Punkt’s German-made MC03 smartphone comes to the US this spring

Punkt, the Switzerland-based, privacy-focused phone maker, is trying the whole “smartphone” thing again. 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.

The MC02, released last year, wasn’t exactly a critical darling. Punkt seems to be addressing some of those criticisms with a more modern 6.67-inch 120Hz OLED compared to last year’s 60Hz LCD. The 5,200mAh battery is user-replaceable. The MC03 ships with AphyOS, from the equally privacy-oriented company Apostrophy, and it’s based on AOSP 15 — more current than the AOSP 13-based version the MC02 shipped with, though still a version behind this year’s flagships. The MC03 is IP68 rated, comes with a MediaTek 7300 chipset, and is scheduled to get three OS upgrades and five years of security updates.

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 will cost $699 in the US, and $10 per month after that (though three- and five-year bundle options when you buy the phone can save you some money here). If you plan to use the phone for a few years, that brings the cost in line with the $899 Fairphone 6 — the highly repairable device running privacy-minded software by Murena. That’s an unfortunate reality: A private, secure personal device doesn’t come cheap, it seems.