
Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa - imartin2k
https://www.fastcompany.com/90414915/rwandas-mara-x-z-are-1st-smartphones-made-fully-in-africa
======
grecy
I was in Rwanda this time last year. After visiting ~30 African countries by
that point I can say that it's an extremely refreshing change.

There is a bustling tech sector in Kigali - they're making iPhone apps,
designing and building hardware, etc. etc. There is a huge community of
entrepreneurial younger people. People are extremely well educated, friendly
and kind. I never saw a single piece of trash in the entire country.

I felt as safe riding moto taxis around in the dark in Kigali as I do in any
Canadian city.

~~~
sgt
FYI for those unaware, grecy is the guy who recently completed a >50000 mile
Africa expedition[1]. This guy knows Africa. It's nice to hear that Rwanda is
doing well.

[1] [http://theroadchoseme.com](http://theroadchoseme.com)

~~~
MichaelApproved
Wow. The coastline of Africa is 18,950 miles (30,500 km), so That’s like
looping around the content nearly 3 times.

Here’s what I found on that site:

> _I’m doing an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit right now. Come on over to
> Reddit.com and ask me any question you have about my three year, 54,000 mile
> and 35 country expedition around Africa._

 _It’s all on the table – safety, money, health, budget, visas, route, people,
animals, the Jeep._

[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/brhbst/i_drove_my_jee...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/brhbst/i_drove_my_jeep_around_africa_reddit_said_i_would/)

~~~
smeyer
Or he just looped around the coastline once at a tighter resolution than your
source of 30,500 km

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox)

(Also thanks for the AMA link)

~~~
samatman
The coastline paradox is cute, but any route using coastal roads will be
shorter than any reasonable coastline estimate, for obvious reasons.

~~~
penagwin
Plus the "resolution" of the coast is limited by the size of humans.

The coastline paradox is much more of a measurement problem then a physical
one.

------
ekianjo
They say they don't do just assembly but I guess they don't make their own
chips either so what is the difference vs assembly?

~~~
demarq
To be honest, I think China is the only country that can fit the strict
definition of "entirely" made in".

So I'm happy enough to give credit to rwanda for assembling the motherboard
component by component.

~~~
Cyph0n
If we’re talking about smartphones, I think South Korea and Taiwan would fit
the bill.

------
kcolford
That logo looks so nice. I literally want one just for how nice their brand
looks. Why can't other electronics brands look that nice?

~~~
xwdv
Not sure what you’re talking about, the Apple logo is pretty great, and has
multiple meanings.

~~~
kcolford
Maybe, but it doesn't look good. It's just an apple with a bite taken out of
it. It's whitewashed and bland. No character to it.

------
lallysingh
The phones look good (at least from the parts pictured). I wonder if they can
bring a higher price than Chinese competitors with a design advantage.

~~~
mikkom
IMHO The image looks rendered..

~~~
phs318u
According to the website, you can order one now with a 3-5 day delivery
(presumably more if destination is outside of Rwanda).

[https://maraphones.com/product/mara-x/](https://maraphones.com/product/mara-x/)

~~~
1123581321
I just bought one and am promised delivery to the Midwest by 10/15 (~$25
shipping.)

~~~
efa
Site must be getting hammered. I can't get it to come up.

------
Robotbeat
After my deep dive into reading about the Zipline Drone company (who first
deployed at-scale in Rwanda and now serve virtually the entire country with
rapid, fully electric airborne blood and medical product delivery), I learned
just how well Rwanda is doing economically. Very vibrant, indeed.

They are led by a paternalistic figure who helped stop the genocide and has
high support in the population. It's not as democratic as I would like, and
the Rwandan meddling in Congo isn't exactly clean, but trajectory of Rwanda to
middle income country status is commendable. I worry about Kagame's admiration
for the Chinese model of development, though. I guess an advantage of Africa
versus China is the nations are more numerous and so power is more disperse
(possible exception: Nigeria by the end of the century). I hope a gradual
trajectory toward prosperity for all, freedom, and peace take place on this
continent.

~~~
mattr47
He has support because if you voice against him you end up in prison, jail or
exile.

I'm not saying he didn't do great things to stop the genocide in 94, but the
country is the way it is because he rules with an iron fist.

------
namibj
Do they have modern semiconductor fabrication capabilities at all?

~~~
makotoNagano
I'm pretty sure they're importing the semiconductors, but manufacturing the
PCBs

------
Markoff
Made ENTIRELY in Africa except SoC, memory modules, display and pretty much
any other component...

Only continent where they make ENTIRELY phones is Asia.

------
henrygrew
Largely PR, on the ground things are different, Rwanda is like china

