- Built in California, powered by Linux, the Liberty phone said no to the technology giants
- Without Android or iOS, it is the most lonely smartphone on the market today
- It costs more, does less and always claims to be the best smartphone for confidentiality
Despite the increase in political pressure to reduce technological manufacturing to the United States, the construction of a national premium smartphone remains an expensive and technically difficult challenge.
The Liberty Phone by Purism, at a price of $ 1,999, offers a rare example of the proximity of a company to build a device for manufacturing America, but it is delivered with significant compromises in performance and practicality.
Unlike the largely promoted but doubtful Trump phone of $ 499, the Liberty phone is at least assembled in the United States, although there is a lack of flagship features.
Still not 100% “made in the United States!”
Todd Weaver, the founder of Purism, is frank on the limits, noting: “Someone who needs a mean camera is not our audience.”
Weaver estimates that the liberty phone costs around $ 650 to produce, higher than the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which, according to Techinsights, costs around $ 550 to build in China.
This gap is largely driven by American labor costs, with savings made using low specification components such as a basic camera and a low-resolution screen.
This may be suitable for its main user basis, including safety geeks, older users, children and those who wish to distance themselves from major technological brands, but it is far from traditional Android alternatives – for anyone waiting for the best smartphone for commercial or multimedia tasks, the Liberty phone is unlikely.
Part of the attraction of Purism lies in its transparent and partially domestic supply chain – the motherboard is built on the Californian company’s website, the chip comes from the installation of Austin, Texas, and the final assembly of NXP, and the final assembly is local.
But some critical components, such as the South Korea camera and the display and battery from China, still depend on the world supply.
“There are just some parts that do not yet have a supply chain,” says Weaver. “We will continue to increment until we can reach this point.”
It executes Pureos, an operating system based on Linux which supports basic tasks such as calls, texts and web navigation, but without support for Android or iOS applications, it is a difficult sale to anyone who needs a large ecosystem of high -end application or performance.
Nevertheless, Weaver thinks that a niche market exists and affirms that around half of Purism customers are American government agencies.
Even if the prices could one day reduce the cost difference, the continuity of this project is not certain.
“We have no factories here by creating application processors, high -end screens or most other things in your smartphone,” said Jeff Fieldhack de Counterpoint Research, showing his skepticism.
Currently, Liberty Phone is more a philosophical gesture than a practical solution, and only the Americans or those who are faithful to the United States will give it a second look.
Via Wall Street Journal
