There is not much competition regarding smartphones with E INK e-paper displays. Hisense used to be the gold standard. However, they seem to have abandoned this space, and no new devices emerged in a few years. The Litephone had an E INK screen for the first few generations, but the upcoming Litephone 3 is going with a typical OLED screen. Bigme appears to be the new torchbearer; their new HiBreak phones are shipping soon. They have two models, one with a black and white E INK display and the other with an E INK Kaleido 3 colour e-paper screen. Two new models of the same phone will be released later this year, with better hardware. The Minimal Phone is exciting; it looks like a Blackberry, but with an E INK screen, but no word on a release date. Mudita has a few new phones on the horizon, but they are mainly dumb phones with limited functionality. Where does this leave Onyx Boox? Do they have a plan for a new phone?
Onyx Boox has a new piece of hardware that looks like a phone, but it is just a dedicated e-reader, the Palma. This makes it easy to pull out of your pocket and read ebooks or manga. Onyx is trying to compete in this market segment against the Hisense Hi Reader, which has the same design. However, what makes the Palma compelling is the full access to the Google Play Store and Google Play Services. Users can install any app they want, and the Onyx Boox refresh engine will ensure apps perform well on an E INK screen.
Onyx released a phone in 2014, back when hardware specs and E INK e-paper technology wasn’t excellent. They used a Mobius screen, and the refresh system was abysmal. It used Android, but the version number was 2.3. This phone had poor sales, and only a few hundred units were made. Onyx Boox teased a new phone at CES in 2020, but they decided to abandon it for some reason they never disclosed.
Given that the smartphone market for e-paper screens is practically non-existent, Onyx Boox would likely sell a boatload of them if they ever decided to enter this sector again. The company has matured since its last smartphone flop, and many customers like their brand; they are well respected in the e-reader and e-notebook spaces. E INK technology and screens have also come a long way, and if Onyx wants to dominate smartphones, now is the time.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.