Fairphone
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Company type | Privately held company |
---|---|
Industry | Telecommunications equipment |
Founded | January 2013 |
Founder | Bas van Abel Tessa Wernink ![]() |
Headquarters | , Netherlands |
Area served | Western and Central Europe except Malta and Cyprus |
Key people |
|
Products | Smartphones |
Website | www |
Fairphoneis a Dutchelectronics manufacturerthat designs and producessmartphonesandheadphones.It aims to minimise the ethical andenvironmental impactof its devices by usingrecycled,fairtradeandconflict-freematerials, maintaining fair labor conditions throughout its workforce and suppliers, and enabling users to easilyrepair their devicesthroughmodular designand by providing replacement parts.[1]
As of April 2024[update],the company's most recent smartphone is theFairphone 5,which it plans to provide with security updates and software support, including 5 OS updates, for 10 years.[2][3][4]
History
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Learning_the_process_%2827072280854%29.jpg/220px-Learning_the_process_%2827072280854%29.jpg)
Fairphone was founded by Bas van Abel, Tessa Wernink and Miquel Ballester[5]as asocial enterprisecompany in January 2013, having existed as a campaign for two and a half years.[citation needed]
In April 2015 the company became a registeredB Corporation.[6]
Since version two, the Fairphone is produced inSuzhou,China, by Hi-P International Limited.[7]
In November 2021, theFairphone 4was made available.
As of February 2022, Fairphone had sold around 400,000 devices.[8]
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.[9]
Products
[edit]Name | Release date |
SoC | CPU | GPU | Memory (GB) |
Storage (GB) |
Display | Camera | Initial Android version |
Battery capacity (mAh) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type | Speed (GHz) |
Cores | Type | Speed (MHz) |
Size (inches) |
PPI | Rear | Front | |||||||
Fairphone 1 | Dec 2013 | MediaTekMT6589 | Cortex-A7 | 1.2 | 4 | PowerVRSGX544MP | 286 | 1 | 16 | 4.3 | 256 | 8MP | 1.3MP | 4.2.2 | 2000 |
Fairphone 2 | Dec 2015 | Qualcomm Snapdragon801 | Krait400 | 2.26 | 4 | Adreno330 | 578 | 2 | 32 | 5 | 446 | 12MP | 5MP | 5.1 | 2420 |
Fairphone 3 | Sep 2019 | Qualcomm Snapdragon632 | Kryo 250 Gold+Silver |
1.8+1.8 | 4+4 | Adreno506 | 600 | 4 | 64 | 5.65 | 427 | 12MP | 8MP | 9 | 3060 |
Fairphone 3+ | Sep 2020 | 48MP (12MP output) | 16MP | 10 | |||||||||||
Fairphone 4 | 30 Sep 2021 | Qualcomm Snapdragon750G | Kryo 570 Gold+Silver |
2.2+1.8 | 2+6 | Adreno619 | 950 | 6/8 | 128/256 | 6.3 | 409 | 48MP OIS, 48 MP Ultrawide, (ToF + Color) sensor |
25MP | 11 | 3905 |
Fairphone 5[10] | 30 Aug 2023 | Qualcomm SnapdragonQCM6490[11] | Kryo 670 Prime+Gold+Silver |
2.7+2.4+1.9 | 1+3+4 | Adreno643 | 812 | 8 | 256 +up to 2TB |
6.46 | 459 | 50MP OIS, 50 MP Ultrawide, (ToF + Color) sensor |
50MP | 13 | 4200 |
Social impact and competitors
[edit]The phone is modular, which makes it easily repairable and customisable by the user. According to the company, increasing the lifespan of a phone by two years reducesCO₂ emissionsby 30%.[8]
The gold and silver inFairphone 4has the Fairtrade label, also metals used are said to come from conflict-free mines.[12]The company promises a 5-year warranty period and long-term support for software updating and spare parts.[13]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".[14][15]
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.”[5]
A survey conducted by Franziska Verna Haucke in theJournal of Cleaner Productionfound:
Surprisingly, the findings show that alternative consumption seems to influence the involvement with the Fairphone and social commitment negatively 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.[1]
Shiftphoneis 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.[8]
Recognition and certifications
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Tech5_-_TNW_Conference_2015_-_Day_3_%2817255228955%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Tech5_-_TNW_Conference_2015_-_Day_3_%2817255228955%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
In 2016, Fairphone's founder and first CEO Bas van Abel was one of the three recipients of theGerman Environmental Award.[16]
Operating systems
[edit]Fairphones can run several operating systems, includingCalyxOS,DivestOS,/e/,iodeOS,LineageOS,Ubuntu Touch,and more.[17]Murena, the company associated with the /e/ foundation, also sells Fairphones with /e/ pre-installed and offers a warranty for them.[18]As of 2023 the official /e/ support for FP3 is based on Android 12.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abHaucke, 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.S2CID157498710.
- ^Gibbs, Samuel (8 September 2023)."Fairphone 5 review: could this be the first phone to last 10 years?".The Guardian.
- ^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.
- ^Hill, Simon (22 September 2023)."The Fairphone 5 Is a Smartphone for a More Ethical World".WIRED.
- ^abHomerun.co (27 January 2017)."Fairphone: Calling for Change".Archived fromthe originalon 22 September 2018.Retrieved2 September2019.
- ^"Fairphone - Certified B Corporation - B Lab Global".bcorporation.net.Retrieved13 September2022.
- ^Hebert, Olivier (19 February 2015)."The path to finding our new production partner: Hi-P".Retrieved18 January2021.
- ^abcSchweiger, Francesca (22 February 2022)."The mobile phones you can take apart and repair yourself".BBC News.Berlin.
- ^"Impact investor consortium invests €49 million in Fairphone"(PDF).Fairphone.Retrieved30 August2023.
- ^Vonau, Manuel (30 August 2023). Vonau, Manuel (ed.)."The Fairphone 5 is here, and it's the sleekest repairable phone yet".androidpolice.Berlin, Germany.Retrieved30 August2023.
- ^Qualcomm® QCM6490/Qualcomm® QCS6490 SoCs(PDF),2021,retrieved30 August2023
- ^Gibbs, Samuel (15 October 2021)."Fairphone 4 review: ethical repairable phone gets big upgrade".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved19 April2023.
It includes fair trade gold and silver, ethically sourced aluminium and tungsten, plus recycled tin, copper, rare earth metals and plastic.
- ^"Fairphone's latest sustainable smartphone comes with a five-year warranty".theverge.30 September 2021.Retrieved19 April2023.
- ^ Douglas Rushkoff(24 July 2018)."How tech's richest plan to save themselves after the apocalypse".The Guardian.Retrieved13 March2020.
- ^Bas van Abel 'Fingerprints on the Touchscreen',March 2017
- ^Lomas, Charlotta."Fairphone creator: Success is a signal to industry".Deutsche Welle.Retrieved28 October2016.
- ^"✏ Operating Systems for Fairphones".Fairphone Community Forum.6 June 2022.Retrieved29 June2022.
- ^"Smartphones".Murena - deGoogled phones and services.Retrieved26 October2023.
External links
[edit]Media related toFairphoneat Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Official community forum
- FairphoneonFlickr
- FairphoneonInstagram
- FairphoneonX
- Fairphone's channelonYouTube
- Ubuntu Summit 2023 - Open Source for Sustainable and Long lasting Phones(presentation by Luca Weiss about Fairphone)