The Flipper Zero became famous for two things: looking like a toy dolphin and getting banned by governments who were terrified it might unlock their cars. If you missed that particular internet drama, imagine a device that could clone your hotel key card, mess with your garage door, and generally make security professionals very nervous, all while displaying a cute pixelated dolphin on its screen. It was part hacking tool, part conversation starter, and entirely controversial. Regulators freaked out, YouTubers made clickbait videos about this $169 device that can steal your car, and suddenly everyone knew what a Flipper was. Now the same team is back with something thats going to confuse the hell out of everyone who expected Flipper Zero 2.0 because thats apparently not what the team is building.Now rumors are swirling about something called the Flipper One, and if even half of whats being whispered is true, it represents such a radical departure that you have to wonder if the same team is even involved. Where the Flipper Zero was designed to poke at wireless signals around us, the alleged Flipper One wants to be your pocket computer. Not a phone, not a tablet, but an actual Linux computer that happens to fit in your hand.Designer: Pavel ZhovnerAI Representation based on Pavel Zhovners SchematicsThe first thing to know is that Flipper One isnt meant to be an evolution of the Flipper Zero its designed to be a new device entirely. Pavel Zhovner and the Flipper team have been pretty explicit about that. Zhovner and his team clearly paid attention to the regulatory headaches that plagued the original Flipper Zero. The rumored Flipper One ditches every single radio that made the Zero famous. No RFID, no NFC, no sub-gigahertz, no infrared. Just a Linux box with a screen and a modular design that makes pen-testing easy without pissing off entire countries.This would be brilliant if its real, because rather than being an amalgam of sensors, the Flipper One is now theoretically a platform like a smartphone that runs apps. Regulators could evaluate specific radio modules rather than trying to figure out what an entire device might be capable of, sort of like how regulators ban apps rather than outright banning a phone. Users would get exactly the wireless features they want without paying for ones they dont need. It transforms a compliance nightmare into a business opportunity, which is exactly the kind of solution youd expect from people whove been through regulatory hell once already.AI Representation based on Pavel Zhovners SchematicsThe supposed engineering choices reveal serious ambition. Most portable devices make you choose between battery life and performance, then spend years managing that tradeoff. The rumored dual-processor setup would use a small, efficient chip for boring background tasks while a more powerful processor handles everything you actually care about. Full Linux support would mean running actual desktop applications. Android compatibility would open up millions of existing apps. Theres even talk of a custom Kali Linux distribution with user-friendly interfaces for security tools that normally require memorizing command-line syntax.Although the internals seem to be changing, the format decidedly isnt, which means the Flipper One will still look like a spiritual successor to the Flipper Zero, with a landscape design and that iconic orange backlit LCD display. At 256144 pixels, its not trying to compete with your phones display. Instead, that specific resolution was allegedly chosen because its exactly what you need to fit a usable multilingual keyboard on screen. Combined with eight physical buttons, a directional pad, and even a tiny joystick, the interface design suggests someone actually thought about extended use rather than just looking impressive in marketing photos.AI Representation based on Pavel Zhovners SchematicsThe most ambitious rumor involves open sourcing the operating system. Instead of just selling hardware, theyd be creating a platform for pocket computers. Its either visionary or completely delusional, and honestly, both possibilities are entertaining. The cyberdeck community has been building similar devices for years as one-off projects requiring serious fabrication skills.Whether any of this materializes remains entirely speculative. The details sound too good to be true in some ways, too practical in others. If Flipper Devices can actually deliver something approaching these specifications, theyd have the first commercially viable pocket computer designed specifically for people who understand computers. Thats either revolutionary or the kind of overambitious project that teaches expensive lessons about hardware development. Given their track record of turning controversial hacking tools into cultural phenomena, betting against them seems unwise. If they execute this properly, Flipper One wont just be another hacking tool Itll be the reference implementation for what portable Linux computers should look like in 2025.The post Flipper One Rumors Suggest a Pocket Computer With Hacking Tools That Governments Cant Ban first appeared on Yanko Design.