If you have followed the rebirth of Commodore, you may be aware they brought out a new Commodore 64 computer. This model was using an FPGA to simulate/recreate the hardware in the original 1980s home computer, with a claim of being 99.9% compatible with existing Commodore 64 stuff.

What came next was a surprise (and even shock) to most Commodore followers: a flip phone.

https://commodore.net/callback

For $549.

The new Commodore has already taken some heat from fans and had to change an announced policy. They initially planned to lock down their new Commodore 64 to only work with the official firmware. That decision was not popular, and they changed their plans.

It seems there has been enough puzzled comments on the new flip phone that the CEO just sent out an e-mail. Here is an excerpt:

“A few years ago, my priorities changed. I became a father. And somewhere between the night feeds and the realization that I was spending entire evenings chasing likes on a glowing rectangle, I had to reckon with the kind of person I actually wanted to be. The conversations that followed, with my partner, with myself, changed my life.

I switched to a flip phone. Not as an experiment. As a decision. It became my daily driver. And I won’t pretend the first few weeks were easy. I’d catch myself reaching for it out of habit, standing in a checkout line with nothing to scroll. So I snapped it shut, put it away, and looked up. Turns out there was quite a lot going on.

But that flip phone was too dumb. And the others available were too smart. What I wanted just didn’t quite exist. I didn’t want social media, or a browser. It let the wrong things in. But I need apps like Uber, Maps, WhatsApp, HQ Music Player, and a 4K Camera. Turns out a lot of people were wrestling with the same thing. Parents. Students. People who missed being present. People who wanted the convenience of modern apps without the endless feeds. So together with a team of engineers and partners, we started building what we couldn’t find: a phone that sits comfortably between dumb and smart.

That’s why we built the Callback.”

– e-mail from Commodore, 6/22/2026

I see device addiction all around me. It is common for someone to reach for their phone and start dealing with messages as if they were life or death and can’t possibly wait until after supper. Folks are on their phones in movie theaters, in their cars at red lights, and while in bed as soon as their alarm goes off, or before going to sleep.

Such a device might be the only way these folks could break their addictions. It took me not having cell phone service for 8 years to break mine, and I still think I use my phone too much these days ;-)

But … I just wanted to add this:

Any smart phone is a dumb phone if you don’t install TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Angry Birds, etc.

Read that again for impact.

Any smart phone can be a dumb phone. Just do not install the apps. Or if you have them installed, delete them. But folks won’t do that.

Do we expect folks who can’t delete their favorite apps to buy a whole new phone?

We shall see.

I’d kinda like to have one, but I’d just remove all the apps from an iPhone before I’d carry a flip phone in 2026.

Unless this new Commodore flip phone has a better camera.

What says you? Comment away!