What makes something premium? Is it how it looks, how it feels in your hand, how it was designed or simply how much it costs?
In the age of BlackBerry, the black and chrome aesthetic of the BlackBerry Bold, Passport and Classic conveyed professional elegance.
Over the last decade phones have experimented with different alloys like aluminium, titanium and even ceramics to command higher price points and convey premium status.
We've been conditioned to think metal = good.
But is it, really? And for who?
Yes, there was a time when designing a metal mid-frame took serious engineering chops. Today that process is well understood in the manufacturing world and it tools cheaply at volume.
Another benefit for manufacturers using metal mid-frames is that it doubles as your heat sink, which means you don't have to engineer a thermal system.
Good for product simplicity, not as great for the person holding a warm phone against their skin.
A new premium context
"When we set out to design Communicator, we looked around and asked ourselves what does premium mean to us in the here and now."
We saw premium showing up in all new ways: less industrial, and more organic. Clothing that might have been considered casual streetwear 15 years ago, has evolved into premium athleisure brands like ALO and Lululemon, or premium sneaker brands like Common Projects or Clay. They're premium because the materials got more technical, and less bold at the same time.
That's the new world we're building Communicator to live in; not to fit into the past.
Premium connectivity
"Here's what no-one talks about. Metal bodies and RF don't play nice."
Every antenna in a metal mid frame has to be routed around, cut into or grafted onto a structure that is fundamentally hostile to it. Take a look at your metal flagship and you'll see the plastic lines cut into the body.
Communicator's mid-frame is built out of a carbon fibre reinforced composite that's RF-transparent. This allows us to place the antennas into the moulding where the physics allows us to deliver the best connectivity, not where the metal permits.
We've loaded Communicator with seven cellular antennas whereas others in the category carry only five.
Seven versus five antennas allows Communicator to support the extensive band list that it does with broad coverage across the US, Europe and Asia. This includes the TD-LTE bands that much of Asia runs on, and that many phones omit.
It's also why Communicator supports carrier aggregation and EN-DC, which combines multiple frequency lanes so data moves faster, in addition to running on 5G on top of a 4G anchor, which is how 5G actually works on most real networks most of the time.
Premium utility
When your frame is your heat sink, it has nowhere to go but into your hand. We've built a dedicated vapour chamber into the Communicator to help spread and dissipate heat across a surface.
Communicator is loaded with three microphones (one on the top, one in the chin and one on the back) while the standard for phones is two. When it comes to the two speakers, we're using a better diaphragm material than we needed to because we want the audio to sound crisp.
Haptics are driven by a motor that's both larger than what you'll find in other phones and that uses a linear design compared to the non-linear style. The result is more satisfying feedback.
The main camera is equipped with optical image stabilization and a larger sensor than the category norm. Camera quality doesn't stop at the hardware, we're investing in algorithm development to optimize the hardware for quality photos and video.
None of these things are visible in a product photo or demo video. But it's this level of detail, care and passion for building great products that we obsess over.
"It's what makes something feel truly premium in your hand without you really understanding why."
In fairness to metal
Alloys can be wonderful materials. They can be machined to precise tolerances and hold a finish. We're not against metals philosophically and use them thoughtfully where they make sense, like on our volume rocker, Kill Switch, Prompt Key, and keyboard dome switches to deliver incredibly satisfying feedback.
We just don't think that "which material is the mid-frame" is the right question for determining what premium means in 2026.
What shapes our design decisions?
We built Communicator as a tool.
Tools inherently have a purpose. Each tool is made and shaped differently because it's designed for a specific task.
Every aspect of Communicator - from the form factor to the ergonomics, and the materials is designed to help you communicate with speed, efficiency and confidence. To respect your time and help you take action.
To us, that's what premium is about.
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