It's nearly impossible to get a "moonshot" phone going that attempts to displace iOS or Android. Most of these projects failed because they went too big. Making

It's nearly impossible to get a "moonshot" phone going that attempts to displace iOS or Android. Most of these projects failed because they went too big. Making a phone is hard enough, but reinventing an entire ecosystem is pretty much impossible. In my opinion, what Purism and Pine64 are doing is the right approach. Make a low-volume device for an existing operating system, without an additional "platform" layer on top. There are enough privacy and tech enthusiasts to sustain a small-volume manufacturer if you can make a functional device and keep costs down (which admittedly is a difficult problem). It's similar to the current micro-laptops that are popping up, or e-ink tablets. There's not a ton of demand, but they aren't going bankrupt.