NexPhone is available for pre-order, some 14 years after it was first announced to the world – back then it planned to ship with Ubuntu for Android.

Created by Nex Computer, the company behind the NexDock laptop shells, the NexPhone aims to deliver on ambitions that Canonical’s Ubuntu Phone set out to: using your phone as a proper PC when connected to a monitor (aka ‘convergence’).

In 2012, the plan was to offer the NexPhone with Ubuntu for Android as its sole OS. This would attach to a range of optional devices to function as a tablet, a laptop or a desktop PC where the ‘Ubuntu’ side would power a large-screen experience.

The 2026 proposition is straightforward: the NexPhone runs Android, Debian and Windows 11 on the same device, with a fully-featured USB Type-C cable enabling it to power a ‘desktop’ experience when connected to a monitor and input.

Images: Nex Computing (edit: me)

While Canonical’s convergence goals with Ubuntu Phone ultimately went nowhere1, quickly joined by Windows Phone and its ‘Continuum’ tech, the idea didn’t die.

Samsung ploughed away with its DeX endeavour. Though the DeX no longer uses Linux, its newer Android desktop mode pre-empted Google’s own approach at delivering an adaptive one (and that comes to more devices with Android 16).

NexPhone: Android, Debian + Windows

The Triple-OS Shuffle

The NexPhone will ship with Android 16 as its primary operating system (including the Android Desktop mode for ‘convergence’ style computing). Also installed is Debian Linux and Windows 11.

Debian runs as an app with GPU acceleration on top of Android. When you connect the phone to a monitor and pair a keyboard and mouse (or attach to something like the CrowView Note with a USB-C cable), Debian morphs into a full Linux desktop experience.

You can use the Debian desktop on an external monitor an have the phone remain a functional Android system, the way Ubuntu for Android intended to work.

Image: Nex Computing

Don’t want Linux? You can reboot the phone into Windows 11. Arguably, this is the most interesting aspect of the device. Nex has created its own custom, grid-based UI that Windows 11 uses when booted on the handset alone.

Hooking it up to a screen reveals the traditional Windows 11 desktop for “proper” productivity.

Windows fans still mourn the demise of Windows Phone and Continuum, so I bet they’ll flock to this with wallets in hand and nostalgia inter eyes.

The Linux crowd? Savvy ‘penguinistas’ have been using tools like Termux and Andronix to shoehorn Debian containers onto Android for years. For those comfortable managing proot environments, a pre-baked solution is less compelling.

Hardware specs

The NexPhone uses a 2021 Qualcomm QCM6490 processor (Kryo 670), which is an interesting choice as it’s primarily a chip aimed at IoT devices (the FairPhone 5 uses it too). It’s built on the Snapdragon 778G architecture with 8 cores:

  • 1x Cortex-A78 core @ 2.7GHz
  • 3x Cortex-A78 cores @ 2.4GHz
  • 4x Cortex-A55 ‘efficiency’ cores @ 1.9GHz

Why this chip? Because it’s the only chip that readily supports all three operating systems.

Performance will be positively …acceptable. Fine for everyday phone use and simple desktop tasks, including coding, but compiling kernels or undertaking sprawling video edits? Eh, it’d be a push – and the phone battery isn’t finite.

There’s also 12GB RAM; 256GB onboard storage (expandable with a microSD card); and a 6.58-inch LCD screen running at 1080×2403 resolution with up-to-120Hz refresh rate.

Rear cameras are set in a ‘bump’, with a 64MP wide (Sony IMX787) and 13MP ultrawide (Samsung S5K3L6XX). A 10MP front-facing camera services unflattering under-the-chin selfies needs.

Rounding it out the usual stuff one would expect a mid-range Android phone, like fingerprint scanner and NFC, plus Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 LE, GPS, and a slew of sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light, proximity).

Where to buy the NexPhone

So far, so intrigued: so how much will it cost?

The NexPhone is currently slated to cost $549 (but we live in 2026 where tariffs blow in like the wind, and blow back out just as quick).

Small production runs of niche hardware rarely come cheap, so the price feels oddly fine for this. Not dirt cheap, but not outrageously expensive.

But here where things get a bit “here we go again”: manufacturing doesn’t begun until the latter half of the year. Would-be buyers can pay a $199 (refundable) deposit today, with the rest payable when the NexPhone is ready to ship.

Those early-bird deposits also qualify for a “free” USB-C dock, but those can be found on AliExpress for a dollar or two so reselling it won’t offset the purchase by much (sorry, savvy savers).

Worth it? Depends…

If you want to place a $200 deposit to ‘pre-order’ one, you can do so on the official website.

But with the expected delivery date in the distance, I worry the middling IoT chipset will feel more dated by the time this is literally in hands. Nex Computing themselves pitch it as an ideal secondary or ‘rugged’ backup phone, not a replacement2 for a flagship one.

Nex seem confident they can fulfil their vision of convergence with the NexPhone this time, and happen to have a raft of brainless laptop shells they can sell you to use with it!

  1. Note the capitalisation; while a community-led continuation exists, it’s not by Canonical. They washed their hands of it in 2017, with Mark Shuttleworth saying he was ‘wrong’ to go hard on the idea of convergence given the challenges and resulting community fragmentation. ↩︎
  2. When the company selling you a phone suggest that you might want to use a different one as your main one, it helps to frame a purchase: this is about proposition more than specs. ↩︎