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Young adults are re-sparking interest in a throwback technology.
Over the past 11 years, Light co-founders Kaiwei Tang and Joe Hollier have released three minimalist phone models. Their newest release will have an even simpler, more pared-back style, plus a particularly satisfying way to hang up the phone: flipping it closed.
The Light Flip, available for pre-order starting July 21, will ship its first batch in April 2027. The model will come in six colors, a departure from their singular black Light Phone III, and utilizes an entirely tactile button menu with predictive T9 typing. There are voice messages and voice-to-text capabilities, though the founders hope the Light Flip design encourages more phone calls and less emphasis on texting for communication.
Founded in 2015, Light has seen demand for a flip phone mounting from all sides in the past few years, whether from the teen Luddite Club, or parents in the Bible-belt. Tang, who worked on the Motorola Razr in 2005, was initially shocked to learn how many young people were embracing flip phones. Just as young people were excited about new flip phones at their birth, he noticed that now, young adults are re-sparking interest in this throwback technology.
“ It’s not just temporary, like they’re proud of the flip phone,” Tang told Inc. “They’re proud of the action of opening up and closing it, and stand opposite of all this AI laziness and all the smartphones that all the tech companies are pushing.”
Tang noticed there wasn’t a modern flip phone on the market that provided exactly what these users were searching for. Either the phones came pre-loaded with the same distracting and addicting apps that users ditched their smartphones to escape, or the opposite problem existed. The phones were out of date, unrepairable and hard to navigate.
The new Light Flip’s display is 2.8 inches tall, and when closed, the outside has a camera, flashlight and notification light. The body will have a USB-C charging port and 3.5mm AUX headphone jack. It operates on a 5G and 4LTE network and is compatible with most major carriers, though they are also offering their own Light carrier service.
Affordability was a big interest when creating this model, so the phone will be available for $39/month with the light carrier plan for 24 months. If users decide against using Light’s phone plan, the Flip costs $299 flat.
The Light Flip will have a user-replaceable battery that can extend the phone’s life after the initial battery degrades within a few years, hoping to solve that repairability issue that many face with old-school flips.
The Light Flip integrates the company’s Light OS system, which Tang likens to a toolbox. The flip model, same as Light Phone III, will feature directions, a music player, alarm and other simple features. Like all their phones, there will never be internet, social media or email capabilities. Though things like two factor authentication have been implemented after user input. Other tools may become available through Light’s Software Development Kit program, which will allow creation of tools from outside developers.
Like their Light Phone III, the flip does not have access to rideshare like Uber, connectivity to Spotify, or Whatsapp. A similarly branded, smartphone-detox flip phone from computer pioneers Commodore offers all three capabilities on their Callback 8020, which opened for pre-sale June 30. When it comes to competitors, the Light founders told Inc. they want to see more additions to the alternative phone market.
“ We’ll welcome players to jump into the movement,” Tang said. “I think this is a movement that is big enough, and we need more people talking about what’s wrong with our industry and creating different solutions for it and help other people.”
Hollier continued, “ If we’ve been so critical of how every smartphone is the same exact glass rectangle, well then we want to see tons of different flip phones.”
Though, in the same breath, they expressed concerns that some alternative brands have higher ambitions than can be executed. “I’m hoping they pull it off,” Tang said. “In the last 10 years we’ve seen brands come and go and make promises they can’t keep.”
Light, on the other hand, has grown every year since their founding in 2015, according to Tang. Though he declined to share exact revenue figures, Tang told Inc. that between 2024 and 2025, the company grew 100 percent and currently has over 100,000 users. Light does not do paid social media marketing, noting all their growth is organic through word of mouth.
As for their new device, Hollier thinks that it is coming out at the perfect time as an option to escape the encroaching AI integration in all personal technology.
“ Big tech just keeps pushing AI in every single avenue of people’s digital lives, and even people who aren’t necessarily anti-AI are kind of being fed up with the over buzz sensationalization of it all,” Hollier said. “We’re starting to see some of that backlash and Light Phone’s uniquely positioned to kind of be an alternative to that.”
In the interim between pre-orders and the first batch shipments, Light will launch a bi-weekly newsletter called Flip Your Life helping users transition from smartphone reliance to prepare for this nearly unplugged Light Flip lifestyle. They encourage using tools like the Brick and other social media blocking apps to help ease the transition.
“ I’ve met many Light Phone users who started with a Brick, and that was a kind of like first step for them,” Hollier said. “ People have kind of marinated on the lifestyle change for a while before making the switch.”
This post originally appeared at inc.com.
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