Fairphone’s latest durable smartphone comes with a five-year warranty

Fairphone, the maker focused on easy repair of smartphones made from ethically sourced materials, has just unveiled its fourth-generation handset. The Fairphone 4 uses a modular design similar to the company’s previous phones, but with more powerful internals, a five-year warranty, and a promise of two major Android updates and end-of-year software support. 2025. Prices start at € 579 / £ 499 for the phone, which ships on October 25.

I’ve been using the Fairphone 4 for a few days as my primary phone, and while I’m not ready to deliver a final verdict just yet, it looks like a big step forward from outdated designs and low power components. . found in previous company phones. Stay tuned for my full review.

The ambition of Fairphone is to produce a more ethical alternative to modern smartphones. This means making a device ethically sourced using durable materials before providing the software support and warranty to make it usable for as long as possible. Although Fairphone will only guarantee software support until the end of 2025, it has ambitions to extend it until 2027. In an ideal world, Fairphone would also eventually like to release Android 15 from 2024 as an update. phone day.

Image: Fairphone

Normally, the specifications of Fairphone’s devices are secondary to its ethical considerations, but unlike its previous phones, the Fairphone 4 is competitive against other mid-range Android phones. The 5G handset is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 750G processor, paired with 6 or 8 GB of RAM and 128 or 256 GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD. It is powered by a removable 3,905mAh battery and the screen is a 6.3 inch 1080p LCD screen.

There are two rear cameras – a 48-megapixel main camera and a 48-megapixel ultra-wide – and a single 25-megapixel selfie camera. The main rear camera is equipped with optical image stabilization and can record up to 4K / 30fps.

One notable downside to previous Fairphones is that the Fairphone 4 no longer includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, a choice that flies in the face of the company’s otherwise customer-centric approach. Fairphone tells me that it made this decision so that it could offer an official IP rating for dust and water resistance, which was lacking in the company’s previous phones. It’s only IP54, which means it’s protected from light splashes rather than full immersion, but it’s impressive in light of its removable back cover and modular design.

Regarding its modularity, Fairphone sells eight repair modules for the phone, which include replacement screens, batteries, back covers, USB-C ports, speakers, headphones, rear cameras and selfie cameras. All of these are easily removable using a standard Phillips screwdriver, which means customers should be able to perform many repairs on their own. But, if you need to turn to a professional, Fairphone says their replacement parts are readily available for local repair shops to purchase and use on their own.

Fairphone’s previous two phones are the only devices to have received perfect repairability scores from iFixit, and the company tells me it thinks the Fairphone 4 is even more repairable.

The hope is that these replacement parts will be available at least until 2027. Fairphone has a good track record with previous devices, telling me that it still has parts in stock for the six-year-old Fairphone 2, two years later. that the last handset was sold. But product manager Miquel Ballester concedes the company is running out of parts for this model.

Image: Fairphone

Fairphone also has a solid reputation on the software side of providing major Android updates for its phones… ultimately. Earlier this year, the company officially released its Android 9 update for the Fairphone 2, a device originally released with Android 5. It may have come nearly three years after the original release of Android 9, but that means the phone officially continues to work. Supported version of the operating system from Google. This bodes well for Fairphone’s support aspirations for the Fairphone 4, although it will face the fact that Qualcomm only officially supports its chipsets for three major operating system updates and four years. security updates, Ars Technica reports.

In terms of materials, the Fairphone 4 is made from Fairtrade certified gold; aluminum and tungsten from responsible sources; and recycled tin, rare earth minerals and plastic (including its back panel, which is made from 100% recycled polycarbonate). The company carries out various initiatives to improve the working conditions of miners and workers involved in the supply chains of its devices. Fairphone also claims that the Fairphone 4 is the “first e-waste neutral handset” because it will recycle one phone or an equal amount of e-waste for every device sold.

The Fairphone 4 is available for pre-order today in Europe and is expected to ship from October 25. The model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage costs € 579 / £ 499, while the upgraded model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage costs € 649/569. Unfortunately, there is no sign of an American exit: Fairphone says it is interested but that it is focusing on Europe for the moment.