GrapheneOS postpones pixel alternative to 2027

Jan Johannsen

8.1.2026

Translation: machine translated

The team behind GrapheneOS is postponing its own smartphone until 2027 and already has plans for subsequent generations.

GrapheneOS will no longer only run on Pixel smartphones in future. To this end, the software project is working with a hardware manufacturer. The project has now announced that «'s own» smartphone will not be released at the end of 2026, but in 2027. There are also plans to equip the following models with switches to deactivate the microphone, camera, etc.

Non-Pixel smartphone suitable for GrapheneOS will not be released until 2027

GrapheneOS is a Google-free version of Android with a very strong focus on data protection and privacy. Ironically, only Google's Pixel smartphones currently fulfil the hardware requirements. Devices from other manufacturers lack stable software support or another operating system is difficult to install. With the Pixel 10, however, Google has made it more difficult for the alternative operating system. This is another reason why work has begun on its own hardware.

In several posts on X, GrapheneOS announced that the collaboration with a major smartphone manufacturer would bear fruit in 2027. Previously, the fourth quarter of 2026 was also part of the target period. The partner's devices planned for 2026 do not yet fulfil GrapheneOS' requirements. They therefore do not expect suitable smartphones until the following year. The project is still keeping the manufacturer in question to itself.

When asked about the Librem 5, which had switches to turn off the camera, microphone and other things, GrapheneOS initially criticised the implementation on this smartphone. However, they also announced that they are planning a well-designed so-called «kill switch» for future generations of devices.

In case anyone wants to speculate about which manufacturer is a possible partner for the GrapheneOS smartphone: Samsung fulfils almost all of the project's requirements with its devices. Only the support for a different operating system on the South Koreans' mobile phones is poor.

Jan Johannsen

Senior Editor

Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.de

As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus. more

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