As Apple prepares to introduce AI-powered features for the iPhone, another company is taking the opposite approach: instead of making phones with more tech, it's opting for less. Light, a maker of minimalist phones with e-paper screens, has unveiled its latest model, the Light Phone III.
Like its predecessor, the Lite Phone III has a simple black-and-white display and no access to social media, the internet, or email, but unlike Lite's previous phones, the Lite Phone III has a larger OLED display and an NFC chip for future payment tools, as well as a camera for capturing those moments you don't want to miss if you leave your smartphone at home.
The goal of the new device is to improve usability and performance, says Light co-founder Joe Hollier. The new Light Phone III is larger than the previous model, about the same width as most iPhones, but significantly shorter. It's closer to the BlackBerry in terms of form factor. This makes it easier to hold the phone vertically and type, the team says. Additionally, the AMOLED screen only lights up white pixels, and when combined with the matte glass, it looks more like the previous Light Phone II.
“It will retain many of the characteristics that people love about e-ink screens. [with it] “It feels completely different from a glossy smartphone screen,” Hollier says.
Image credit: Light
Hollier and Kaiwei Tan founded Light in September 2014. It was originally launched as a Kickstarter project aimed at people looking to break their smartphone addiction. The company has shipped more than 100,000 devices across its first two models, the Light Phone I and the Light Phone II, with the latter accounting for roughly two-thirds of the total.
The appeal of the Lite Phone is that you don't have to give up any of the convenient aspects of modern smartphone technology, such as built-in access to maps and navigation, calling, text messaging, notes and voice memos, calendars, timers, alarms, calculators, hotspots, simple music players and podcast tools, etc. Instead, what the device offers is a way to get away from the kind of technology that some people find unnecessary, such as social media apps, clickbait news and the need to call up a web browser to connect to the internet.
Image credit: Light
Light phone owners can use their unlocked devices with their own carrier, or they can opt for Light's $30-per-month phone plan with 1GB of data, with more expensive plans available for $45 or $70 per month with 5GB or unlimited data, respectively.
The phone has a niche following among 25-40 year olds, most of whom use it as their primary phone along with a tablet or laptop for extended internet connectivity, while a smaller group might switch to a light phone when they need a break, wanting to go “offline” on weekends or holidays but not wanting to be cut off from communication in an emergency.
The Light Phone III will target a wider audience of users who already use devices other than smartphones as their primary device.
Image credit: Light
The Light Phone, like its other devices, will also appeal to the privacy-conscious: When you use features like directions and navigation, Light pays to get that logic privately for you, meaning big tech companies like Google don't track or share your data when you use those features.
Besides the new form factor and OLED screen, the most notable addition is the camera. It's not on par with the cameras found in premium smartphones like the iPhone or Google Pixel, but rather a center-focus camera with no zoom, giving it more of a point-and-shoot feel. A dedicated shutter button focuses the photo when pressed halfway and takes the picture when pressed all the way in.
Another new feature is the light wheel, which lets you adjust the screen brightness by turning the knob to make it brighter or dimmer when you're outdoors or indoors.
Image credit: Light
The larger phone has more antenna bands, which is why there's only one model this time around instead of separate ones for North America and Europe. The sides of the phone's case are aluminum, and the speaker grille at the bottom is made from recycled plastic. The Light Phone III has a larger speaker for listening to music and podcasts, or using the speakerphone.
The power button now has a fingerprint ID built into it, making it easier to open and use the phone.The 5G-enabled phone also has 6GB of RAM (up from 1GB in the Light Phone II), 128GB of memory (up from 8GB), and a more modern Qualcomm chip.
Meanwhile, the battery, which is roughly twice the size of the previous version, will be user-replaceable, or you can send the phone back to Light to have it replaced, which will likely cost less than $50.
Image credit: Light
These upgrades mean the new devices are more expensive — the Light Phone III is $799 compared to $299 for the Light Phone II — though the latter will still be sold for those who prefer the e-ink version.
“We're asking the question: will the phone last five years, even 10 years? We've got metals, higher quality materials, removable batteries, and better ways to replace screens and other parts wherever possible,” Hollier said. “We're trying to make a more sustainable phone, and the $799 price point really represents that in that respect.”
Early bird buyers of the Light Phone III can pre-order the new product for $399, a 50% discount. As with crowdfunding, these pre-orders will help Light move toward its first mass production run with Foxconn. Three production runs in total will be completed by late November, with orders expected to start shipping in January 2025.
From 2015 to 2024, Light has raised approximately $11 million from over 80 VCs and angels, including Bullish VC, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, Lyft co-founder John Zimmer, Tim Kendall (Facebook/Pinterest), Scott Belsky (Adobe), Wisdom Venture, Dave Free (pgLang), Pete Davidson (SNL), Able Partners, Gaingels, Heroic Ventures, Hinge Capital, White Bay Group, New Lab Ventures, SOSV, and Foxconn. As of 2022 (the last valuation used to raise equity), Light is valued at $24 million pre-funding.
Full Light Phone III specifications:
Dimensions: 106mm x 71.5mm x 12mm
Weight: 124g
Network: 5G + 4GLTE
Display: 3.92″ AMOLED (1080×1240)
Screen: Matte glass
Port: USB-C 2.0
Camera: 50m rear / 8m front
SIM: Nano SIM + E-SIM
Memory: 128GB / 6GB RAM
Battery: 1800mAH
Sound: 2 microphones (noise cancelling), 2 stereo speakers
Function: GPS, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, Fingerprint ID
Materials: Aluminum, glass, SORPLAS recycled plastic
Chipset: Qualcomm SM 4450
IP rating: IP 54