This phone runs a MediaTek Dimensity 7300. Charging $699 for that hardware means there is already a massive markup baked in. I would generally argue against this stating “buy once, cry once”, but in this case the price is already inflated comparibly to the offering. They’re selling services bundled in with their operating system on their infrastructure, their servers. They are the data handler in this case. You give them rights to your data. With a subscription fee and a continuous reliance on them for this service you are in a SLA with them. They can modify their service to be more expensive, less privacy focused on a whim. You then have a device you are unhappy with that your sole investment purpose was for privacy and control. You have an ethical brick.
I looked up the datasheets, and the ‘sustainability’ argument doesn’t hold water mathematically. I’ll use the Fairphone 5 to match the same timeline for support as a comparison, because they are targeting the same market within the same hardware timespan. Fairphone 5 uses a Qualcomm QCM6490. It’s an Industrial IoT chip with a guaranteed 8–10 year support lifecycle from the manufacturer. That is how they offer long-term support without a subscription: they bought the right hardware. The Shortfall: Punkt chose the Dimensity 7300, a standard consumer chip released in May 2024. MediaTek typically supports these for 3–4 years. While Punkt sells 5-year subscriptions, the hardware vendor will likely move on long before that subscription ends.