
Ask HN: Why is there not an affordable, open smartphone? - hkt
It seems strange that there isn&#x27;t any mobile equivalent to the Raspberry Pi, CHIP or the Pinebook (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pine64.org&#x2F;?page_id=3707) which is priced at under, say, $100, and specifically aimed at people developing their own mobile solutions (OS development and such). It seems like there are no screens (at less than 5&quot;) that are available with reasonable resolutions, either.<p>There seems to be a relative abundance of expensive options (neo900, librem 5) but virtually nothing lower end or cheap.<p>Is there some reason why devices like this don&#x27;t exist that I&#x27;ve missed? Is it just more niche than I&#x27;m giving it credit for?
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grizzles
The hardware processes to fabricate a thin phone are complex. Sure,
manufacturers do it every day, but if you are a new entrant starting out with
a pick and place machine and an OLED screen, you can expect to spend a few
years replicating those processes and a couple million bucks on specialized
machinery - just for the QA process. So, a big difference to if you just want
to do a board. Neo and Librem are both vapor at this point. Neo looks fatter
so will be easier, If Librem manages to ship something decent they will have
gotten very lucky with their choice of mfg partner. Their budget is very low.

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webmaven
It isn't that the niche is too small per se, it's that there is an existing if
incomplete solution that makes the margins unattractive for the given market
size.

Consider purchasing a lower-end mobile phone that is unlocked & rootable &
known to run open OS options. Perhaps the Moto G4? Or if you don't mind
devices that are no longer supported by the manufacturer, The Nextbit Robin.

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edimaudo
Isn't Android open source?

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hkt
You'll note I said open in the title - I should be able to reasonably easily
choose another operating system on my phone, or run something which does not
rely on Google to run (as AOSP does through gapps etc)

