The problem is that whatever company sells custom ROM cell phones is going to need to eat the support costs for these phones. You’re also going to need to deal with customers who are going to lose access to a mainstream app store.
Yeah, I get that. I was just thinking, because I like how Samsung has beast of phones, in terms of hardware, but their software is bloated so I was thinking how cool would be if there is phone with Samsung hardware, but software like lineageOS and others similar.
It is going to cost money to buy phones, unpack them, upload the OS, test the product, then repack them and ship them. I would expect that to cost at least $20, probably more.
Then, after that, you have to maintain the phone software for several years. That includes testing the builds, which will likely be at least tens of thousands of dollars for each update.
So, you’re adding all this cost to a phone and for what? A phone that will be less capable than what is currently sold? And, likely, those who would be more likely to purchase this service can do it themselves.
It is going to cost money to buy phones, unpack them, upload the OS, test the product, then repack them and ship them. I would expect that to cost at least $20, probably more.
€50, based on the discount on stock ROM, although €20 out of that goes to GrapheneOS apparently. Based on donation amounts, they sold 67 of them in 2024
Legally, it wouldn’t be a problem.
The problem is that whatever company sells custom ROM cell phones is going to need to eat the support costs for these phones. You’re also going to need to deal with customers who are going to lose access to a mainstream app store.
Yeah, I get that. I was just thinking, because I like how Samsung has beast of phones, in terms of hardware, but their software is bloated so I was thinking how cool would be if there is phone with Samsung hardware, but software like lineageOS and others similar.
The problem is the economics of what you want.
It is going to cost money to buy phones, unpack them, upload the OS, test the product, then repack them and ship them. I would expect that to cost at least $20, probably more.
Then, after that, you have to maintain the phone software for several years. That includes testing the builds, which will likely be at least tens of thousands of dollars for each update.
So, you’re adding all this cost to a phone and for what? A phone that will be less capable than what is currently sold? And, likely, those who would be more likely to purchase this service can do it themselves.
Well, proxysto.re does that with GrapheneOS: https://shop.proxysto.re/de/i/pixel/
€50, based on the discount on stock ROM, although €20 out of that goes to GrapheneOS apparently. Based on donation amounts, they sold 67 of them in 2024