While our recent news has been all about Librem 5 USA, we also have been steadily shipping through Librem 5s from previous production runs and it has been gratifying to share in the excitement of customers who have gotten the Librem 5 they have been waiting so patiently for. While the remainder of you have been waiting for your own Librem 5, we have also been busy continually improving the software on the Librem 5 so that the Librem 5 you receive today is significantly better and more capable than one we shipped a year or even six months ago.
Now that the Librem 5 USA has hit shipping parity, our mass-produced Librem 5 customers are all likely wondering the same thing: “Where is my Librem 5?” As we mentioned in a previous post, the supply chain challenges over the past few years have caused to to rethink how we approach “Just In Time” manufacturing, and as a result we have made massive investments in components, accessories, and other supplies so that we can not only catch up on backorders, but maintain sufficient stock so that once a product reaches shipping parity, we have ample inventory to absorb any future supply chain issues. It is very much in our interest for all of our products to be in stock with short lead times, and all backorders to be fulfilled. As I mentioned in my A Vision on Focus post, one of our goals is to hit, and maintain, stability for all our products with future products being developed internally and announced when they are ready to ship , instead of relying out pre-orders and crowdfunding.
Many of these components had long lead times, and we predicted that we would first hit shipping parity with the Librem 14 (fewer supply chain issues), then Librem 5 USA (separate supply chain from Librem 5, much shorter backorder queue), and finally the Librem 5. After working hard through many supply chain challenges, the Librem 14 and Librem 5 USA have now shifted from pre-ordered Just In Time products into a post-Just-in-Time product with larger inventories that ship within 10 business days. That leaves the mass-produced Librem 5 as the only product remaining with a long lead time and many pre-orders to get through. While Todd discussed our goals with Librem 5 in The Ball and Supply Chain Part 2, I thought it would be useful to talk specifically about the plans for the mass-produced Librem 5.
Yes, when your order comes up in the queue. A week or two before a particular order would be shipped, we contact the next batch of customers who would have their phones shipped that week. At that point people have the opportunity to update their shipping address as well as add any accessories, AweSIM service, etc. they may want to add to the order so it all ships together. That way we have plenty of time to get everything settled by the time that particular phone is ready to ship.
We do it this way so support doesn’t get slammed with huge numbers of emails (at least any more than they normally do) and instead everything is in manageable chunks.
Yes. Kyle’s post says, “While we have ordered all of the individual components for all batches, along with all of the CPUs, there are a few components that are still in short supply that we do not yet have for the next production run.” E4 and E5 batches are waiting on these other components, if I read correctly.
I guess I should have used “components” rather than “chips”.
Hard to know for sure. Most Chinese fabs produce lower-end chips at larger node sizes and many of the chips in the L5 fit that description. Fabs owned by Chinese companies (SMIC, HuaHong Group and Nexchip) controlled 7% of the global silicon foundry market by revenue in 2021, but TSMC, UMC and SK Hynix also have fabs in China. As of December 2021, 16% of the world’s silicon wafer capacity was in China.
Of the 71 integrated circuits (65 in main PCB, 2 in USB PCB, 1 in display, 2 in WiFi/BT card and 1 in modem card) found in the Librem 5, only two come from Chinese companies, which are the Focaltech FT8006P LCD controller found in the Mantix screen and the BroadMobi BM818 modem chip. I think that it is unlikely the BM818 which is a specialized chip is produced in a Chinese-owned fab, and I doubt that any of the chips in the L5 were fabbed in SMIC, since that foundry is on the US’s prohibited Entity List. It is possible that some of chips in the L5 were fabbed by TSMC or UMC in China, but many of the chips fabbed by TSMC and UMC in China are for the Chinese domestic market.
I am also excited: I ordered mine in Jan 2019 and I hope to get it before my current phone becomes completely unusable. However my order status still shows no estimate
Librem 5 - To be determined based on CPU availability. Please check back later.
So I don’t have any clue on when I could get it. Hopefully by the end of the year!
Perhaps. Just a bit surprised we haven’t heard much. I am supposed to be in the E3 batch group that I assumed was ready to ship based on the post but I still haven’t heard anything yet.
Thanks, Purism!