January 2022 Production Update

Happy New Year! As we communicated towards the end of last year, we spent the last couple of weeks working on correcting a keyboard flaw, which we uncovered during the course of scaling up production. 

In our final NPI update, we stated that during the initial stage of production, approximately 90% of manufactured devices passed the EOL tester. However, as we scaled up production, we noticed that many units had a distinct flaw in the 4-way navigation button which caused it to make a noise when pressed. 

Over the course of the last 2-3 weeks we identified what was causing the problem and our engineering partners have proposed a couple of options which appeared to have solved the problem. 

The GOOD NEWS is that we found a solution to solve the flaw and tested it in various heat and humidity conditions.  According to our tests, the solution is able to withstand extreme low temperatures of up to -28C, as well as  high temperatures and humidity without any issue. In fact, after 10,000-15,000 clicks, we can conclude that the problem has been solved and the solution is being implemented in the new production.   

You can preview a video of one of the tests here: 

We also assembled and tested  a larger batch size of devices in order to make sure we can repeatedly replicate the same product with identical quality in bigger quantities. Our goal is to manufacture between 300-500 devices per week. 

As we previously mentioned, we made the decision to replace the devices of all the backers who have reported that they are experiencing this flaw. This means that we first replaced the units of the Backers who have reported the flaw and after those units have been replaced, we are sending out devices to subsequent Backers.

In the next two weeks, expect to produce and test even more devices and those are being shipped to waiting backers this month. We plan on increasing production at a much quicker pace, in order to deliver all pre-ordered Mudita Pure phones in the coming weeks.

We would also like to inform you that we will be manufacturing the Pebble Grey Mudita Pure phones alongside the Charcoal Black devices. The production will be 50/50.  When we first started production, we were planning to first produce all the Charcoal Black devices and then move on to the Pebble Grey ones. However, in order to speed everything up and get the devices to all our Backers and customers as fast as possible, we will be manufacturing them simultaneously. 

We understand that the slow pace of production can be a little frustrating, however, the current global situation in the supply chain constraints combined with workplace shortages due to the pandemic is not making scaling up production easy. Manufacturing is not something that can be done remotely, so we are working around some difficult circumstances. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding.