Light Phone III ‘Anti-Smartphone’ Durability Test Shows Why It Can Be Used as an Everyday Device

Zach Nelson of JerryRigEverything put the Light Phone III ‘anti-smartphone’ through his usual gauntlet of durability tests and a teardown to peek inside its minimalist guts. At $599 USD, this device is essentially stripped-down device meant to handle essentials while keeping distractions at bay.

The Light Phone III’s screen scratched at Mohs hardness level 6, while the matte coating on the display glass scratches differently than typical glossy glass, but still cracked unexpectedly during testing. Its 3.92-inch AMOLED screen darkened when exposed to a flame but returned to normal after cooling.

As for the phone’s body, crafted from a mix of glass and metal, it didn’t fare much better than regular smartphones. Despite its smaller size and minimalist design, it showed similar vulnerabilities to bending and cracking. A durability test wouldn’t be complete without opening it up, and after Nelson removed the battery and back panel, an NFC antenna was revealed, along with a plastic frame protecting the motherboard.


The motherboard has a cover shielding the USB-C charging port, which is a nice touch. Fortunately, the USB-C port is replaceable without soldering, and the battery is relatively easy to swap out. However, replacing a cracked or damaged screen is a nightmare because the display cable is soldered directly onto the motherboard in the phone’s center.


Specs wise, in addition to the 3.92-inch AMOLED screen (1080 x 1240), the Light Phone III boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, a 50MP rear camera, 8MP selfie camera, and a small 1,800mAh battery, which should last for around 2-days with light use. It runs a custom, minimalist OS with a monochrome interface. No apps, no social media, no browser—just the basics. In other words, it supports calls, texts, alarms, timers, calendars, music playback, podcasts, notes, maps, and a basic calculator.