A refreshing direction for a price change.
Commodore has entered the phone business. Pre-orders for the very adorable Commodore Callback 8020 will open on June 30, and the company has made a welcome change to its cost. The BASIC Beige, ProtoPET White, SX Silver, and the translucent blue Starlight Edition models of the privacy-focused flip phone will now start at $399 rather than $500. The Founders Edition model, thanks to its swanky 24 karat gold, will still cost the original $640.
The tradeoff for the $100 lower price will be that the baseline phones will no longer come with Hi-Def IEM earphones by default. They’ll also have a secondhand memory chip by default, and Commodore is backing them with the same one-year warranty as the new ones. Both the earphones and premium (i.e., new) memory will be available as upgrade options.
“The worldwide response to the Commodore Callback has been an incredible endorsement of our vision,” the company said in a blog announcing the change. “Alongside that excitement, many of you told us you wanted a more accessible entry point. We listened. Over the past week, we’ve worked tirelessly with our partners to find ways to lower the price while staying true to the product we’ve set out to build.”
Considering today already brought news that Apple and Xbox products are going up in price, having any company bringing the costs down is a happy development.
