Joe Maring / Android Authority

I just saw something at CES 2026 that felt like a relic of the past: an Android phone with strong privacy features, a removable battery, expandable storage, solid specs, and no AI features. It’s the type of Android phone that Samsung and Google won’t make, but another company did, and it’s called the Punkt MC03.

Punkt may not be a household name, but it’s also not brand new to the smartphone world. The company launched its MC02 phone in February 2024 with the same goal of creating a privacy-focused handset. It wasn’t a complete success, but it was a promising glimpse into Punkt’s vision for Android’s future.

The MC03 is Punkt’s latest attempt, and after using the phone during a hands-on session at CES, it’s pretty impressive just how well this new model comes together.

Like the MC02 from a couple of years ago, the MC03 runs ApostrophyOS, a heavily customized version of GrapheneOS with Android running at the core. The interface is split up into two pages: the Vault and the Wild Web. The former is the “main” home screen of the MC03 and houses your most secure, most private apps — things like your calendar, email, and cloud storage. On the MC02, all of these apps were created by Apostrophy itself, but on the MC03, you now get the full suite of Proton apps for these things. You can add/remove applications from this Vault page as you wish (including those downloaded from Punkt’s own app store), all of which are completely off-limits to third-party data tracking/profiling.

Joe Maring / Android Authority

When you swipe over to the Wild Web home page, you’re presented with what looks and feels like a more typical Android phone setup. You can still run those secure Vault apps here, in addition to applications you’ve downloaded from the Google Play Store. The Play Store isn’t installed by default on the MC03, but you can enable it during the phone’s setup process with just a few taps, which is significantly easier than it was on the MC02.

This dual home screen setup is essentially the same as on the MC02, but the interface on the MC03 feels significantly more complete and polished. The Vault UI’s minimalist styling is very slick; switching to the Wild Web is smoother than before, and simple things like swiping, scrolling, and other system animations look much, much better. Best of all, there aren’t any unwanted AI features baked into the phone.

But it’s not just the software that’s better this year; the hardware is also a huge step up. Where the MC02 was a cool idea that ultimately felt held back by its (somewhat rubbish) hardware, the MC03 is a legitimate improvement across the board. The lackluster 60Hz IPS display is now a good-looking 120Hz OLED display, you get 8GB of RAM up from 6GB, and the chipset is a much more capable MediaTek Dimensity 7300.

Joe Maring / Android Authority

What really surprised me about the MC03’s hardware is its battery. The 5,200mAh battery is slightly smaller than the 5,500mAh one in the MC02, but in exchange for that smaller capacity, it is now removable and replaceable. If you buy an MC03 and find it’s not holding a charge or taking a charge as it used to, you can buy a new battery from Punkt, pop out the older one, and replace it with the new one — just like in the good old days. Even with a user-replaceable battery, the Punkt MC03 remains IP68 dust- and water-resistant.

All of these upgrades I’ve mentioned are great on their own, but it’s how they all come together that makes the Punk MC03 so promising. This still isn’t an Android phone that everyone should rush out and buy to replace their Pixel 10 or Galaxy S25, but for folks who are interested in getting a phone that respects their data and privacy in a way most other Android handsets do not, the MC03 appears to be a more realistic and viable solution than the MC02 ever was.

Joe Maring / Android Authority

And even if you’re a little more lax with the privacy stuff, there’s still something to be said for a modern, high-quality Android phone with a user-replaceable battery and expandable storage via a microSD card (up to 1TB). Those are features we just don’t see much at all anymore, so to get them with the Punkt MC03 — in addition to all of the privacy goodies — is pretty cool.

If that sounds like a phone for you, the Punkt MC03 will be available in the US sometime in the spring for $699.

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