Commodore is bringing back flip phones to help you stop doomscrolling

Will you be buying one of these? (Commodore)

A Commodore branded mobile phone will block all social media apps but still let you play some emulated retro video games.

Did anyone have a Commodore branded phone on their 2026 bingo card? If you did, you should buy some lottery tickets because your luck is definitely in.

This has nothing to do with Retro Games, the company responsible for TheC64 Mini computer, but instead a new Commodore company that was established in 2025 and acquired all the associated trademarks and properties.

That same year, it released a recreation of the original Commodore 64 home computer, dubbed the Commodore 64 Ultimate, and now it’s moving into the realm of smartphones… sort of.

Dubbed the Commodore Callback, the announcement video and website describe it as being in-between a smartphone and a ‘dumbphone.’

While it may be a flip phone, it still has some smartphone capabilities. For instance, 99% of Android apps are compatible with it, including WhatsApp and Google Maps, which obviously means it can connect to the internet too.

The key selling point, however, is that the phone explicitly blocks all social media apps and web browsers ‘at the system level’ and there’s no option to disable it either.

‘Smartphones are designed to be mindlessly seamless. Callback is built around a simple research-backed finding: remove features designed to pull you back in and reintroduce physical friction. It’s a speed bump for the mind,’ reads the website.

That said, it’d be weird for a Commodore branded device to feature no Commodore games, which is why the phone can emulate a small selection of titles. It even throws in Snake, a classic of old Nokia phones.

No release date has been given for the Commodore Callback, but the company is encouraging people to wishlist it so they can get a discount when pre-orders go live on June 30, with plans to distribute orders in the winter.

The white, silver, and beige models all cost £409.74, but wishlisting knocks off about £37, bringing them down to £372.42.

Alternatively, there’s a more expensive Starlight edition for £447.79 and a gold coloured Founder’s edition for £522.42. Wishlisting them reduces the former to £410.47 and the latter to £477.65.

Even without the discounts, these are still cheaper than investing in a brand new iPhone or Android phone, although the Callback will likely be more of a novelty for Commodore enthusiasts than a genuine replacement for peoples’ phones.

‘How fitting, that a company whose lights dimmed in the ’90s, returns for its Y2K era, just as so many of us are reaching back for that exact same simpler tech,’ reads a statement from Commodore president and CEO Peri Fractic, ‘I hope you’ll join us as we dial down the digital, and dial up the life.’

Commodore will also be selling replacement batteries and swappable back covers (Commodore)

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