Canonical Announces Ubuntu Smartphones
Phone vendor partnerships bring Mark Shuttleworth's dream of Ubuntu on a phone a step closer to reality.
Canonical crossed a major hurdle in its effort to enter the mobile arena with the announcement that two mobile phone makers have agreed to manufacture Ubuntu smartphones. The Chinese Meizu MX3 and Spanish BQ Aquarius phones will appear in 2014 Ubuntu on the inside. Although these phones are not yet operational, prototypes appeared this week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Canonical announced its plan to enter the smartphone market in 2011 and since then has been very public about rallying interest and support for the goal. The company even attempted a massive but unsuccessful crowdfunding effort last year to develop the Ubuntu Edge phone as a prototype superphone that could operate as a mobile device but still run standard Linux desktop applications. However, real traction in the smartphone market requires an alliance with a hardware vendor, and Canonical's limited success with establishing hardware partnerships had caused many to believe a real-world Ubuntu phone was still far in the future.
The agreements will give Canonical valuable experience with the smartphone business and allow them to start building a resume that could lead to future phone deals.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
New KDE Slimbook Plasma Available for Preorder
Powered by an AMD Ryzen CPU, the latest KDE Slimbook laptop is powerful enough for local AI tasks.
-
Rhino Linux Announces Latest "Quick Update"
If you prefer your Linux distribution to be of the rolling type, Rhino Linux delivers a beautiful and reliable experience.
-
Plasma Desktop Will Soon Ask for Donations
The next iteration of Plasma has reached the soft feature freeze for the 6.2 version and includes a feature that could be divisive.
-
Linux Market Share Hits New High
For the first time, the Linux market share has reached a new high for desktops, and the trend looks like it will continue.
-
LibreOffice 24.8 Delivers New Features
LibreOffice is often considered the de facto standard office suite for the Linux operating system.
-
Deepin 23 Offers Wayland Support and New AI Tool
Deepin has been considered one of the most beautiful desktop operating systems for a long time and the arrival of version 23 has bolstered that reputation.
-
CachyOS Adds Support for System76's COSMIC Desktop
The August 2024 release of CachyOS includes support for the COSMIC desktop as well as some important bits for video.
-
Linux Foundation Adopts OMI to Foster Ethical LLMs
The Open Model Initiative hopes to create community LLMs that rival proprietary models but avoid restrictive licensing that limits usage.
-
Ubuntu 24.10 to Include the Latest Linux Kernel
Ubuntu users have grown accustomed to their favorite distribution shipping with a kernel that's not quite as up-to-date as other distros but that changes with 24.10.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1.4 Release Includes Improvements and Bug Fixes
The latest release from the KDE team improves the KWin window and composite managers and plenty of fixes.