This paper is a survey of internal antennas in mobile phones from 1997 to 2010. It covers almost 60 GSM and 3G handsets, ranging from the first GSM handset with an internal antenna to the current Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Motorola, and Apple handsets. The paper discusses different types of mobile-phone antennas, feeding structures, active antennas, isolation, and antenna loading techniques. This paper examines different design techniques for mobile-phone antennas, and the limitations of antenna design due to manufacturing technologies and the effect of handset materials. Antenna performance parameters, including S parameters, radiation efficiency, SAR, and TRP/TIS are reported for the surveyed handsets. The effective antenna volume for every antenna is calculated, in order to determine the average volume/space required for each antenna type and the corresponding performance. Some of the handsets are further simulated using commercial electromagnetic simulators to illustrate the electromagnetic-field distributions. This paper summarizes the antenna design parameters as a function of handset performance, and presents a short summary of design procedure.