Punkt, the Switzerland-based, privacy-focused cellphone maker, is trying the whole “smartphone” thing again. The MC03 improves on a number of the disappointing options of its earlier effort, the MC02, whereas sustaining its safety focus. Likewise, its software program nonetheless comes with a subscription payment: the primary 12 months is included free, nevertheless it’s $12 monthly after that. On high of that, the MC03 is Punkt’s first cellphone to be assembled in Europe slightly than Asia, making good on its promise from earlier this year.
The MC02, launched final 12 months, wasn’t exactly a critical darling. Punkt appears to be addressing a few of these criticisms with a extra trendy 6.67-inch 120Hz OLED in comparison with final 12 months’s 60Hz LCD. The 5,200mAh battery is user-replaceable. The MC03 ships with AphyOS, from the equally privacy-oriented firm Apostrophy, and it’s based mostly on AOSP 15 — extra present than the AOSP 13-based model the MC02 shipped with, although nonetheless a model behind this 12 months’s flagships. The MC03 is IP68 rated, comes with a MediaTek 7300 chipset, and is scheduled to get three OS upgrades and 5 years of safety updates.
As ever, privateness is a serious focus for Punkt. AphyOS claims to strip away the background monitoring options of Google’s providers, providing proprietary apps for issues like e-mail and calendar whereas letting you run any app from the Play Retailer in a safe “sandbox.”
That is the place the payment is available in; because you’re not the product, you’ll have to pay up. The MC03 will value $699 within the US, and $10 monthly after that (although three- and five-year bundle choices while you purchase the cellphone can prevent some cash right here). In the event you plan to make use of the cellphone for a number of years, that brings the price consistent with the $899 Fairphone 6 — the extremely repairable system operating privacy-minded software program by Murena. That’s an unlucky actuality: A non-public, safe private system doesn’t come low-cost, it appears.
