--- title: What is a Cloud-Based Smartphone? description: Mobile magazine talks about the Cloud-Based Smartphone concept and interviews Arno, Canonical Telco CTO. url: https://canonical.com/blog/what-is-a-cloud-based-smartphone?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Maciej Mazur](https://canonical.com/blog/author/mamazur "More about Maciej Mazur") 6 May 2022 # What is a Cloud-Based Smartphone? [5g](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/5g) [Cloud Native](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/cloud-native) [Mobile World Congress](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/mobile-world-congress) [Smartphone](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/smartphone) [Telco](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/telco) --- Share the article A couple of months ago, at MWC 22 in Barcelona, Canonical had announced its [partnership with Vodafone](https://ubuntu.com/blog/vodafone-cloud-smartphone-based-on-anbox-cloud) to test a new technology that uses Anbox Cloud and the power of smart mobile networks. Today, we’re excited to see that Mobile magazine is talking about the Cloud-Based Smartphone concept in an eight-page article “Will 5G Give Us The First Cloud-Based Smartphone?”, page 60. Arno Van Huyssteen, Telco CTO at Canonical, defines what a cloud-based phone is in the below interview: [Anbox Cloud](https://anbox-cloud.io/) is an open-source technology presenting many opportunities for mobile service providers The main advantage of Anbox Cloud is that it creates new immersive ways for users to experience 5G. As shown during the MWC 2022 demo, you could be walking on the sidewalk and reading an e-mail on your phone. Later, you get in an Uber, and continue replying to it on a larger screen there. When you leave the cab, the screen turns black, and you walk away continuing on the smartphone. This is possible, because your smartphone is not that smart anymore. This is just a simple device, with a screen, battery, baseband modem and few other cheap components. Your Android operating system is actually running securely in the cloud, preferably a micro-cloud on the edge of the network. A device in your hand is just displaying a broadcasted video, just like you would be watching Netflix, and passing your input from the touchscreen, microphone or camera back to the cloud. Thanks to the latency of a 5G network it’s impossible to tell the difference between that and typical smartphone experience. This is the next generation of personal computing, brought to you by Canonical. A trusted distributor of [open source in telco](https://ubuntu.com/telco). ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/dataprivacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### How telco companies can reduce 5G infrastructure costs with modern open source cloud-native technologies](https://canonical.com/blog/how-telco-companies-can-reduce-5g-infrastructure-costs-with-modern-open-source-cloud-native-technologies) 5G continues to transform the telecommunications landscape, enabling massive device density, edge computing, and new enterprise use cases. However, operators still face... [Benjamin Ryzman](https://canonical.com/blog/author/benjaminryzman) 8 December 2025 [### Canonical Kubernetes officially included in Sylva 1.5](https://canonical.com/blog/canonical-kubernetes-officially-included-in-sylva-1-5) Sylva 1.5 becomes the first release to include Kubernetes 1.32, bringing the latest open source cloud-native capabilities to the European telecommunications industry. With the... [Benjamin Ryzman](https://canonical.com/blog/author/benjaminryzman) 13 November 2025 [### The next era of telco clouds: get open infrastructure choice with Sylva and Canonical Kubernetes](https://canonical.com/blog/the-next-era-of-telco-clouds-get-open-infrastructure-choice-with-sylva-and-canonical-kubernetes) Achieving vendor neutrality in telco clouds requires an infrastructure layer that respects open standards, without wrapping them in rigid platform layers. By combining upstream... [estelacarmona](https://canonical.com/blog/author/estelacarmona) 11 June 2026 [### Building new revenue streams: 3 strategic cloud opportunities for telcos in 2026](https://canonical.com/blog/new-telco-cloud-opportunity) PWC claimed the ‘fundamental challenge’ behind slowing growth is that telecom’s ‘core products and services’ are ‘becoming commodities.’ The way forward lies in modernizing and... [Isobel Kate Maxwell](https://canonical.com/blog/author/iso-maxwell) 10 February 2026