The Light Phone III Remains Distraction-Free While Introducing a Few Modern Features

Designed to be used “as little as possible” the debut Light Phone was as bare bones as it gets. The 2015 model was solely capable of making and receiving texts and phone calls and could hold only 10 contacts at a time. It also ran on a prepaid SIM card that came with 500 minutes of call time.

A second iteration, the Light Phone II, arrived in 2018 with a few tweaks, like an “E-Ink” touchscreen, more room for contacts and now ran on 4G LTE, like a typical cell phone.

Three years later, the Brooklyn-based company opened pre-orders for the newly-launched 5G Light Phone III. Nearly ten years since fundraising began for the original model, the third version of the phone seeks to uphold the same design principles – a brick-like silhouette with a monochromatic screen – while adopting just a select few modern features.

The Light Phone III features a larger OLED display, though the screen is still completely matte like the original. An NFC chip allows users to use the phone to make payments, similar to Apple Pay. The phone has also introduced a flashlight and camera for the first time, the latter of which was inspired by point-and-shoot cameras. To top it off, the Light Phone III boasts a longer battery life than the previous models.

Light Phone founders Joe Hollier and Kaiwei Tang maintain that, despite some handy modernizations, the Light Phone will never contain email, social media or Internet access as part of their ongoing mission to offer just the essentials and encourage the “most thoughtful and intentional version” of oneself.

Pre-orders for the Light Phone III are available at a limited-time-only price of $399 USD from now until July 15 on the brand’s website. After the pre-order window closes, the phone will retail for $799 USD.