A clamshell design is a kind of form factor for electronic devices in the shape of a clamshell. Mobile phones, handheld game consoles, and especially laptops, are often designed like clamshells. Clamshell devices are usually made of two sections connected by a hinge, each section containing either a flat panel display or an alphanumeric keyboard/keypad, which can fold into contact together like a bivalve shell.
The clamshell form factor is based on the hinged design of the clam.
Brionvega TS 502 radio, Museum of science and technology, Milan (1963)
Grillo telephone, Museum of science and technology, Milan (1965)
Brionvega Soundbook portable radio cassette player, Museum of science and technology, Milan (1974)
The StarTAC is a series of mobile phones released by Motorola starting in 1996. It is the successor of the MicroTAC, a semi-clamshell design first launched in 1989. Whereas the MicroTAC's flip folded down from below the keypad, the StarTAC folded up from above the display. The StarTAC was among the first mobile phones to gain widespread consumer adoption; approximately 60 million StarTACs were sold.
A StarTAC 8500 (AMPS model)
An analogue StarTAC phone
A Verizon-branded CDMA StarTAC
A StarTAC 70