NextBit Systems

About NextBit Systems

NextBit Systems Inc. was established in 2012 by former Google Android team veterans Tom Moss and Mike Chan. Moss, who served as CEO, and Chan, the CTO, brought their deep experience from the early days of Android to the venture. In 2014, they were joined by Scott Croyle, former senior vice president of design at HTC, as chief product and design officer. The company was founded with the vision of creating a new generation of computing that was less reliant on physical device storage and more integrated with the cloud.

The company's flagship product was the NextBit Robin, a smartphone marketed as "cloud-first". The Robin was designed to intelligently manage onboard storage by automatically offloading infrequently used apps, photos, and data to the cloud, freeing up space on the device. When a user wanted to access an archived item, a simple tap would restore it from the cloud. The device featured 32GB of internal storage supplemented by 100GB of integrated cloud storage. The Robin was initially launched through a successful Kickstarter campaign in September 2015, which surpassed its $500,000 funding goal within hours and ultimately raised $1.3 million. This direct-to-consumer approach was aimed at engaging with a core community of tech enthusiasts and developers.

The business model centered on the sale of the Robin smartphone, initially offered to Kickstarter backers and later sold directly to consumers. The phone's specifications included a 5.2-inch 1080p display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 13-megapixel camera. A key milestone for NextBit Systems was its acquisition by gaming hardware and lifestyle brand Razer Inc. in January 2017. Following the acquisition, NextBit ceased sales of the Robin but continued to provide software support and updates for a period. The company operated as an independent division within Razer, with its team contributing their expertise in mobile design and engineering to Razer's future projects, most notably the Razer Phone.