4 ms·
Why do you say they're "absurdly" under-capitalized? They already make laptops. The phone's hardware seems fairly standard, no risky R&D gambles, and the softwa
by losteric 8y ago
Why do you say they're "absurdly" under-capitalized? They already make laptops. The phone's hardware seems fairly standard, no risky R&D gambles, and the software is Linux/OSS...
- grizzles 8y agoThey re-badge laptops that someone else makes. It's not like they have their own factory in China. In this case they are not re-badging, they are building their own phone and phones are considerably harder to make. There are QA processes that require machines that cost >$1M. It puts them into a situation where they have to trust their manufacturer 100% and pray. Essential spent ~$100M making their phone and they had help from Foxconn and awesome industry connections. $2M isn't gonna cut it.
- auslander 8y agoIt is impossible to run Intel or AMD laptop without using their firmware blobs. Check Libreboot FAQ. Only free thing at the moment is ARM, like Marvell CPUs.