this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2025
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Why did PinePhone fail? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 days ago by weirdo_from_space@sh.itjust.works to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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Six years ago the entire Linux enthusiast space was super excited for the PinePhone, then everything fell apart. What went wrong? Was PINE64's favoritism towards Manjaro the sole issue or were there other problems?

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[–] carzian@lemmy.ml 65 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

So I think there were a few issues.

  • the original pinephone was basically too slow to be usable
  • there were a few hardware quirks that had to be fixed in software but made mainlining drivers for it difficult
  • the lack of community updates (and you could argue overall community management) caused some developers to move away while also impeded pine64s ability to attract new developers
  • the lack of any sort of funding for developers made it difficult for people to work on as any more than a hobby (not necessarily pine64's fault, but it's the reality)
  • poor battery life (better idle and sleep support would have been software issues but the hardware was designed to be cheap instead of really useful)
  • daily driving Linux on a phone is a poor experience - not pine64s fault but there's a bunch of support missing in Linux that needs to be developed before early adopters can really use Linux phones. Modem power management, audio switching between Bluetooth and speaker, MMS support, camera support, etc.