Mobile World Congress

Technology fair talks (also) about how to use less of it

Light Phone is now on its third model, it is a phone without browser or social, but will soon integrate WhatsApp

by correspondent Luca Salvioli

2 March 2026

Kaiwen Tang, ceo e confondatore di Light, insieme all’attore Aaron Paul sul palco del Mwc a Barcellon

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

BARCELONA_ A few metres from the stand where two robots are cooking to show the audience the automatons' capabilities, Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul, together with Kaiwen Tang, ceo and co-founder of Light, a Brooklyn-based manufacturer of minimalist phones without social and scrolling, talk about "technology, addiction and balance" during a panel at the Mobile World Congress currently taking place in Barcelona.

It may come as a surprise, but perhaps it is further confirmation that the topic of technology addiction is now mainstream. "I don't spend five hours shaking a hammer because a hammer company needs to make money. Technology should be a tool, not a machine to maximise engagement,' says Paul.

Tang talks about the idea of making Light: 'We realised that everyone in the industry brags about how much time and attention they can capture. It's the business model. We wanted an alternative: a simple 5G phone, with an interface and operating system designed by us, 50MP camera, replaceable battery, NFC for payments. But without advertising, without endless feeds, without data collection for profit'.

The company has reached its third model with the Light 3. It has been on sale for about a year, and does not come cheap: pre-order from $699. From the outside it has a compact design, looking more like an external memory than a phone. "It's a small, minimalist phone: no social media, no email. But it has all the essential tools for everyday life. You can make phone calls, set the alarm, listen to music and podcasts, use the camera. The photos have an analogue, almost film-like look," explains Laurence Mac Donald, the company's Lead Industrial Designer.

How do podcasts and music work? "For podcasts we use an RSS feed: you enter the podcast you want to follow and the episodes are downloaded automatically when they come out. Management is via an online dashboard from which you can upload music, choose podcasts and administer the phone functions. The side button always brings you back to the home screen.

The Light 3 has internet, but no browser. "You cannot browse freely or do general searches on Google. You can, however, use specific tools such as the directory or directions: for example, search for 'Ikea' and get the route. It is a limited connection to essential tools'.

How much does it sell? "We work on a pre-order basis: if you order today, the phone arrives in about one or two months. So far we have shipped tens of thousands of units. The main market is still the US, but we are opening up more and more to Europe. We are starting a partnership with Vodafone in the UK. The phone is still unlocked, so you can use it with any SIM,' Mac Donald adds.

The typical customer "is surprisingly transversal. There are millennials who grew up before social, then got into it and now want to reduce their smartphone use. But there are also many young people and many families: some parents buy it for their children, others for themselves. We often receive messages from people who write to us that this phone has changed their lives. The idea is simple: do the bare minimum and then go back to living off the screen'.

At the moment the phone only supports text messaging, not WhatsApp. But it is in the plans: 'In the US many people use iMessage, which runs on a data network. In Europe and Australia, on the other hand, WhatsApp and Signal are much more central, so we are looking at how to integrate them,' he concludes.

Luca SalvioliCoordinatore Lab24
- lucasalvioli
- LinkedIn
Luogo: Milano
Argomenti: Tecnologia, Data journalism, Giornalismo digitale
Scheda autore
Trust project