After launching the two Community Edition (CE) of Linux-based PinePhone with Ubuntu Touch and postmarketOS, PINE64 has announced that the next PinePhone CE will officially feature Arch Linux-based Manjaro operating system by default.
We are thrilled to announce that the next Community Edition (CE) of the PinePhone will feature Manjaro on the device. We offered support for PINE64 devices since the very beginning – with high-quality OS builds now available for nearly all of Pine64 SBCs and devices – and the PinePhone is no exception in this regard. There are currently working on three Manjaro PinePhone build variants (Lomiri, Phosh and Plasma Mobile). We are looking forward to announce which of these we will ship on the device,
explains from the Manjaro Team.
In addition to, the Manjaro team is designing a custom box for the new community edition. Of course the Manjaro logo will grace the back cover of the latest PinePhone.
As it did with the recent PostmarketOS version, the PinePhone Manjaro edition will ship in two variants:
- $149 – 2GB RAM; 16GB eMMC
- $199 – 3GB RAM; 32GB eMMC (includes a bundled USB-C dock)
On the software side, it will ship a user-friendly Arch-based Manjaro ARM rolling distribution. Moreover, Manjaro supports nearly all of PINE64 SBCs (Single-board computers) and devices.
Above all, the PinePhone is a smartphone with budget specs. It including a 5.95 inch, 1440 x 720 pixel display, an Allwinner A64 quad-core processor, WiFi 4, and Bluetooth 4.0 support.
In addition, for touch/mobile devices, Manjaro is already working to provide out-of-the-box support for mainly three mobile user interfaces: UBport’s Lomiri, Purism’s Phosh, and KDE-based Plasma mobile. However, it is yet to be announced which one of these will land on the PinePhone CE.
PinePhone maker PINE64 has revealed that the pre-order of Manjaro CE will open in mid-September.
