"The MC03 is the first device to result from Punkt's commitment to assemble phones in Germany. The phones are assembled at a factory in Bocholt belonging to Gigaset, a company that has been making smartphones on German soil since 2018. The parts are sourced from elsewhere, naturally, but moving assembly out of Asia is a significant feat certainly beyond the American company that said it would in 2025."
"As ever, privacy is a major focus for Punkt. AphyOS claims to strip away the background tracking features of Google's services, offering proprietary apps for things like email and calendar while letting you run any app from the Play Store in a secure sandbox. This is where the fee comes in; since you're not the product, you'll need to pay up."
"The MC03 improves on some of the disappointing features of its previous effort, the MC02, while maintaining its security focus. Likewise, its software still comes with a subscription fee: the first year is included free, but it's $12 per month after that. On top of that, the MC03 is Punkt's first phone to be assembled in Europe rather than Asia, making good on its promise from earlier this year."
Punkt's MC03 is a privacy-focused smartphone that upgrades hardware from the MC02 while keeping a security emphasis. The phone includes a 6.67-inch 120Hz OLED display, a user-replaceable 5,200mAh battery, IP68 rating, and a MediaTek 7300 chipset. The device runs AphyOS based on AOSP 15, provides proprietary email and calendar apps, removes background tracking from Google services, and runs Play Store apps in a secure sandbox. Software requires a subscription with the first year free and ongoing monthly fees (listed as $12/month and a $10/month US option). The MC03 is priced at $699 in the US, assembled in Bocholt, Germany, and slated for three OS upgrades plus five years of security updates.
Read at www.theverge.com
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