Hardware far outlasts software in the smartphone world, due to aggressive chronic designed obsolescence by market abusing monopolies. So I will never buy a new smartphone - don’t want to feed those scumbags. I am however willing to buy used smartphones on the 2nd-hand market if they can be liberated. Of course it’s still only marginally BifL even if you don’t have demanding needs.
Has anyone gone down this path? My temptation is to find a phone that is simultaneously supported by 2 or 3 different FOSS OS projects. So if it falls out of maintence on one platform it’s not the end. The Postmarket OS (pmOS) page has a full list and a short list. The short list apparently covers devices that are actively maintained and up to date, which are also listed here. Then phones on that shortlist can be cross-referenced with the LineageOS list or the Sailfish list, which seems to be exclusively Sony¹.
So many FOSS phone platforms seem to come and go I’ve not kept up on it. What others are worth considering? It looks like the Replicant device list hasn’t changed much.
(update) Graphene OS has a list of supported devices
(and it appears they don’t maintain old devices)
Pixel 9 Pro Fold (comet)
Pixel 9 Pro XL (komodo)
Pixel 9 Pro (caiman)
Pixel 9 (tokay)
Pixel 8a (akita)
Pixel 8 Pro (husky)
Pixel 8 (shiba)
Pixel Fold (felix)
Pixel Tablet (tangorpro)
Pixel 7a (lynx)
Pixel 7 Pro (cheetah)
Pixel 7 (panther)
Pixel 6a (bluejay)
Pixel 6 Pro (raven)
Pixel 6 (oriole)
(update 2) Calyx OS has an interesting list some of which overlaps with pmOS
Calyx OS list
Device /Latest CalyxOS version /Release date
Pixel 8a /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel 8 Pro /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel 8 /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel Fold /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel Tablet /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel 7a /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel 7 Pro /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel 7 /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel 6a /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel 6 Pro /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel 6 /5.12.2-2 /2024-11-04
Pixel 5a (5G) /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Pixel 4a (5G) /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Pixel 5 /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Pixel 4a /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Pixel 4 XL /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Pixel 4 /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Pixel 3a XL /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Pixel 3a /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Pixel 3 XL /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Pixel 3 /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Fairphone 4 /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Fairphone 5 /5.12.1-4 /2024-10-11
SHIFT6mq /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Moto G32 /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
Moto G42 /5.12.1-4 /2024-10-11
Moto G52 /5.12.1-2 /2024-10-11
So Graphene’s mission is a bit orthoganol to the mission of Postmarket OS. Perhaps it makes sense for some people to get a Graphene-compatible device then hope they can switch to pmOS when it gets dropped. But I guess that’s not much of a budget plan. Pixel 6+ are likely not going to be dirt cheap on the 2nd-hand market. Worth noting that these phones are supported by both pmOS and Calyx OS:
- Fairphone 4
- Google Pixel 3a
- SHIFT SHIFT6mq
¹ Caution about Sony: they are an ALEC member who supports hard-right politics. They were also caught using GNU software in their DRM shit which violated FOSS licensing in a component designed to oppress. Obviously buying a new Sony thing is unethical. But perhaps a 2nd-hand one is fine. It’s still dicey though because the 2nd-hand market still feeds the 1st-hand market and rewards the original consumer. Sometimes it’s clear you’re not buying from an original owner, like someone on the street with a box of 100+ phones.
I have a Fairphone 4, as well, and I bought it for the very same reason. The previous phone was not a high end model, but it worked well enough for me until the battery just died from one day to the next. Was nothing I could do as it was glued and soldered, and there was no way for an amateur like me to replace it, so all of that still working hardware had to be recycled. That first made me angry, then it made me think, and I looked around and found the FP4 with its promise of being able to replace not just the battery but everything else as well, as well as extensive, long term software support. I have seen two major Android version updates already, and regular security and feature updates, so I am very happy with my buying decision.