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Comment by GRiMe2D | Hacker News Reader

Every time I see messages and posts like this, I hope that big companies were being dissatisfied with the product factory scaling issue and device sell effectiveness.

I hope that small companies would launch device like this with 500-1000 devices being created and sold in a year just fulfill the niche and doesn't go bankrupt

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I don’t think you could manufacture a small run like that without the price being extremely high.

Say you charge $1,000 per device. That means you need to build an entire company, pay staff, and prototype then manufacture a custom hardware device with customized software with less than a million dollars. Costs add up real fast.

Why does the cost need to be so high? Chinese markets have many small phone options like Soyes and Servo that cost less than $100. Unfortunately, these devices are potentially loaded with malware.

Can a similar device without malware not be made in small batches? At a selling price of $500 or less?

I actually had a brief email conversation with the folks running the project in the OP. Basically they said they can't get a reasonable-quality screen in that size. No one makes it. They would have to spin up a whole new manufacturing line for a quality, small screen and the cost on that is insane. The screens on the small phones you're talking about are very low quality.

I’m pretty sure a manufacturer can cobble something together from existing parts or even white label a phone for you.

The end result will be a $100 quality phone.

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