←back to thread

Ask HN: Why is it so hard to design an open-source smartphone?

6 points hamburgererror | 4 comments | 16 Oct 25 07:55 UTC | HN request time: 0.227s | source

Following the discussion around Librephone [1], it seems that every project regarding open source smartphones OS are centered around the software only.

Lineage and GrapheneOS have proven that reverse engineering is hard. So I'm wondering why can't we have a project that starts from scratch and build the electronics and the OS? In the same spirit of what Apple did with iPhone+iOS. I'm sorry if I sound naive, I just don't realize how hard it is to design a smartphone.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45586339

1. throwaway81523 ◴[16 Oct 25 08:09 UTC] No.45602707[source]▶
Because of all the secrecy in phone hardware.
replies(1): >>45602756 #
2. hamburgererror ◴[16 Oct 25 08:16 UTC] No.45602756[source]▶
Ok but if we design the hardware ourselves there's no secrecy anymore?
replies(2): >>45602897 #>>45604888 #
3. throwaway81523 ◴[16 Oct 25 08:38 UTC] No.45602897[source]▶
If you design the HW yourself you suddenly need a vastly larger development budget. It's not like x86 stuff where the interfaces have been pretty open since the days of the original IBM PC.
4. raw_anon_1111 ◴[16 Oct 25 13:10 UTC] No.45604888[source]▶
Apple acquired Intels already existing cellular modem business in 2019 and just this year started shipping its own cellular modem and only on low end phones.

If you design the hardware, who are you going to get to manufacture it? How are you going to get TSMC to commit to a low volume?