Purism Librem 5 review: A 2019 privacy-first Linux phone made in the USA.
Privacy-first US-made Linux phone.
Librem 5 is Purism's privacy-first phone with hardware kill switches and PureOS — for users who prioritise libre software and US manufacturing.
01Display
60/10060/100 is one of the weaker display results among flagship phones of 2019 — 16 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
02Camera
50/10050/100 is one of the weaker camera results among flagship phones of 2019 — 19 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
03Performance
36/10036/100 is one of the weaker performance results among flagship phones of 2019 — 27 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
04Battery
78/10078/100 trails the 82-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2019.
05Build
70/10070/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2019.
06Value
50/10050/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2019.
- Three hardware kill switches.
- PureOS — fully libre Linux.
- Made in USA.
- Replaceable battery.
- $1,200 price.
- NXP i.MX 8M is very slow.
- 230 g brick.
- Camera limited.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 2-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .