Fairphone continues to believe in modularity and sustainability

Fairphone 5 was officially launched recently and it brings a lot of positive surprises. The phone is designed for easy repair. It allows us to easily replace as many as 10 components, including the battery, screen, camera and USB-C connector. The device costs 699 euros and will be available in Europe from September 14. It is equipped with a 6.46-inch OLED screen, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage and a triple camera. The battery is removable, but has a slightly smaller capacity of 4200 mAh.

Eden najbolj zanimivih vidikov je izbira procesorja. Namesto standardnega Qualcomm Snapdragona je Fairphone izbral “industrijski IoT” čip QCM6490, ki obeta daljšo podporo. Po podatkih nizozemskega podjetja bo naprava podprta kar 8–10 let, kar je velik preskok v industriji. Za primerjavo: Samsung, ki je pri tem eden bolj naprednih, ponuja 4 leta Android nadgradenj in 5 let varnostnih popravkov.

Updating Android usually requires the cooperation of several parties: Google, Qualcomm, and the phone manufacturer. Qualcomm often ends support after a few years, making devices less useful over time, and after a few years, incompatibilities with some apps and services are already noticeable. Fairphone is the only Android phone manufacturer that continued to provide support even after Qualcomm ended its support.

The phone is designed with repairability in mind and offers a five-year factory warranty. The battery will cost around 50 euros and the screen around 100 euros.

Overall, the phone is a big step forward in sustainable electronics, extending product life and reducing e-waste. They were also very careful in choosing the materials themselves. They used recycled steel, nickel alloy, tin and plastic. They are working to improve the conditions of workers in their supply chain for other key metals such as lithium, gold and cobalt.