Light made a flip phone. It’s colorful and it’s cheap.
The startup Light is launching the 'Light Flip,' a minimalist, non-touchscreen phone designed to meet the demand for simpler, tactile devices. Priced at $299, the device aims to offer a more affordable alternative to their previous high-end minimalist smartphones.
Why it matters
This reflects a growing niche market trend among Gen Z users seeking to reduce screen time and digital distraction.
Kaiwei Tang helped create the iconic Motorola Razr over 20 years ago. Now, 10 years into building Light, the startup behind the minimalist smartphone alternative Light Phone , he’s as surprised as anyone that his customers are begging for a flip phone .
“We’ve been interviewing young people that use flip phones for a few years,” Tang told TechCrunch, describing a pattern his team kept running into: Gen Z users love their flip phones but say the build quality is bad. “They’re describing the flip phones in negative language, but they stick with it, and they feel proud.”
So Tang and co-founder Joe Hollier had an idea. What if Light took the fast, custom software from its last three touch screen phones and put it into a flip phone? That’s how they decided to build the Light Flip, the most affordable device that Light has ever released.
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