The Phone Manufacturer Update

New passion project.

found a handset marque, design phones through the decades, fight rival OEMs, and (from 2007 onward) ship your own operating system.

This is the first public release of Phone Manufacturer. v1 covers the full hardware loop, retail, accessories, rival competition, Newsstand coverage, cross-venture synergies, and the early phone OS / app ecosystem. We plan to expand the venture in future updates with more depth, content, and polish.

How to unlock and found your brand

Requirements

• Mogul rank

• $5,000,000 entry cost (Handset division tier)

• In-game calendar year 1990 or later

Click path to found

1. Empire → Mogul Profile → Passion Projects

2. Select Phone Manufacturer → Handset division

3. Complete the founding wizard: pick your brand archetype, HQ country and city, and launch your marque

4. You land on Tech → Phone Manufacturer

Your HQ sets venture corporate tax and gives a small home-region demand edge, so where you base the division matters.

In-game guide: Player Guide → Passion Projects → Phone Manufacturer

Where to find everything

Design and sell phones through the eras

Phone design follows the calendar, not just your studio era. Form factors, screens, cameras, and feature packs unlock over time:

• 1980s–90s: brick phones and candy bars

• Late 90s–2000s: flips, sliders, QWERTY smartphones

• 2007 onward: touch slates, phablets, and modern flagships (including foldables when the era allows)

Studio tab: pick category, form factor, shell colours, screen, camera module, and feature packs. Locked parts show when they unlock and which R&D node frees them.

Lineup tab: run up to three active SKUs at once.

• Set price per model

• Relaunch opens a tweak wizard: the old generation moves to history as Replaced, you name a successor, adjust the design, and launch fresh

• Retire clears a slot

• Click any active or historical model for a full sales profile (regional breakdown, reviews, margin, lifecycle, sparkline)

• Use as my phone syncs that handset to your Founder Phone (see below)

Build cost falls each week on market. Fair market RRP drops as models age. The profile warns you if a dated SKU is priced too high.

Click on the phone (or profile link) from the lineup to see the phone profile:

R&D, production, and the weekly sim

R&D tab: set a weekly budget (Off pauses progress), pick a focus preset or Prioritize a branch on the visual tech tree. Branches include Display, Power, Silicon, Connectivity, Camera, and Accessories. Breakthroughs unlock better parts, connectivity tiers (2G through 5G), and accessory quality ceilings.

Market tab: scale production through factory tiers (boutique → regional → national → global), choose a run mode (quality, balanced, or volume), and add production lines unlocked by Silicon R&D. The dashboard compares demand vs capacity so you can see when you are leaving sales on the table.

Each week the sim resolves demand, sales by region, costs, venture tax, reputation, rival pressure, accessories attach revenue, and optional interactive events.

Rivals, brand, retail, and accessories

Rivals tab: five fictional OEM competitors, each with a CEO, strategy, and era device catalog. See their hero device for the current year and how it pressures your categories. Rival hero launches can break on the Competitors wire in Newsstand.

Brand tab: three positioning sliders (value vs prestige, durable vs thin, open vs controlled) with a live demand-fit readout per SKU.

Retail tab: world map of flagship stores. Open standard or experience locations (up to 24 globally, one per city). Stores sell at full RRP, lift visibility, and boost accessory attach.

Steam post imageSteam post image

Accessories tab: design up to five accessories (headphones, speakers, cases, chargers). Gated by the Accessories R&D branch. Bundle one free with phones for a attach spike, or Refresh a SKU to ship a new generation when R&D moves on.

Phone OS and app ecosystem (2007+)

When the touchscreen era arrives and your brand and R&D are strong enough, found your own Phone OS from the venture screen.

The Phone OS tab adds:

• OS tech tree (stability, performance, SDK, security, compatibility)

• App store with developer trust and ecosystem quality

• App Studio: ship your own non-game apps

• Games Studio bridge: publish released mobile games to your store

• Partner marketplace: browse 50+ third-party apps, review profiles, invite partners (curated vs open store stance)

• Social network preinstall if you also run that venture

Post-OS, demand shifts toward ecosystem quality as well as raw hardware stats.

Cross-venture synergies

Market → Partnerships (when you own the partner venture):

Newsstand and Game Pulse

Noteworthy phone stories now publish to the wires with handset preview art and, where relevant, star-rated review lines.

What shows up

• Your launches and relaunches (Studio desk + industry review headline)

• Retirements

• Rival hero device unveils (Competitors desk)

• Venture events: battery recalls, antenna controversies, viral hits, design awards, supply delays, copycat lawsuits, chip shortages, carrier offers (routed to the fitting desk)

• Event outcomes after you resolve a decision

• Gift a handset meetings with high-profile contacts

Click path: Newsstand → Industry Gazette or Game Pulse → tap the article to jump to Phone Manufacturer → Lineup (or Rivals for competitor stories).

Your Founder Phone → Wire tab also surfaces these headlines on the go.

Who's Who: gift a handset

In a meeting with someone in your network:

People → Who's Who → open contact → Meet → Gift a handset

Pick an active line-up model ($5k handling). High-reach contacts who love the phone can boost demand, post on Pulse, and trigger industry news. A weak handset or a rough meeting can hurt instead.

Founder Phone sync

If you run Phone Manufacturer, your pocket phone can look like your latest flagship.

Phone Manufacturer → Lineup → Use as my phone

The Founder Phone bezel and home screen reflect that model's design. Switch whenever you launch something new. Open from the status bar phone icon (from week 4).

Marketing, Ad Desk, and social moments

• Run campaigns against your phone brand or individual models from the global Marketing screen

• Bid on Newsstand ad slots via Marketing → Ad Desk; newly launched models get a freshness lift

• Major milestones (founding, launches, flagship stores, founding your OS) can spawn Pulse or social network share cards, same flow as other empire ventures

Goals and CEO mode

Goals tab: long-term milestones with reputation and recognition rewards.

Hands-off CEO: Empire → Command → CEOs → assign a CEO to the handset division. Posture drives R&D focus, fresh launches, relaunches for dated SKUs, factory scaling, and flagship expansion. A notice on the venture screen shows when the CEO is running things.

Interactive events

Expect at most one decision event at a time, including battery recalls, antenna gate drama, viral hits, design awards, supply delays, copycat lawsuits, chip shortages, and carrier partnership offers. Resolve them for reputation, cost, and follow-up Newsstand coverage.

What's in v1, and what's next

Included in v1

• Full founding flow and HQ tax model

• Era-gated phone builder with visual R&D trees

• Three-SKU lineup with profiles, relaunch wizard, and history timeline

• Production depth, regional sales, and five rival OEMs

• Flagship retail map, accessories line, and brand positioning

• Phone OS + hybrid app ecosystem from 2007

• Newsstand integration with previews and review ratings

• Who's Who gifting, Founder Phone sync, marketing targets, CEO autopilot, and cross-venture synergies

Planned for future updates

• More rival depth, events, and era content

• Richer OS / developer ecosystem simulation

• Additional Newsstand and Pulse hooks

• Quality-of-life and balance passes based on your feedback

We would love to hear how your first handset empire plays. Enjoy the launch.