The New Minimalist Flip Phone Gen Z Is Going To Love (And For Good Reason)

The necromancers over at Commodore have already resurrected the Commodore 64 in the form of the C64 Ultimate edition, a nostalgia-drenched recreation of the original hardware from the 1980s. With the launch of the new C64 Ultimate, Commodore declared that the device –- and the company itself –- is bringing retro computing back to the forefront.

The underlying intention is digital detoxing and a renewed focus on simpler tech. Commodore is encouraging users to disconnect from social media, the web, doom scrolling, and the almighty algorithm, and reconnect with the world around them. It's fitting, then, that Commodore's next digital detox device is a phone — a Y2K-inspired flip phone meant to be a middle ground between a dumb phone and a smartphone. 

The Commodore Callback 8020 is a minimalist flip phone, designed to channel the techno-optimism of the early aughts –- Gen Z is going to love it, and here's why. In a recent YouGov poll 47% of adults under 30 claimed they are intentionally trying to reduce screen time. Gen Z has been scooping up older tech of late and disconnecting from screens coinciding with other trends. Even old iPods are in their crosshairs in an effort to get off the internet and make listening to music more intentional.

Flip phones — even "retro flip phones" — are not a new concept, but the premise of the Callback's digital detox is that it isn't putting the onus of reduced screen time on the user's willpower alone; it's built in. Commodore's retro flip phone is attempting to bring together the modern parts of a phone that users need, and strip away what's not needed. It even comes in a translucent 90s-themed clamshell phone, that would not only appeal to minimalists or Gen Z, but also millennials of a certain age. Perhaps the boldest move is that social media and web browsers are blocked at a system level. That's likely a friction point for some, but those apps are obviously antithetical to a device like this, or any of the other most popular dumbphones.

The hardware powering the phone is fairly modest compared to flagship smartphones: You get a MediaTek Helio G81 SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, support for HD audio and lossless files, premium DAC chips courtesy of ESS & Cirrus Logic (the latter of which who also provided speech synthesis in Commodore games like Ghostbusters and Impossible Mission), and a 48Mp Sony camera.

The phone will run a fork of the Linux-based SailOS, which Commodore claims will run 99% of Android apps, presumably through an Android compatibility layer. Messaging platforms like Slack, Teams, or Discord are not supported, but WhatsApp & SMS are preinstalled. Additionally, you can use Signal, WeChat, and Telegram. Keeping with the late 90s theme, there's also predictive T9 texting and LED dome lights on the front panel to alert you to basic notifications, like a waiting text message.

It goes without saying that using a phone like the Callback 8020 means making a conscious choice about how you want to use a phone. Commodore makes no concessions about its ethos with the Callback, drawing a hard line between modern technology and a certain amount of sensibility from the early computing and mobile phone days –- harkening back to a time where there was no constant connection to a digital world with everything from social media to work is competing for your attention.

Whether or not Commodore has struck the right balance of modern and retro remains to be seen, but there are several reasons why minimalist phones are having a moment, and Commodore has certainly entered the market at the right time. The Callback 8020 will have a starting price of $399, which was recently reduced from $499, and will come in 5 colorways: BASIC Beige, Founders Edition (featuring gold-accents), ProtoPET, Starlight Edition, and SX Silver. Pre-orders begin on June 30th at Commodore's website, and orders are expected to ship closer to the end of the year.