Light Phone partners with Noble Mobile for immediate device access

The minimalist device maker Light Phone is partnering with Noble Mobile, a phone network founded by Andrew Yang, to offer the Light Phone III for immediate purchase. This partnership allows customers to acquire the device without paying the full cost upfront, bypassing the typical wait times that would otherwise delay delivery until September. On Tuesday, 500 Light Phone III models are in stock and ready to ship through Noble Mobile.

To get the device immediately, customers must sign up for a two-year contract. The financial breakdown of the offer includes:

• Upfront cost: $0 (compared to the standard $699 upfront cost)
• Monthly plan cost: $50 per month
• Total contract cost: $1,200 over two years

“I think what’s exciting about the Noble launch is not just that the barrier to entry is lower. It’s the first time that we’ve ever had the Light Phone III available for an immediate purchase,” said Joe Hollier, Light co-founder.

The partnership addresses Light Phone’s ongoing struggle to ship devices quickly and affordably as a startup competing with mass producers like Samsung and Apple. Since launching the Light Phone III last spring, the company has shipped 20,000 devices. The deal aligns with Noble Mobile’s model of paying users to use less data. Under the Light Phone plan, users receive 5 GB of data and can get up to $5 back for each unused gigabyte. On standard plans, Noble Mobile offers up to $20 back for each unused gigabyte under a 20 GB threshold. Hollier noted that because the Light Phone is designed for minimal usage, it aligns closely with Noble Mobile’s brand. Hollier and co-founder Kaiwei Tang first met in 2014 at Google’s 30 Weeks incubator, a design-focused program.

The Light Phone III is built as a minimalist alternative to smartphones, though it lacks support for Rich Communication Services (RCS) texting, relying instead on Short Message Service (SMS). The device features a camera designed to avoid the typical digital distraction loop by removing sharing features and the subsequent expectation of social reactions. The camera features a physical shutter button and operates like an old point-and-shoot camera without artificial intelligence sharpening. Tang emphasized that the device offers a middle ground, providing necessary technology tools without the attention-grabbing and advertising elements.

Why it matters

The partnership allows Light Phone to offer its Light Phone III model for immediate purchase without an upfront cost, provided customers sign up for a two-year Noble Mobile contract. This addresses the startup’s ongoing struggle to ship devices at an affordable rate without wait times.