Android mini phone in development by Pebble smart watch team

The design team behind Pebble’s favorite smartwatch has been thinking about a miniature Android phone.

We love our flagship Android phones here at TrustedReviews, but if there’s been one constant murmur of complaints in recent years, it’s that they’re getting fucking big. So much so that the Xiaomi 13, with its 6.36-inch screen, is what is considered a small Android phone these days.

Pebble founder Eric Migikowski once passionately urged someone to make a smaller Android phone that could compete with the iPhone Mini. Now it looks like he decided to make it himself.

Migikovsky told edge about his participation in a “community project” aimed at supporting the small Android phone. He has a team Small Android Phone team – is working on the creation of just such a device.

The team quietly launched an effort to find the compact components needed for such a phone — codenamed “Marvin” — and also discussed the capital that would be needed to launch such a venture.

The company laid out some of its intentions through a series of design calls and interactions. This will obviously include a compact size (we’re talking about a sub-6-inch display) as well as a premium build with a distinctive camera bump.

While smaller phones often compromise camera quality, the team wants their product to be strong in the photography department. This will likely involve a 50MP camera coupled with custom imaging software.

Pebble Android phone processor challengers are lagging behind current cutting-edge technology, with the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 and Qualcomm’s upcoming mid-range chip currently under consideration. However, expect to pay a rather hefty $850 price tag for the phone, or about the same as the iPhone 14 and Samsung Galaxy S23.

Of course, this is all very early, and the company is currently struggling to find a suitable premium compact display. It’s also about 12,000 signatures short of the desired 50,000, and hasn’t even gotten to the crowdfunding stage yet.

However, it’s nice to know that someone other than Asus is working on this (hello Zenfone 9).