Framework in 2022: Year-in-review
News
Dec 20 2022
by Marissa Buyck
Every year at Framework is exciting but 2022 was especially important. We took major steps towards our mission of remaking consumer electronics to respect people and the planet. We fulfilled promises, extended our reach into new regions and categories, and created infrastructure to help us grow. On top of this, we watched our community expand and create some amazing things! We couldn’t do any of this without you. Here is a list of major milestones from the past year.
We kept our promise on upgradeability
- We launched the Framework Laptop (12th Gen Intel Core) with a giant leap in CPU performance and a new CNC Top Cover, but even more importantly, we released an Upgrade Kit allowing users to upgrade their existing laptops to get all of the improvements.
- We received awesome feedback about the 12th Gen laptop from reviewers! We recommend these reviews: Tom's Hardware, Digital Trends, Liliputing.
We continued to push open source hardware and software
- We open sourced our Embedded Controller (EC) firmware and made it available on GitHub for you to modify if you wish.
- We released a 3D printable Mainboard Case, and open sourced our Mainboard drawings and electrical documentation in a Github repository.
- We created a Linux compatibility page to help Linux users get up and running with their favorite distributions on the Framework Laptop.
We built solid infrastructure to keep growing on
- We completed a Series A fundraising round and raised $18M to bring our mission and product philosophy to new areas.
- We expanded into five new countries! Our current list of orderable countries include: US, Canada, Germany, UK, Ireland, Austria, Netherlands, Australia and France. If you’re in a country that we don’t currently ship to please register your country on our waitlist so we can prioritize our expansion.
- We overhauled our logistics and supply chain to reduce our environmental footprint and centralize production in Taiwan!
We began building an ecosystem of products around the Framework Laptop
- We launched the highly anticipated Ethernet Expansion Card.
- The Framework Laptop Mainboard became available in the Marketplace for purchase as a standalone module.
- We launched a Refurbished program in the US and Canada (with a plan to expand to other regions in the future) with the Refurbished Framework Laptop (11th Gen Intel Core) and Refurbished Expansion Card Pack. This program is extremely important to our company as it is mission-aligned with our efforts to make products last as long as possible.
- We launched the Speaker Kit - 80dB for those who want a little more loudness. This is currently in stock in Germany, UK, Ireland, Austria, Netherlands, Australia and France only.
We started some fantastic partnerships
- We began our partnership with Running Tide, a carbon sequestering company located in Maine. Running Tide’s carbon sequestering involves literally sinking carbon in the ocean through floating bio-buoys that grow kelp micro forests over a period of months and then sink to the ocean floor, sequestering carbon for hundreds to thousands of years. You can now purchase 334 kg of carbon capture in our Marketplace to make your laptop carbon neutral.
- We extended our Linux distro partnerships, providing a number of development units to project leads and maintainers. We also chatted with the Manjaro team and Matthew Miller from the Fedora team on what gets them excited about the Framework Laptop.
- We announced our partnership with Google and launched the Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition in the US and Canada, bringing unprecedented performance and flexibility to ChromeOS.
We saw an incredibly capable and creative community grow
- To accelerate the ecosystem around the Framework Mainboard, we gave away free Mainboards for community development.
- And while there are hundreds of projects out there, here are just 10 that caught our eye:
- Aluminum/3D Printed Mainboard Enclosure
- Framework Tablet
- Keyboard PC (and this one, too)
- Magnetic charging Expansion Card
- Transparent Framedeck
- Mainboard Terminal
- Solokeys - Solo2 Expansion Card
- Input Cover Controller
- Parts Tray for Framework Laptop
- Adjustable Framework Laptop Stand
As the year closes, we feel so grateful for all of your interest and enthusiasm. Thank you for believing in this mission and the products that deliver on it! We’re committed to remaking consumer electronics and we’re excited to share more next year!