Linux Phones

This past week: postmarketOS v25.12 released with Alpine 3.23, APK V3, GNOME 49, Plasma Mobile 6.5.3, Phosh 0.51, postmarketOS edge reworks USB stack (with MTP support), FuriLabs FLX1s in stock and shipping, MNT Reform Touch prototype debuts at 39c3, autofocus working on Jolla C2 with Unisoc chipset (with close-to-mainline), and Reflection local-first note-taking app hits Flathub Beta. Enjoy!

This is the last Weekly Update of the year, collected on the (early) train home from #39c3. I hope to manage to come up with a

"Year in Review" post in the remaining days of 2025, but since that may not materialize, I wish you, dear reader, a really wonderful, Happy New Year 2026!

I've found it on Reddit today, it's built on PostmarketOS and aims to replicate Blackberry 10 experience. Posting here because it looks much nicer than Phosh and I've never heard of it, despite following mobile linux communities.

postmarketOS, an Alpine-based Linux distro designed to run on smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, has published its 25.12 release, concluding a six-month development cycle with updates to the distribution’s base system, package management, user interfaces, and device support.

At the foundation of 25.12 is an upgrade to the recently released Alpine Linux 3.23. This base includes the newly released version 3 of Alpine’s package manager, apk. Apk v3 introduces changes intended to improve reliability, including downloading packages before installation, and comprehensive logging of package operations to /var/log/apk.log.

User interface components received broad updates. GNOME was advanced to version 49; the mobile variant remains on GNOME 48.mobile. KDE Plasma Mobile was updated to 6.5.3, bringing enhancements such as improved Waydroid integration, faster lockscreen loading, and homescreen refinements.

This past week: VoidPhone is a FuriPhone aimed at businesses (with MDM and such), postmarketOS publishes transparency report on contributor compensation from donations and now ships systemd built from unpatched upstream source code thanks to merged musl libc support, v25.12 testing phase begins, Nemo Mobile boots on openSUSE, Jolla's "The Other Half" extensible covers could add hardware capabilities like physical keyboards or extra battery, and Lomiri being shipped in yet another distro. Enjoy!

SoC and modem

• The SoC will be an unpublished MediaTek Dimensity 7000 series chipset. As it is still unpublished we can’t disclose details about it and need to wait the SoC vendor publications
• For the 12/256GB memories we’re shooting for LPDDR5 for the RAM and UFS3.1 for the mass storage, both from top tier Korean vendors. Please note, there is an unseen global shortage on memory chips which may effect the availability of memory types, thus we’ll confirm the particular memory types closer to the mass production.
• For the cellular bands we have been able to fit the following 4G & 5G bands:
  • LTE FDD: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28AB, 66
  • LTE TDD: 34, 38, 39, 40, 41 5G NR: n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n26, n28, n38, n40, n41, n66, n77, n78
• In regards the SIM configuration, it will be a single tray dual-sided nano-SIM with a separate slot for the microSDXC. I.e. in total 3-slots in one tray.

Cameras

• The primary back camera will feature Sony IMX766 AF 50MP sensor module, known for its quality and performance within the price range The secondary back camera will be a 13MP ultrawide AF Sony IMX214
• Front camera is set to be a 32MP wide lens FF Sony IMX616

Size and the battery

we’re able to find a physically smaller (and slimmer) battery on the same capacity, i.e with a higher density. (...) Thus, the length of the device looks like will be 1-2mm shorter than the original spec.

This past week: Divine D Rev 1.1 gains attention and other new devices, someone resurrects a Nokia N900 with supercapacitor "battery" and USB-C port, Jolla announces "The Other Half" extensible backcovers return at 10,000 pre-orders, mobile-config-firefox 5.0.0 launches with new about:mobile page, postmarketOS hardware CI and pre-release 25.12 call for testing, and more! Enjoy!

The Other Half (TOH) is a swappable back cover that does more than protect your phone — it transforms it. The original Jolla Phone (2013) pioneered this with open I2C interface and NFC-enabled covers that changed themes and behaviour just by snapping on

(...)

With the new Jolla Phone, we’re taking TOH even further — and we’ll open source the hardware and software interface specs so anyone can design, 3D-print, or produce their own modules. Primarily we plan that the new The Other Half interface would be based on I³C.

Just a few days ago, we reported on Jolla’s push for a new Linux phone, which needed at least 2,000 pre-orders to move forward. Now, only days later, there’s good news: interest in the device has surpassed all expectations.

Jolla’s community-funded smartphone project has cleared its production threshold, securing more than 3,200 pre-orders. The strong response ensures that the new Linux phone, developed under the Do It Together (DIT) model, will move forward into manufacturing, with Batch #1 already sold out and Batch #2 now available.

This past week: Jolla Phone pre-orders open for €499 with MediaTek 5G, 12GB RAM, replaceable battery, and physical privacy switch—hitting the 2,000-unit goal in under a week, (some) audio finally works on Fairphone 5 with postmarketOS, Ubuntu Touch 24.04-1.1 and 20.04 OTA-11 expand VoLTE to Fairphone 4 and remaining Volla Phone 22 variants, Divine D reveals Rev 1.1 hardware architecture, Phosh contributors meeting dates confirmed for May 2026, and Alpine Linux 3.23.0 arrives. Enjoy!

Audio through speakers support for the FP5 on PostmarketOS also made a big breakthrough this week.

Finnish company Jolla started out 14 years ago where Nokia left off with MeeGo and developed Sailfish OS as a new Linux smartphone platform. Jolla released their first smartphone in 2013 after crowdfunding but ultimately the Sailfish OS focus the past number of years now has been offering their software stack for use on other smartphone devices. But now it seems they are trying again with a new crowd-funded smartphone.

Sailfish OS has supported a number of Sony Xperia smartphones and a variety of OnePlus / Samsung / Google / Xiaomi devices and more maintained by the community. Last year Jolla also announced an "AI computer" as part of the AI hardware craze. Now though they are apparently trying again at their own in-house smartphone.

This past week: RK3588's phone news: Liberux NEXX secures new funding after failed crowdfunding, dawndrums wraps up a major Divine D development phase; Wayland Protocols 1.46 brings experimental text input improvements, Flathub explores sustainable app maintenance that respects developers rather than exploiting them, postmarketOS seeks wallpaper votes for v25.12, Ubuntu Touch Q&A 179 delivers, a Phosh meetup happening Thursday in Bonn, some FOSDEM foreshadowing, and more. Enjoy!

This past week: Waydroid 1.6.0 adds native Android notification forwarding to the host, FEX makes running x86 Steam games on ARM phones remarkably easy, the farphone project shows how to repurpose smartphones as tiny web servers, postmarketOS calls for immutable Duranium testers, Fairphone 4 camera produces "90s-style" photos with mainline kernel, Ubuntu Touch working on move to Qt6, and a new mainlining community launches on the threadiverse. Enjoy!