PinePhone Pro canned in pursuit of RISC-V business
(2025/08/19)
- Reference: 1755613693
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/19/pinephone_pro_riscv/
- Source link:
Pine64 is moving from Arm kit to RISC-V. As a result, its higher-end open smartphones is for the chop – but not the lower-end model.
Pine64's [1]August community update has some surprising news about its smartphone offerings. The company is discontinuing its higher-end smartphone for developers and FOSS enthusiasts, the PinePhone Pro. When the [2]PinePhone Pro started shipping , The Reg FOSS desk covered the news. That was nearly four years ago, and the spec hasn't been upgraded, leaving it pretty low-spec for 2025.
That makes it more surprising that its forerunner, the lower-end [3]PinePhone , will stay on sale for an estimated two further years. For this vulture, one of the most interesting things about the two devices was the [4]add-on keyboard – we had a quick play with one, and it's one of the best pocket-sized physical keyboards we've ever tried.
[5]
The bulletin was followed a couple of days later by a longer [6]August news update , which has good news if you're into RISC-V kit – or if, to use The Reg FOSS desk's favorite neologism of the year, you're a [7]botlicker .
[8]
[9]
There are improved OS offerings for two of its tablets. The e-ink-based [10]PineNote gets several Linux updates, with improved multi-touch support, more options for screen refresh handling, and stronger Wi-Fi. This device can now also run Arch Linux, postmarketOS, and NixOS. Its older, more conventional (and slightly higher-spec) color LCD tablet, the [11]PineTab2 also gets some OS updates, including to Bluetooth support. Interestingly, there's now also a very preliminary [12]port of FreeBSD to the just-discontinued PinePhone Pro.
The shorter update mentions that the company is now focusing more on "other projects, including RISC-V and a little bit of AI." It mentions some of the specific devices it means. We weren't familiar with these, so we thought it might be worth clarifying what they are.
[13]
The [14]Oz64 is a low-end RISC-V single-board computer (SBC). It [15]costs $12.99 , which gets you one Arm A53 core, two 1 GHz C906 RISC-V cores, and 512 MB of RAM. The [16]Star64 is a higher-end RISC-V SBC with four 1.5 GHz cores, 8 GB of RAM, and a GPU, which [17]costs $89.99 .
[18]FuriPhone FLX1: A Debian-powered brick that puts GNOME in your back pocket
[19]HMD Fusion: A budget repairable smartphone with modular flair
[20]Pine64 takes another shot at an open tablet after chip shortages killed first PineTab
[21]Open hardware smartphone PinePhone Pro starts to ship – to developers only, for now
We remain significantly more interested in chips from the Arm family in our low-end kit around here. True, we are [22]nostalgic for Acorn kit of old . More to the point, Arm kit is quicker, and it runs a wider range of OSes. (It doesn't hurt that this includes RISC OS, the [23]still actively maintained original Arm OS .)
RISC-V still can't even get close on performance, although we've been promised performance-competitive RISC-V silicon for so long that it's starting to feel like [24]nuclear fusion reactors – always 25 years away. In the meantime, though, Pine64 has something for you if you're suffering from a nasty case of [25]slopholm syndrome .
The [26]StarPro64 is Pine64's newest and highest-end SBC, with four 1.8 GHz SiFive P550 cores and a 20 TOPS NPU, but then, it does [27]set you back $249.99 . Meanwhile, the [28]Alpha One packages one of these in a passively cooled case along with a 64 GB eMMC, complete with Docker containers containing two different LLMs. Just the thing if your business model derives from attempts to induce [29]apophenia in your customers. ®
Get our [30]Tech Resources
[1] https://pine64.org/2025/08/14/august_2025_short_update/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/08/pinephone_ships_developers/
[3] https://pine64.org/devices/pinephone/
[4] https://pine64.org/documentation/Phone_Accessories/Keyboard/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aKSfmt7OWsXPNMCfV7LKCAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://pine64.org/2025/08/16/august_2025/
[7] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=botlicker
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aKSfmt7OWsXPNMCfV7LKCAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aKSfmt7OWsXPNMCfV7LKCAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://pine64.org/devices/pinenote/
[11] https://pine64.org/devices/pinetab2/
[12] https://codeberg.org/Honeyguide/freebsd-pinephonepro
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aKSfmt7OWsXPNMCfV7LKCAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://pine64.org/devices/oz64/
[15] https://pine64.com/product/oz64-sbc/
[16] https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/STAR64
[17] https://pine64.com/product/star64-model-a-8gb-single-board-computer/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/03/furiphone_flx1/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/03/hmd_fusion_review/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/21/pine64_announces_new_open_tablet/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/08/pinephone_ships_developers/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2012/06/01/acorn_archimedes_is_25_years_old/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/02/rool_530_is_here/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2005/07/06/nuclear_fusion/
[25] https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/opinion/2025-08-17-never-mind-the-botlickers-ai-is-just-normal-technology/
[26] https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/STARPro64
[27] https://pine64.com/product/starpro64-32gb-single-board-computer/
[28] https://pine64.org/devices/alpha-one/
[29] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apophenia
[30] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Pine64's [1]August community update has some surprising news about its smartphone offerings. The company is discontinuing its higher-end smartphone for developers and FOSS enthusiasts, the PinePhone Pro. When the [2]PinePhone Pro started shipping , The Reg FOSS desk covered the news. That was nearly four years ago, and the spec hasn't been upgraded, leaving it pretty low-spec for 2025.
That makes it more surprising that its forerunner, the lower-end [3]PinePhone , will stay on sale for an estimated two further years. For this vulture, one of the most interesting things about the two devices was the [4]add-on keyboard – we had a quick play with one, and it's one of the best pocket-sized physical keyboards we've ever tried.
[5]
The bulletin was followed a couple of days later by a longer [6]August news update , which has good news if you're into RISC-V kit – or if, to use The Reg FOSS desk's favorite neologism of the year, you're a [7]botlicker .
[8]
[9]
There are improved OS offerings for two of its tablets. The e-ink-based [10]PineNote gets several Linux updates, with improved multi-touch support, more options for screen refresh handling, and stronger Wi-Fi. This device can now also run Arch Linux, postmarketOS, and NixOS. Its older, more conventional (and slightly higher-spec) color LCD tablet, the [11]PineTab2 also gets some OS updates, including to Bluetooth support. Interestingly, there's now also a very preliminary [12]port of FreeBSD to the just-discontinued PinePhone Pro.
The shorter update mentions that the company is now focusing more on "other projects, including RISC-V and a little bit of AI." It mentions some of the specific devices it means. We weren't familiar with these, so we thought it might be worth clarifying what they are.
[13]
The [14]Oz64 is a low-end RISC-V single-board computer (SBC). It [15]costs $12.99 , which gets you one Arm A53 core, two 1 GHz C906 RISC-V cores, and 512 MB of RAM. The [16]Star64 is a higher-end RISC-V SBC with four 1.5 GHz cores, 8 GB of RAM, and a GPU, which [17]costs $89.99 .
[18]FuriPhone FLX1: A Debian-powered brick that puts GNOME in your back pocket
[19]HMD Fusion: A budget repairable smartphone with modular flair
[20]Pine64 takes another shot at an open tablet after chip shortages killed first PineTab
[21]Open hardware smartphone PinePhone Pro starts to ship – to developers only, for now
We remain significantly more interested in chips from the Arm family in our low-end kit around here. True, we are [22]nostalgic for Acorn kit of old . More to the point, Arm kit is quicker, and it runs a wider range of OSes. (It doesn't hurt that this includes RISC OS, the [23]still actively maintained original Arm OS .)
RISC-V still can't even get close on performance, although we've been promised performance-competitive RISC-V silicon for so long that it's starting to feel like [24]nuclear fusion reactors – always 25 years away. In the meantime, though, Pine64 has something for you if you're suffering from a nasty case of [25]slopholm syndrome .
The [26]StarPro64 is Pine64's newest and highest-end SBC, with four 1.8 GHz SiFive P550 cores and a 20 TOPS NPU, but then, it does [27]set you back $249.99 . Meanwhile, the [28]Alpha One packages one of these in a passively cooled case along with a 64 GB eMMC, complete with Docker containers containing two different LLMs. Just the thing if your business model derives from attempts to induce [29]apophenia in your customers. ®
Get our [30]Tech Resources
[1] https://pine64.org/2025/08/14/august_2025_short_update/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/08/pinephone_ships_developers/
[3] https://pine64.org/devices/pinephone/
[4] https://pine64.org/documentation/Phone_Accessories/Keyboard/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aKSfmt7OWsXPNMCfV7LKCAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://pine64.org/2025/08/16/august_2025/
[7] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=botlicker
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aKSfmt7OWsXPNMCfV7LKCAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aKSfmt7OWsXPNMCfV7LKCAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://pine64.org/devices/pinenote/
[11] https://pine64.org/devices/pinetab2/
[12] https://codeberg.org/Honeyguide/freebsd-pinephonepro
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aKSfmt7OWsXPNMCfV7LKCAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://pine64.org/devices/oz64/
[15] https://pine64.com/product/oz64-sbc/
[16] https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/STAR64
[17] https://pine64.com/product/star64-model-a-8gb-single-board-computer/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/03/furiphone_flx1/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/03/hmd_fusion_review/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/21/pine64_announces_new_open_tablet/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/08/pinephone_ships_developers/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2012/06/01/acorn_archimedes_is_25_years_old/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/02/rool_530_is_here/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2005/07/06/nuclear_fusion/
[25] https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/opinion/2025-08-17-never-mind-the-botlickers-ai-is-just-normal-technology/
[26] https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/STARPro64
[27] https://pine64.com/product/starpro64-32gb-single-board-computer/
[28] https://pine64.org/devices/alpha-one/
[29] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apophenia
[30] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Learning something new
My mum used to tell me to learn something new every day. With all the new words I learned from this article I think I'm covered for the week!
I particularly liked 'botlicker' and will endeavour to include it in daily conversation henceforth.