Fairphone has been putting an emphasis on the repairability and sustainability of its phones for much of the past decade. The company has a long track record of delivering software updates for old phones, offering phones with user-replaceable batteries, and selling spare parts for users that want to perform their own repairs.
Starting with the Fairphone 4, the company went a step further and began offering full schematics for that phone. And the company recently did the same for the Fairphone 5.
The company has published a document titled “Fairphone 5: Information on how to repair and recycle,” but the name is a bit of an understatement.
While the 95-page document does include instructions for disassembling and repairing the phone, along with a complete list of parts and information about recyclable materials used in the phone, there are also detailed schematics with clearly labeled images of everything on the phone’s printed circuit boards, plus a breakdown of technical information describing each component and how they’re wired together.
In other words, not only can a skilled technician use the schematics to perform repairs, but you can also get a better understanding of how the Fairphone 5 is put together and. Someone with the appropriate resources and experience could also theoretically use these to build their own Fairphone 5 from scratch, but it would almost certainly be far cheaper to just buy one from the company.
The Fairphone 5 launched in August, 2023 and currently sells for €699 in Europe. It’s not widely available outside of Europe, but customers in the US can currently pick up a Murena Fairphone 4 for $550 and up.
The Murena Fairphone 4 is basically a version of Fairphone’s 2021 smartphone that ships with a de-Googled fork of Google Android called /e/OS rather than the version of Android that usually ships on Fairphone devices. But, like all of Fairphone’s smartphones to date, the bootloader is unlocked, allowing users to install custom ROMs or other operating systems.
They’re selling freedom as a premium, once again, no thank you.
It’s nowhere near the premium you pay to be locked inside Apple’s walled garden
Too expensive. The Murena Fairphone 4 should never even get close to $550 USD (and up).
Fairphone is the Frame.Work of phones, but very over-priced for what you get.
Just wondering, how would you propose making what Fairphone do cheaper?
It’s worth watching their FOSDEM talk to get a better understanding of the scope of their work and what goes into the price of their handsets.
I couldn’t care less. $600 for a mediocre phone is too rich for my blood.
I think the Samsung xCover 6 Pro is just great.
Firstly it has a screen that does NOT burn-in, all the ports and features that the flagship devices are missing. Also it’s built for long-term use, the design is practical and rugged, and has modern IP68+ water resistance. AND it has a User Removable Battery. So you can easily double or triple the battery life, in real-world cases, just by hotswapping it from another one. They’re small and slide into a pocket easily, I remember doing so when travelling abroad with the old Samsung Note 4-Exynos.
If we could get a similar device to that from Fairphone, yeah, I’d vote with my wallet. But they are going the opposite direction, and I’m not for it. Even a discounted Pixel looks better, or a Samsung with its mass produced advantages and mainstream support, now with 7 Years. It’s hard to take Fairfone seriously when their main advantage (software support) has eroded, as they hesitate to offer 4+ Years of Support. Honestly I don’t think there will be a Fairfone 6, not unless they decide to do some major changes and improvements, doubt it.
Being able to replace every component on the phone is not what most consumers need. The main components that break on a phone are the power connector and the screen. If some manufacturer would simply focus on making a phone that has easily replaceable screens and power connectors that would probably be sufficient.
…like Fairphone
So much love for what Fairphone is doing!