You’ll soon be able to buy the world’s first carbon fibre phone
While foldables and 5G are all the rage right now, one relatively unknown company has been hard at work developing a first-of-its-kind phone that moves in a different direction. The Carbon 1 Mark II is the world’s first carbon fibre-bodied smartphone and we’ve spent some time with it.
There’s a strong chance you’ve never heard of creator, Carbon Mobile, despite the company having been in operation since 2016. The Berlin-based organisation bills itself as a “conceptual technology company,” an apt description considering the only products its unveiled so far have been exactly that.
As you might have spotted from the name, similarly to Sony’s freshly-announced 2020 flagship (theXperia 1 II) this is, in fact, the second iteration of the Carbon 1. The first version was showcased briefly at technology events across Europe and the Middle East a couple of years ago but it never made beyond a basic proof of concept.
Carbon Mobile has been using the time since (along with the response from its original endeavour) to inform the Carbon 1 Mark II – a near-consumer-ready (at the time of writing) revision that still holds the first phone’s principles at heart of being impressively thin (6.9mm) and hewn from carbon fibre.
Mirroring that of Formula 1 cars (at a push), theCarbon 1 Mark II employs a carbon monocoque chassis, which should help with rigidity and resilience – especially for a device as thin as this.
Despite its astoundingly slender profile, the phone still incorporates a USB-C port, metal hardware controls along its right side and a separate side-mounted fingerprint sensor. The bezels along each side of its 6in AMOLED display are also pleasingly thin, while there’s a slight chin and forehead – the latter of which means there’s no notch and room for a 20MP front-facing camera.
Handling the Carbon 1 Mark II, it doesn’t even feel like a real product. At 125 grams it’s criminally lightweight (I first thought I’d been handed a dummy unit, until the screen flashed to life), weighing in at 50 grams less than the similarly-sizediPhone 11.
The company is aiming the Carbon 1 Mark II at its existing fanbase of ‘Carbonizers’, as well as those interested in the ‘performance lifestyle’ – those that might already have an appreciation for carbon fibre through a love of cycling, sailing, Formula 1 and the like – to use the company’s examples.
Not unlike Lenovo’s intent with thenew Motorola RAZR, appealing to a niche audience makes sense, as the device can’t compete with the big mobile manufacturers from a performance standpoint, instead it’s hoping to stand out with its design, build and exclusivity.
It turns out working with carbon fibre at scale is a costly and difficult affair, and it’s likely the reason the likes of Samsung and Huawei haven’t released a carbon fibre-bodied mobile of their own as of yet. Carbon Mobile intends to release an initial run of just 2000 units and €800 a pop, with an estimated delivery date for this first batch of late June 2020.
For the price, the Carbon 1 Mark II is going up against the likes of theGoogle Pixel 4and the iPhone 11, meaning interested parties really need to be won over by the allure of carbon fibre to want tolay down their cash.
