The difference between the transition from monophonic to polyphonic versus poly to realtones is that realtones are having an instantaneous impact. Although they have not completely eliminated polyphonic ringtones, they are already immensely popular. There are several theories behind why realtones have gained so much attention so quickly, but no exact reasoning.
The most logical reasoning though is because of how realistic it sounds. While polyphonic ringtones certainly had more bells and whistles than monophonic tones to keep you entertained, there is a significant difference with realtones. No longer do you have to answer a call to beeps that sound like your favorite songs. Now you can answer your phone to the actual songs of your favorite artists.
Another reason they are extremely popular is because of how simple it is to create them at home. By downloading free audio editing software, you can create any song from your music library into a ringtone. Polyphonic ringtones are much more complicated to create on your own.
Renowned phone manufacturers spend thousands of dollars in acquiring unique tones to represent their phones. Some companies even conduct competitions for musicians to create special tones for them. These tones speak for the company and not for a single model of the manufacturer’s mobile phone. Because of the popularity of signature tones we can determine what mobile phone someone is using. This is how important signature ringtones are and how mobile phone manufacturers value these melodies on their mobile phones. You will definitely not see any mobile phone in the market being sold without a signature tone from the manufacturer. Mobile phone tones allow us to distinguish every mobile phone in existence today.
The craze for getting the most fashionable ringtone has greatly infiltrated into all sections of the society. Typically, it is more of the desire for self gratification rather than anything else that make people run after the latest and the most popular melodies for their cell phones. The urge for serving self interests and showing off is inherent in every person in the universe, including human beings.