This article presents compact global positioning system antennas loaded with a coupling strip and lumped elements for mobile phones. The first antenna proposed (Antenna 1) has a one chip capacitor, whereas the second (Antenna 2) uses both a one chip capacitor and an inductor. The size of Antenna 1 is 5 × 10 mm2, whereas Antenna 2 is 5 × 8 mm2. The radiation patterns are almost omni‐directional and the measured peak gain is 0.5 dBi at 1575 MHz. Both antennas are designed and examined via simulation and experiment. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 55:363–366, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.27317