the fashion industry for inspiration.

Mobile phone sales continue to grow internationally — one billion were sold last year — but in Britain there are now more mobile devices than people, and selling is a struggle.

Charlie Stott, of the brand consultants Wolff Olins, said: “The price difference isn’t there any more, so what the manufacturers are having to do is build an emotional connection with consumers.

“When you see a wall of phones all with the same features and with similar prices, what do you look at next? If there’s one with a big fashion label, you connect with that.”

The Prada phone, a sleek black touch-screen creation, comes with an extra wide LCD screen, MP3 player and a black leather Prada case. It is expected to retail at £400.

Dolce & Gabbana, another haute couture brand, recently teamed up with Motorola, the US handset giant, to produce a branded phone. The phone bellows out “Hello Dolce & Gabbana” when opened.

Bang & Olufsen also recently lent its name to a Samsung handset, with Louis Vuitton, the luxury luggage-makers, producing a custom-designed carrying case for the phone.

Analysts gathered yesterday at the industry’s annual get-together in Barcelona, say that “feature-fatigued” consumers are fed up with phones crammed with useless gadgets.

Other gadgetry on display included the first mass-market satellite navigation phone, from Nokia. Set to be released this year, the phone will use GPS technology to beam targeted information — such as the location of shops’ sales — to the handset.

The next big thing . . .

Samsung Ultra Smart F700

Touch-screen, multimedia phone which is 3.5G compatible. One of the thinnest slide-out “qwerty” keyboards. Can use the internet, play videos and music, take and share photos. A breakthrough design and potential iPhone killer

Nokia 6110 Navigator

Embedded GPS with 3D navigation — essentially a sat-nav and phone in one. Offers best route to follow in car or by foot. Has 3G capabilities and a camera. Expected to take navigational phones mainstream

Nokia N610 Navigator

The phone uses Symbain S60 software. It is a 3G phone supporting HSDPA for the fastest mobile broadband downloads. It has embedded GPS for turn-by-turn navigation both in a vehicle and on foot

Motorola Z8

Provides high-speed connectivity to the internet via HSDPA plus a colour 35mmx50mm screen. Offers video playback of up to 30 frames per second plus 90MB of internal memory. A tie-up with BSkyB allows programming of a Sky+ box remotely

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