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Carbon 1 Mk II is an all-carbon fiber composite chassis Android smartphone

The Carbon 1 Mk II features an all carbon fiber monocoque chassis. (Image: Carbon)
The Carbon 1 Mk II features an all carbon fiber monocoque chassis. (Image: Carbon)
German smartphone maker Carbon has launched the Carbon 1 Mk II. The new Android-powered device is made from a carbon fiber composite that integrates special materials into its design to allow for the unimpeded transmission of cellular signals.

The smartphone market is saturated with smartphones that can be very difficult to differentiate from at times so anything that stands out from the crowd will invariably get noticed. German smartphone maker Carbon has decided on making smartphones from carbon fiber composites which is harder than it might sound. First and foremost, carbon fiber blocks cellular connectivity, which makes designing a phone chassis completely from carbon fiber composite a major engineering challenge.

After taking four years in research, the Carbon 1 Mk II designers overcame this issue by forging carbon fibers with complementary “radio-enabled” composites at key locations on the device. The company calls this technology HyRECM (hybrid radio enabled composite material technology). Why take the trouble? Carbon fiber is stronger than steel, but lighter than aluminum. Not only is the Carbon 1 Mk II extremely durable, it weighs in at just 125 grams or around 33 percent lighter than comparable non-carbon fiber 6-inch smartphones.

It is fitted with a MediaTek Helio P90 chipset that is mated to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 256 GB of UFS 2.1 storage. The battery is a modest 3,000 mAh, which is another way it helps keep its weight to a minimum, but its 1080p 6-inch OLED display shouldn’t be too taxing on overall battery life. Complementing the carbon fiber body, the display is coated in Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, the toughest on the market. Android fans will be pleased to note it ships with a plain vanilla version of Google Android although it only ships with Android 10 out of the box -- the company promises an update to Android 11 in Q2.

The Carbon 1 Mk II is currently up for pre-order priced at €799 and will start shipping in mid-March.

Buy the stock Android Google Pixel 5 from Amazon.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2021 03 > Carbon 1 Mk II is an an all-carbon fiber composite chassis Android smartphone
Sanjiv Sathiah, 2021-03- 5 (Update: 2021-03- 5)