While the Light Phone 2 from 2018 was still equipped with an economical e-ink display, the Light Phone 3 uses an OLED display that can only display grayscale. The reason for the switch to the 3.92-inch OLED panel with its resolution of 1,240 x 1,080 is the higher image frequency - around half of the users of the Light Phone 2 are said to have been dissatisfied with the slow response time of E Ink.

A dedicated adjustment wheel on the left-hand side controls the brightness of the screen so that users do not have to rely on automatic brightness control. Pressing this wheel switches on the LED torch. While the Light Phone 2 was delivered without any cameras, the Light Phone 3 has an 8 MP selfie camera and a 50 MP main camera. A dedicated camera shutter release is intended to improve ergonomics when taking photos.

However, the greatly simplified operating system does not allow you to edit photos or share them with friends. The smartphone does have apps for music, podcasts, calendar, navigation and notes, and integrations for Spotify, Uber and Lyft are in the works. The device has an NFC chip, but the software does not yet support contactless payment at launch. The 1,800 mAh battery can be replaced by the user and charged via USB-C.

The Light Phone 3 has front-facing stereo speakers, two microphones, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0, a 5G modem, a fingerprint sensor and a metal frame. The 124 gram smartphone is only IP54-certified and therefore not completely waterproof. Inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, which combines two ARM Cortex-A78 performance cores with six Cortex-A55 efficiency cores. It also has 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of flash storage.

Price and availability

The Light Phone 3 will be launched in January 2025 for a recommended retail price of $799. However, if you pre-order the smartphone on the manufacturer's website by July 15, you will only pay $399. The Light Phone 3 will also be delivered internationally, but the price does not include shipping or import fees.