Turing Robotic Industries, a company that promised to create a sleek, secure smartphone nearly three years ago, has moved into insolvency.
TRI was located in Finland and formed by some ex-Nokia employees. It gathered most of its funding from Chinese investors. The idea was to create a high-end Android phone made of “liquidmorphium” that would deliver secure communications similar to the Blackphone.
After making promises — and failing to meet them — for over a year, the company did ship a Sailfish-based handset during the late summer of 2016. It later announced the Appassionato handset (pictured) with features such as a 5.5-inch screen, Android 7, and a Snapdragon 821, but the phone never made it to market.
TRI CEO Syl Chao took to the company’s Facebook page to ensure those who live near its facility in Salo, Finland, to not worry about its bankruptcy.
“We will be posting the latest developments concerning the future of TRI in the coming weeks,” wrote Chao.
TRI owes more than $2 million to investors, to say nothing of the money owed to customers who preordered (and never received) its handsets.
