Is Fairphone really fair?

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The Fairphone 5 is modular, made with recycled & fair materials and fair working conditions. I review the phone, the company behind it, the sustanibilty claims & explain their shortcoming.

The Story Behind

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►►► Attributions ◄◄◄

[MegaZeeeh]

I believe Fairphone is still a huge win. Their objective is not to be an industry behemoth, but to prove it is possible to make a fair product. If the tech giants invested more in this sort of technology, we'd see the cost of "fairness" going down.

[Ace-pccm]

The repairability is still unmatched. The ease, cost, and respect for the consumer when it comes to repair.

[fostena]

I bought a Fairphone 4 at the end of 2021. After 2 years or so of use (mostly social media scrolling, browsing, listening to music and watching YouTube) the battery is now a bit beaten up (now it lasts maybe 24 hours of idle, 7-8 hours of regular use, 2-3 hours of heavy use) and I ordered a new one for ~40€ incl. shipping. I don't plan to swap it right away, but I'd like to have a replacement at hand for when I'll want to retire the current one.
The software updates have been constant so far (I believe we got at least 2 major android versions) and apart from an issue with the bluetooth driver (now resolved) my phone has never skipped a beat.

The water proofing is not amazing. I have been very mean with it and I watched YouTube in the shower several times, and let's say that it didn't like the humidity very much. But it survived, and it still works, despite me being a crappy owner.
So far I consider myself a happy customer

[KrisRogos]

One thing to remember about companies like Fariphone or Framework is that by existing, having a profitable model and attracting a lot of people who are the "early adopters" and are often the "tech experts" in their family/social circle, they force other companies, like Apple, to at least acknowledge this is a desirable feature and make some token gestures towards sustainable and repairable devices. Something they wouldn't have to do if their only competition were Samsung and Google.

[andrewjpalla]

Fairphone is finally good enough that a regular person wouldn't notice, and that's a big win. I'd definitely consider them in the future.

[roibeard]

That profitability percentage is a gutpunch, but in a refreshing way. They are throwing everything they have at giving the workers and the customers the best value they can while creating something better than the norm. I have massive respect for that, and seriously regret financing my current flagship phablet via my carrier. When it's time to retire/recycle this device, I hope Fairphone is still around and making products like this that are better in real ways.

[TheNickazza]

One of my most used sayings is "Dont make Best the enemy of good".
Fairphone is a small company, they cant be perfect, they wont be for a while, but even having the option to sacrifice (frankly overkill) performance for way better sustainability or fair work usage is nice.

[TtEL]

Wait, so they started as eco-friendly phone activists? That's the literal definition of "If you can't solve the problem, become the solution."

[FatDawlf]

The thing with fairphone is that, while a lot of manufacturers are now making similar sustainability, longevity and repairability promises
It's just promises and statements, while fairphone has actually overdelivered with their own promises already

[simplylinn]

If the biggest concern about if they're "doing better than the competition" in terms of environmental impact is that "they don't have enough scale" I'd say helping them to scale up by getting their product is a good idea. Especially when it comes to the whole conflict minerals thing and fair working conditions! I've considered a Fair Phone as my next device for a while now, as the one I'm using is coming up on 5 years old next year, is about to go out of software support, the screen has some small scratches even behind the screen protector and is glitching out from time to time, and the battery life is abysmal these days. I was worried this video would reveal some "bad secret" in terms of fair/greenwashing, but it seems they are honest with what they're trying to do, the premium price I'm willing to pay if it means I contribute less to exploitation, and if the phone is perfectly usable, repairable and all that, I'm happy to say that this video made me feel validated in my choice! Thank you!

[marcosvictor]

If fairphone achieved similar pricing while doing all this now, then they have nothing to worry about. Certainly other companies will just increase their prices when they see revenue going down thanks to people using their phones for longer, after the new regulations come to effect. They can still have a market by keeping prices more similar to the pricing we have now.

[VideogamesAsArt]

I have the Fairphone 3, a phone released in 2019, and two months ago I got an update to Android 13. Since then, I already got 2 more software updates, so the security patches are actually ahead than the Samsung A14 5G (2023 model) that we have at work. Incredible software support.

[PXAbstraction]

Watching Apple talk about being green when they're increasingly making their devices unrepairable and unupgradeable is laughable.

[Syntax.error.]

I think their biggest problem is marketing. Most people have no idea there is a phone you can swap a battery out and can be repaired easy and cheap that is not made by slave labour.

[brandonschieber]

As a German, being able to support a European tech company instead of tax dodging corporations is already reason enough for me. Greetings to all my Dutch fellows, one love🥦

oh yeah, my work is also connected to FairTrade, so there's that. definately my next phone.

[Gross]

I think there are some issues with the early review sample you received.
I did get the Fairphone 5 a few days ago:
You should run it on 90 hz (i put 3 phones next to as comparison even my 144 hz Monitor and it was buttery smooth - even Genshin worked smooth on medium with 60 FPS enabled)
The vibration motor worked suprisingly well (a bit weaker and less haptic than iPhone XS Max), but miles better than lower midtier android phones
Their camera app needs some software tweaking like GCam (Color Grading and some more intelligent processing)
One can just use GCam for those prettier Photos (better stabilization, etc.)
More people need to be aware that it is not the camera that sucks nowadays - more the lack of tweaks in the software (regarding Sharpening and Color Grading the image)
To keep Google Play Services from Spying too much (restricting its battery usage) i sometimes run it on Battery Saver (at least scheduled to, when I sleep).
BTW, more people need to know that it is the Google Play Services that secretly suck so much performance in Android (rather than it being a bad OS) - wish we could pressure Google into decrapifying their Service App...

[wltdo]

The 10 years of software updates is the biggest pro for me

[dsnodgrass]

I give them credit. Instead of just raging about how exploitative phone manufacturing is; theyve gone out and attempted to put their points into practice. Is it gonna be for the highest power users and "spec-snobs"? No; but most users ain't those, and a "Toyota" of phones will do what they need/want just fine.

[anoukk_]

My biggest fear with the rise of repairability of more mainstream products is them slowly pulling it away again once they have convinced governments that regulation on the matter is unnecessary.

[sanketsbrush]

Fairphone is lacking in advertising their product. I really want this product to be successful.