• Images
• Videos
• Documents
• Books
• Articles

We don't have any images related to Fairphone yet.

You can add one yourself here.

We don't have any YouTube videos related to Fairphone yet.

You can add one yourself here.

We don't have any PDF documents related to Fairphone yet.

You can add one yourself here.

We don't have any Books related to Fairphone yet.

You can add one yourself here.

Archived Web Articles Add Article

The mobile phones you can take apart and repair yourself

bbc.co.uk

History

Fairphone was founded by Bas van Abel, Tessa Wernink and Miquel Ballester⁶ as a social enterprise company in January 2013, having existed as a campaign for two and a half years.

In April 2015 the company became a registered B Corporation.⁷

Since version two, the Fairphone is produced in Suzhou, China, by Hi-P International Limited.⁸

In November 2021, the Fairphone 4 was made available.

As of February 2022, Fairphone had sold around 400,000 devices.⁹

In 2023 a consortium of impact investors led by new shareholders Invest-NL, the ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund, and existing shareholder Quadia, with its Regenero Impact Fund, invested €49 million in Fairphone.¹⁰

Products

Social impact and competitors

The phone is modular, which makes it easily repairable and customisable by the user, in keeping with right to repair principles. According to the company, increasing the lifespan of a phone by two years reduces CO₂ emissions by 30%.¹⁷

The gold and silver in Fairphone 4 has the Fairtrade label, also metals used are said to come from conflict-free mines.¹⁸ The company promises a 5-year warranty period and long-term support for software updating and spare parts.¹⁹ In 2017, Fairphone's founder Bas van Abel acknowledged that it was currently impossible to produce a 100% fair phone, suggesting it was more accurate to call his company's phones "fairer".²⁰²¹

In an interview with Will Georgi, Fairphone founder Tessa Vernink mentions:

“There might be a misconception that as a social enterprise, we don’t operate like a ‘normal’ business, but that’s not true. In many ways, most of our choices are the same — we still need to make money and sell phones — but the outcome and the goals are different. Our focus is investing in social innovation, instead of purely technical innovation. When other phone companies design a new phone, they research new technology — we research supply chain improvement.”²²

A survey conducted by Franziska Verna Haucke in the Journal of Cleaner Production found:

A sustainable lifestyle represents the dominant factor explaining the involvement with the Fairphone. Surprisingly, the findings show that alternative consumption seems to negatively influence the involvement with the Fairphone and social commitment seems to play a minor role in the model. These aspects point to the Fairphone as a technical artifact, centered on a choice for a sustainable lifestyle.²³

Shiftphone is another small mobile telephone manufacturer with a focus on sustainability, and also developed a modular smartphone. The founder of Shiftphone considers that the two companies working in collaboration could have more influence on bigger competitors.²⁴

Recognition and certifications

In 2016, Fairphone's founder and first CEO Bas van Abel was one of the three recipients of the German Environmental Award.²⁵

The Fairphone 4 was one of the first TCO Certified smartphones, receiving its designation in 2021.²⁶ However, the company had previously suggested its phones exceeded the TCO Certified criteria; indeed, a 2015 side-by-side comparison conducted by Südwind Association, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, and the GoodElectronics Network, found the Fairphone 1 to exceed industry standards on more sustainability and social criteria than even the TCO Certified label.²⁷

Fairphone has also received three consecutive annual Platinum ratings from EcoVadis,²⁸ scoring as high as 88/100 in a rating system that covers four different categories measuring environmental and social metrics. This score placed Fairphone among the top 1% of businesses rated by EcoVadis worldwide.

Operating systems

Fairphones can run several operating systems, including CalyxOS, DivestOS, /e/, iodeOS, LineageOS, Ubuntu Touch, and more.²⁹ Murena, the company associated with the /e/ foundation, also sells Fairphones with /e/ pre-installed and offers a warranty for them.³⁰ As of February 2025 the official /e/ support for FP3, FP4 and FP5 is based on Android 13.³¹

See also

• Ethical consumerism
• Fair trade
• Framework Computer
• Green computing
• Open-source hardware
• Shiftphone
• Phonebloks

Footnotes

External links

Media related to Fairphone at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Official community forum
• Ubuntu Summit 2023 - Open Source for Sustainable and Long lasting Phones (presentation by Luca Weiss about Fairphone)

References

1. Haucke, Franziska Verena (2018). "Smartphone-enabled social change: Evidence from the Fairphone case?". Journal of Cleaner Production. 197: 1719–1730. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.014. S2CID 157498710. /wiki/Journal_of_Cleaner_Production ↩

2. Gibbs, Samuel (8 September 2023). "Fairphone 5 review: could this be the first phone to last 10 years?". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/08/fairphone-5-review-could-this-be-the-first-phone-to-last-10-years ↩

3. Porter, Jon (29 September 2023). "The Fairphone 5 is less about what comes in the box and more about what you get over the years". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/23895548/fairphone-5-review-price-features ↩

4. Hill, Simon (22 September 2023). "The Fairphone 5 Is a Smartphone for a More Ethical World". WIRED. https://www.wired.com/review/fairphone-5/ ↩

5. "Shopping guide: Mobile phone". 25 October 2024. https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/sites/default/files/flipbook/Issue211Preview/10/#zoom=true ↩

6. Homerun.co (27 January 2017). "Fairphone: Calling for Change". Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2019. https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20180922164512/https://interviews.artofwork.co/fairphone-calling-for-change-e4a54db6d90c?gi=c96e28927ae ↩

7. "Fairphone - Certified B Corporation - B Lab Global". www.bcorporation.net. Retrieved 13 September 2022. https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/fairphone ↩

8. Hebert, Olivier (19 February 2015). "The path to finding our new production partner: Hi-P". Retrieved 18 January 2021. https://www.fairphone.com/en/2015/02/19/the-path-to-finding-our-new-production-partner-hi-p/ ↩

9. Schweiger, Francesca (22 February 2022). "The mobile phones you can take apart and repair yourself". BBC News. Berlin. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60374806 ↩

10. "Impact investor consortium invests €49 million in Fairphone" (PDF). Fairphone. Retrieved 30 August 2023. https://www.fairphone.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Impact-investor-consortium-invests-E49-million-in-Fairphone.pdf ↩

11. Vonau, Manuel (30 August 2023). Vonau, Manuel (ed.). "The Fairphone 5 is here, and it's the sleekest repairable phone yet". www.androidpolice.com. Berlin, Germany. Retrieved 30 August 2023. https://www.androidpolice.com/fairphone-5-announcement-sleekest-repairable-phone/ ↩

12. Qualcomm® QCM6490/Qualcomm® QCS6490 SoCs (PDF), 2021, retrieved 30 August 2023 https://www.qualcomm.com/content/dam/qcomm-martech/dm-assets/documents/qcs-qcm6490-soc-product-brief_87-28733-1-b.pdf ↩

13. Announced as “The Fairphone (Gen. 6)” ↩

14. "Fairphone 6 wordt 25 juni 2025 aangekondigd". NieuweMobiel.NL (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 June 2025. https://www.nieuwemobiel.nl/061607/25004/Fairphone-6-wordt-25-juni-2025-aangekondigd.html ↩

15. "Switch to the new Fairphone (Gen. 6)". Fairphone. 25 June 2025. Retrieved 25 June 2025. https://www.fairphone.com/en/2025/06/25/switch-to-the-new-fairphone-gen-6/ ↩

16. D. de Vries, Dennis (25 June 2025). "Fairphone Gen 6 krijgt fysieke knop voor minder meldingen en kost 599 euro". Tweakers. Retrieved 28 June 2025. https://tweakers.net/nieuws/236570/fairphone-gen-6-krijgt-fysieke-knop-voor-minder-meldingen-en-kost-599-euro.html ↩

17. Schweiger, Francesca (22 February 2022). "The mobile phones you can take apart and repair yourself". BBC News. Berlin. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60374806 ↩

18. Gibbs, Samuel (15 October 2021). "Fairphone 4 review: ethical repairable phone gets big upgrade". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 April 2023. It includes fair trade gold and silver, ethically sourced aluminium and tungsten, plus recycled tin, copper, rare earth metals and plastic. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/15/fairphone-4-review-ethical-repairable-phone-gets-big-upgrade ↩

19. "Fairphone's latest sustainable smartphone comes with a five-year warranty". www.theverge.com. 30 September 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2023. https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/30/22700014/fairphone-4-release-date-news-features-warranty-price-sustainable ↩

20. Douglas Rushkoff (24 July 2018). "How tech's richest plan to save themselves after the apocalypse". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2020. /wiki/Douglas_Rushkoff ↩

21. Bas van Abel 'Fingerprints on the Touchscreen', March 2017 https://teamhuman.fm/episodes/ep-30-bas-van-abel-fingerprints-on-the-touchscreen/ ↩

22. Homerun.co (27 January 2017). "Fairphone: Calling for Change". Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2019. https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20180922164512/https://interviews.artofwork.co/fairphone-calling-for-change-e4a54db6d90c?gi=c96e28927ae ↩

23. Haucke, Franziska Verena (2018). "Smartphone-enabled social change: Evidence from the Fairphone case?". Journal of Cleaner Production. 197: 1719–1730. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.014. S2CID 157498710. /wiki/Journal_of_Cleaner_Production ↩

24. Schweiger, Francesca (22 February 2022). "The mobile phones you can take apart and repair yourself". BBC News. Berlin. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60374806 ↩

25. Lomas, Charlotta. "Fairphone creator: Success is a signal to industry". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 28 October 2016. http://www.dw.com/en/fairphone-creator-success-is-a-signal-to-industry/a-36174183 ↩

26. "New Fairphone 4 5G meets tough sustainability criteria in TCO Certified". TCO Certified. 5 October 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2025. https://tcocertified.com/news/new-fairphone-4-5g-meets-tough-sustainability-criteria-in-tco-certified//a-36174183 ↩

27. "'Fair' smartphones compared – Fairphone scores better than TCO-certified smartphones". GoodElectronics. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2025. https://goodelectronics.org/fair-smartphones-compared-fairphone-scores-better-than-tco-certified-smartphones/ ↩

28. Hall, Christine (15 December 2023). "EcoVadis Awards Fairphone for Being Good for the Environment and Labor". FossForce. Retrieved 9 January 2025. https://fossforce.com/2023/12/ecovadis-awards-fairphone-for-being-good-for-the-environment-and-labor/ ↩

29. "✏ Operating Systems for Fairphones". Fairphone Community Forum. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022. https://forum.fairphone.com/t/operating-systems-for-fairphones/11425 ↩

30. "Smartphones". Murena - deGoogled phones and services. Retrieved 9 February 2025. https://murena.com/smartphones/ ↩

31. "/e/OS Smartphone Selector". /e/OS documentation. Retrieved 9 February 2025. https://doc.e.foundation/devices ↩