History¶
Major milestones¶
Librem 5 Timeline Recap (2017 - May 2020)
Now is a great time to say “Thank you” to all our supporters, as you will see from the timeline recap video, it takes an immense amount of dedication and support to accomplish great things.
Librem 5 Getting Faster With Age (August 2021)
The Librem 5 phone is one of those rare computers that is getting faster and better with age. Find out how we are investing our time and resources to make the whole of mobile computing better.
Byzantium Released (November 2021)
Like with our Librem 14s and Librem minis, all Librem 5 and Librem 5 USA phones are now shipping with PureOS 10 (code named Byzantium).
Telling revisions apart¶
This page describes differences between L5 revisions.
0.9.7 (Birch) & 0.9.8 (Chestnut) have the camera flash in the corner, where later revisions have it closer to the middle than the lens.

The corner flash placement in Birch and Chestnut¶

The flash placement in Dogwood and later¶
You will need a charger to quickly discriminate between 0.9.7 and 0.9.8. For 0.9.8 and later, the red LED shines while the phone is turned off and charging.
Versions up to 1.0.0 (Dogwood) are shorter at 150mm compared to later ones at 153mm. There is less space below the screen than later versions.
Look at the sides on the phone, where the buttons and switches are. Trace them towards the end with the USB port. Near the turn, there might be a stripe of a different shade of black. 1.0.0 does not have one. 1.0.2 and 1.0.3 have one, on the left side of the screen. 1.0.6 has one on both sides.

The differing antenna spacer between 1.0.3 and 1.0.6¶
The top phone is 1.0.3, and the bottom is 1.0.6. The spacer is less clearly visible in reality.
Additional differences become visible once the battery compartment is opened:
0.9.7 and 0.9.8: circuit boards are immediately visible after removing the rear cover. Later versions feature a plastic cover.

0.9.7: Cards are seen after removing the rear cover¶

1.0.3: Cards are hidden behind an additional plastic cover¶
1.0.2 and later: there is a screw just above the USB port in line with the battery contacts.
1.0.2 and later: there is no center screw; only 1 on the left and 1 on right corner.
Note
Librem 5 USA: there is a very small chance that the device might look like 1.0.6 but have a 1.0.3 board.