Created by the Swedish EV manufacturer of the same name, at a time when giants like Xiaomi and Huawei are trying to capture this ecosystem, the Polestar Phone comes with optimizations and functions dedicated to electric car owners.
Aimed at the Chinese market, the Polestar Phone should help the Swedish manufacturer strengthen its position in the increasingly competitive environment of the local electric car market, which is starting to be dominated by tech giants able to impose their own ecosystems of services and applications . In other words, the battle for dominance of the EV market is shifting from the product itself (the electric car) to the associated services, with the manufacturer that best manages to impose its own ecosystem gaining the long-term loyalty of those consumers. We’re already seeing this happen in the Android vs iOS ecosystems, with their users finding it inconvenient to migrate to the rival platform to say the least.
On the surface, the Polestar Phone is a relatively mundane flagship-level smartphone built around the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. But the Swedish manufacturer recommends it as an “AI-designed flagship phone”, suggesting that it brings more advantages to Chinese consumers, owners or future buyers of Polestar EVs. However, the exact details about the exclusive AI functions are a bit thin, with the manufacturer only mentioning those already available in the competition, such as AI-assisted image generation/editing, Circle to Search functionality and text summarization.
If on the front the Polestar Phone delights with a 6.7-inch screen with a 21:9 aspect ratio and 1250 nits brightness, the back shows a triple-camera configuration with a 50MP main sensor (includes optical stabilization), an ultrawide camera of 13MP and 10MP telephoto camera. The design, which seems inspired by Sony and Samsung phones of the previous generation, also includes a third camera ring, but it only serves the LED flash. The front camera is a 32MP model, applied through the screen perforation process.
For the time being, it is not clear whether the Polestar Phone will also reach European markets, as the EV manufacturer has a solid presence especially in the Nordic countries. What is certain is that, like Tesla, Polestar is strongly feeling the slowdown in the electric car market, with the company announcing that it will miss its target of 60,000 EVs sold for the quarter Q4-2023. At the same time, the company is preparing to streamline operations by laying off 450 non-essential employees.
Tags: Polestar Phone smartphone dedicated electric car owners
