"It’s real Linux. Like, actual Linux. Not Android with Google quietly running 47 background processes to figure out whether you’re sad enough to buy ice cream. Not iOS with Apple playing gatekeeper over which apps you’re allowed to have. Just clean, honest open source Linux that treats you like a grown up who actually owns their stuff."
For many of us it's mostly a gimmick, and as a former colleague pointed out: If an attacker is so deep into my phone or laptop that they can turn on the camera and microphone, pictures of my fat ass naked online is the least of my concerns.
Still, for teenagers and young women, having the a switch that ensure that no one is spying on them in their bedroom or bathroom might help relieve some anxiety.
My iPhone is dying and I'm not sure if I'd want a new one. I certainly don't want an Android phone, because I have little trust left in Google, but Apple is also starting to annoy me and I certainly no longer feel like a valued customer. Plus their integration of Gemini into Siri doesn't inspire a lot of trust. There are a other few alternatives, like /e/OS and CalyxOS which seems interesting as well.
It would be interesting to see Sailfish ported to the Fairphone as well.
Yeah, marketing, but there are many other reasons, including competition within this space. I was looking at their new C2 community phone and the price (circa 300 EUR) too seems fair to say the least (with 5 years of support). Fairphone seems nice too. But as foobarkey commented above, these things should really be in brick and mortar stores (or in Temu, god forbid...).
