The recent Mobile World Congress 2026, held in Barcelona from March 2 to 5, represented an excellent opportunity for Jolla to gain visibility. The Jolla Phone 2026 was presented in nine functional prototypes, handcrafted with CNC machines, at the Finnish company’s stand.
The launch looks back to Jolla’s legacy from the Nokia era and positions the new model as a “alternative flagship”, with privacy-focused hardware, entirely assembled in Finland, with a key feature such as a physical switch that deactivates connections for a sort of quick “hardware switch” privacy mode. The user interface remains the usual Sailfish OS, which has always been based on gestures for managing apps.
Here are the known specs for the JP 2026, taken from Jolla’s official press release PDF:
In all fairness—in a world where Qualcommm, Apple, and Tensor mobile processors are once again rapidly improving—it should be noted that the phone’s specs are fairly mid-range, but overall solid.
The presence of a Mediatek chip/mainboard instead of Qualcomm might not be a weakness after seeing excellent performance on the Mediatek-based Volla Phones of previous years.
The price of the next available batch is set at €649 (a little expensive in my opinion, maybe 49-99 euros overpriced), that said it’s a niche phone with a mature mobile OS, and the pre-order campaign achieved over 9,500 pre-orders before the window closed on February 28, with shipments slated for June.
Finally, it should be noted that Jolla has again gained momentum with some media coverage in the industry press, with articles from Wired.com, Wired Italia and Telecom Indiatimes.
Other early hands-on impressions from MWC include those from influential publications like Android Authority, which published a short hands-on video and an article.
Jolla hasn’t been this popular since the “software only” pivot and the move to Xperia!
Let’s continue with a brief roundup of other news and topics that occurred during the MWC days.
At MWC, GrapheneOS announced a historic partnership with Motorola: a long-term collaboration to integrate its hardened, privacy-focused operating system based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) into future Motorola consumer and business devices, extending beyond the Pixel flagship. This alliance combines GrapheneOS’s innovative exploit mitigation solutions and verified launch with Motorola’s hardware expertise and Lenovo’s ThinkShield security suite, including joint research and development of new features.
The first devices are expected in 2027, and GrapheneOS is described as a “significant milestone” for its global deployment. Motorola also presented complementary B2B tools such as Moto Analytics (real-time fleet analysis of app stability, battery, and connectivity) and Moto Secure Private Image Data (automatic removal of metadata from photos for privacy).
(Curiosity: for some reason the initial Reddit post was deleted, but the news is confirmed)
Volla/Hallo Welt Systems created a lot of anticipation ahead of MWC by announcing the Volla Phone Plinius and Plinius Plus on February 25: rugged, minimalist smartphones focused on privacy (pre-orders for the base model will start in April for around €599, while the Plus version with additional RAM/storage will be available in June). A dedicated booth at MWC hasn’t been confirmed, but the company highlighted Volla OS 14: built-in AI, Holochain Meshnet, native Signal, Sailfish/Ubuntu multi-boot on a 12.6-inch German tablet, and Volla App Check, an open-source anti-malware scanner capable of competing with Google Play Protect.
Volla proposed a new “App Verification Consortium” on X, calling for collaboration on open standards. X quickly became animated with exchanges between Volla and GrapheneOS accounts regarding the launch of App Check. Volla criticized Graphene’s hardware risks, calling them a “Google black box,” and promoted the full-source VollaWare firmware and the new App Verification Consortium as a decentralized, cloud-free standard for malware checks, open to all privacy-focused operating systems.
GrapheneOS responded by defending its superiority in terms of hardening and sandboxing, and calling Volla’s hardware insufficiently secure.
Even Jolla CEO Antti Saarnio, who wasn’t directly involved in these exchanges, noted in a tweet on MWC a certain increased toxicity among the various alternative OS communities: ( a quote from the tweet ) “…Alongside all the love, I also see some hate from other alternative OS projects. I feel sad about this, as we don’t compete against other alternative OSes. We compete against the big tech and their dominance over the people.”
Fairphone 6, presented alongside the privacy-focused /e/OS at MWC 2026, exemplifies sustainable smartphone innovation with its modular architecture and a flawless 10/10 iFixit repairability score—far surpassing mainstream flagships where glued components force obsolescence. The Dutch ethical brand’s latest iteration features swappable parts like the battery, cameras, and ports, backed by a 5-year warranty extendable to 8 years, minimizing e-waste while prioritizing fair labor supply chains and conflict-free minerals. Running /e/OS—a fully de-Googled Android fork with microG for seamless app compatibility (claimed 99% support for banking, social, and productivity apps)—it delivers stock-like performance without telemetry or vendor lock-in, ideal for eco-conscious users who demand longevity. At around €699, Fairphone 6 pairs mid-range specs (e.g., efficient chipset, 5000mAh removable cell) with /e/OS’s privacy dashboard for granular control, positioning it as a practical bridge between green activism and daily usability in Europe’s sovereignty push.
My conclusion on MWC is that the DIY smallest, the alternative, the privacy-focused and hardened mobile OSes should coexist and cooperate, perhaps on common (optional) standards regarding APIs for banking apps, social media apps, or other APIs for AI services with a certain level of privacy/auto-deletion.
I’ve noticed while running the J-D Store that niche phones are never really in competition with each other, but users often own multiple alternative mobile OSes, as opposed to stock Android and iPhones. They own an old Nokia Meego, so they upgrade to Sailfish OS, but they tried several alternative Android ROMs—Graphene OS first and foremost—and finally, they tried Volla… one more reason to avoid criticism among developers that only leads to toxicity and bias in the community.
The X algorithm is tweaked to encourage exchanges and controversy. Let’s not indulge it, and instead set up accounts on Mastodon and Bluesky!
A great MWC for Jolla The recent Mobile World Congress 2026, held in Barcelona from March 2 to 5, represented an excellent opportunity for Jolla to gain visibility. The Jolla Phone 2026 was presented in nine functional prototypes, handcrafted with…
Read all
The new Sailfish OS 5.0 “Tampella” is finally out for all the new devices! As mentioned by the official blog post (https://blog.jolla.com/sailfish-os-5-0-tampella-is-here/) the latest update – which was actually ready on the repos for some time – is officially rolled…
Read all
After a year like 2024 it was quite difficult to write a good “end of year” post, so here is this new article that is finally out, and it is aimed both at the next few months and at the…
Read all
The week of Black Friday (and then Cyber Monday) has already arrived and the main Tech shops and technology brands are revealing their offers. But what happens looking phones compatible with alternative/privacy focused/security hardened mobile OS? Here’s a short list…
Read all
Our beta shop. It's a sort of archive where to buy Sailfish OS-ready devices.
Buy.jolla-device.com →