3 ms·

I've been following Purism for a month or so, and I love the idea of the Librem 5, but is the phone really going to be worth $2,000?

Rooster61 6y ago
Only the US-produced version is $2000, and that's an accurate price considering the difficulty of manufacturing an entire phone platform domestically. The regular version is $799.
SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
You aren't buying a phone when you buy the librem 5. You are funding the development of open source phones so there will eventually be a v2 and v3 which are better value for money when the hard work was done in v1.
- inquirerofsorts 6y ago
  > You are funding the development of open source phones You're funding a FOSS operating system and a phone with some security features. We already have dozens of open source mobile OS's, the hardware design is still proprietary. What's really needed is an open source baseband firmware and no one is funding that sadly. Despite the baseband/cpu isolation I fear it still has a host of vulnerabilities up its sleeve. One AT command away from certain doom (yes that's sarcastic hyperbole with a sliver of truth)
  - m463 6y ago
    The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
- solarkraft 6y ago
  You're also funding the allegedly inefficient supply chain. Too bad I can't find the post about it right now, it was from an ex-purism guy. Edit: It's the top one of the two linked by pengaru (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25143382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25143382 / https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zlatan-Todoric-Interview https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zlatan-T...). > Purism seemingly never tried to get better deal and the South San Francisco partner abused this so that is why Purism Librems are double the price they should be.
eptcyka 6y ago
Worth is relative. It won't be packed full of 2000$ worth of Android or Apple flagship hardware. But it will cost around 2000$ to deliver this specific product in the manner it's being delivered.
- zepto 6y ago
  How is the pine phone $200 with only slightly lower specs?
  - seba_dos1 6y ago
    The PinePhone isn't assembled in a US factory, for starters ($2000 refers only to the special "Librem 5 USA" edition with tightened supply chain).
    - zepto 6y ago
      Sure, but 10x is a lot.
      - seba_dos1 6y ago
        Of course. USA assembly is pretty expensive though, it's a low volume product (so the cost of setting up additional factory won't get distributed across many devices) and I'm not aware of any competition there, so the final price is hardly surprising IMO. The regular version costs "just" 4 times the PinePhone price, but with Librem 5 you get not only more powerful hardware with more expensive components, but also warranty, continued software development and tech support.
poita66 6y ago
The made-in-USA version is $2,000, but the made-in-China version is $800, so it's only $2,000 if you want your phone to be made in the USA.
- ianmobbs 6y ago
  Ah missed that, thanks
- ghastmaster 6y ago
  What's great is they list the country of origin for each component on the product page of the USA version. Love the transparency. Some of the parts are not from the USA.

Rooster61 6y ago

Only the US-produced version is $2000, and that's an accurate price considering the difficulty of manufacturing an entire phone platform domestically. The regular version is $799.

SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago

You aren't buying a phone when you buy the librem 5. You are funding the development of open source phones so there will eventually be a v2 and v3 which are better value for money when the hard work was done in v1.

inquirerofsorts 6y ago
> You are funding the development of open source phones You're funding a FOSS operating system and a phone with some security features. We already have dozens of open source mobile OS's, the hardware design is still proprietary. What's really needed is an open source baseband firmware and no one is funding that sadly. Despite the baseband/cpu isolation I fear it still has a host of vulnerabilities up its sleeve. One AT command away from certain doom (yes that's sarcastic hyperbole with a sliver of truth)
- m463 6y ago
  The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
solarkraft 6y ago
You're also funding the allegedly inefficient supply chain. Too bad I can't find the post about it right now, it was from an ex-purism guy. Edit: It's the top one of the two linked by pengaru (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25143382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25143382 / https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zlatan-Todoric-Interview https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zlatan-T...). > Purism seemingly never tried to get better deal and the South San Francisco partner abused this so that is why Purism Librems are double the price they should be.

eptcyka 6y ago

Worth is relative. It won't be packed full of 2000$ worth of Android or Apple flagship hardware. But it will cost around 2000$ to deliver this specific product in the manner it's being delivered.

zepto 6y ago
How is the pine phone $200 with only slightly lower specs?
- seba_dos1 6y ago
  The PinePhone isn't assembled in a US factory, for starters ($2000 refers only to the special "Librem 5 USA" edition with tightened supply chain).
  - zepto 6y ago
    Sure, but 10x is a lot.
    - seba_dos1 6y ago
      Of course. USA assembly is pretty expensive though, it's a low volume product (so the cost of setting up additional factory won't get distributed across many devices) and I'm not aware of any competition there, so the final price is hardly surprising IMO. The regular version costs "just" 4 times the PinePhone price, but with Librem 5 you get not only more powerful hardware with more expensive components, but also warranty, continued software development and tech support.

poita66 6y ago

The made-in-USA version is $2,000, but the made-in-China version is $800, so it's only $2,000 if you want your phone to be made in the USA.

ianmobbs 6y ago
Ah missed that, thanks
ghastmaster 6y ago
What's great is they list the country of origin for each component on the product page of the USA version. Love the transparency. Some of the parts are not from the USA.