Fairphone 6 Teardown: Proof Phones Don’t Have to Be Disposable
In a world full of glued-together gadgets designed for obsolescence, the Fairphone 6 earns a well-deserved 10 out of 10 on our repairability scale.
Now, if only they were officially in the US market, I would absolutely buy one the next time I need a new device. There's two big problems. Firstly, I can't guarantee that it's going to work with T-Mobile US, which is my carrier. And second, if I needed a spare screen or battery replacement or whatever, I'd have to get it shipped from Europe, which is a pain in the ass.
You can officially buy them in the US through Murena: https://murena.com/america/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-6/
Okay, I will keep that in mind. Thank you.
"not disposable" but they want you to but their disposable wireless earphones as there is no headphone jack in this phone.
Start selling them where you're making them!
They don't sell them in the netherlands and china?
Headphone jack would have been trivial to add.
Although, it's not high end.
I'd argue that mid-tier specs are good enough for almost everyone.
In the past when phones improved significantly with every generation this would've been more of a problem for longevity IMO.
I hate to be that guy, but if FairPhone aims to reduce waste, be modular and repairable, why are there 6 models of them? Are they inter-compatible? What hardware (other than 5G antenna) changed since the first/second one? Even if it did, could it have been replaced (upgraded) on the original model?
Not necessarily a dig at the manufacturers, but I wish collectively we would stop chasing more features / CPU / RAM, stuck with something for a decade, and made existing software more efficient instead.
What hardware (other than 5G antenna) changed since the first/second one?
Everything would have changed. Smartphones are not desktop computers, they are not designed to be iterated on piece-by-piece over a long period of time. Fairphone has been trying to convince Qualcomm to develop a modular chipset that can be swapped out like a desktop CPU, but it is just one small European company in an industry filled with global giants. It doesn't have a lot of bargaining power, unfortunately. The same can be said for its negotiations with suppliers, which is why Fairphones tend to have very middle-of-the-road specs and don't lead the industry in any area. It is designing and sourcing with long-term availability in mind, because it knows it doesn't have the market power to go out and demand things.
Since Fairphone is unable to create a truly modular phone, it is forced to release newer models to keep afloat as a business. It releases one phone every two years, less than most manufacturers, and has a very low profit margin. Less than 0.1% in 2022, for example. It's also a bit of a misconception that Fairphone is solely focused on modularity or e-waste, because it is also doing a lot of work behind the scenes on industry working conditions and pay rates throughout its supply chain and is taking on an advocacy role within the industry to push for change. For example, in 2020 it launched the Fair Cobalt Alliance which now has over 20 members, including major tech companies like Google and Tesla.
