The maker of rugged Cat, Motorola, JCB, and Kodak smartphones has filed for bankruptcy. The company will be missed since it served a specific market focused on robust smartphones.
The name "Bullitt Group" will mean little to few, yet many people know the phones they manufactured—e, especially those under the Caterpillar name. CAT phones were known to be indestructible. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the Bullit Group.
Just last year, the company made headlines by announcing a phone with satellite communications, the S75. That was just after Apple did the same, but still before other Android manufacturers. During the Corona pandemic, Bullit also innovated by bringing the bacteria-free S42 H+. Or what about the Cat S62 Pro with its built-in Flir thermal camera? None of these phones have a real competitor.
End of Cat phones?
Still, the Bullit Group seemingly struggled to gain much market share. The phones appealed to a small group and were too thick and expensive for a larger audience. Whether this means the end of Cat phones is still unknown; in principle, Caterpillar can license its name to another OEM. However, that option does not seem obvious.
Bullit Group was mainly known for the Cat phone but also made the Motorola Defy series, although no new models have recently been released.
