Shiftphone

SHIFT6mq

Shiftphoneis amodular,easy-to-repairsmartphonebrand created by the companySHIFTin Germany. The company emphasizesfair tradeand ecology, similar toFairphone.Instead oftantalum capacitorsmade fromcoltan,ceramic capacitorsare used for their manufacturing. So far, eleven model series have been released. The most recent release was the SHIFT6mq (successor of theShift6m) in June 2020. The upcoming device will be the SHIFTphone 8, scheduled for release in 2024.

Names

The official company name is SHIFT GmbH.

Model names

The names of models start with the string "SHIFT" in upper case letters.

Except for the SHIFTphone 8 this is followed by the length of the display diagonal rounded to full inches. After that

• the name ends - for the oldest models
• a dot follows, in turn followed by a number - some newer models until around 2017
• an m follows - this is for the new modular line

OS name

The OS is named either SHIFT-OS or ShiftOS.

Devices

Year of release	Name	Notes
2014	Shift7
2015	Shift4
2015	Shift5
2015	Shift5.1
2016	Shift5.2
2016	Shift7+
2017	Shift4.2
2017	Shift5.3
2018	Shift6m	"m" for modular - the first modular shiftphone and was awarded the highest national award for ecological design in Germany, theBundespreis Ecodesign,in the category "product".
2019	Shift5me	"e" for Economy
2020	Shift6mq	"q" for Qualcomm, the first to use a Qualcomm SoC
2024 end of March expected	Shiftphone 8	"8" for model eight (not counting the dot-versions). It is planned to be the first shiftphone model of which the name has no reference to the length of the display diagonale, that is IP67 certified and has no 3.5 mm headphone jack. It is planned to use the Qualcomm QCM6490 SoC, the same as theFairphone 5.

Operating system

There are two different operating systems. TheSafetyNetbased SHIFT-OS-G/ShiftOS-G withGoogle servicesor the AOSP-based SHIFT-OS-L or ShiftOS-L without Google services. Furthermore, flashing the device with a custom ROM is allowed;ShiftOS developers are also partly involved in the development of certain custom ROMs.

Characteristics

Sustainability

See also:Right to repair

Shiftphones are built modularly to allow customers to change parts and repair the device without voiding the warranty. Videos support the user in repairing their device, explaininghow to open it and how to change certain modules.

Circular economy

Customers have the option, to upgrade their device to a different model.

Shiftphone partners withClosing the Loop.

Privacy aspects

The operating system can be replaced with a custom ROM based onGNU/Linux(Mobian) or ade-googledAndroid.

Different from the competitorsPinePhoneandLibrem,the motherboard and peripherals are notopen-source hardware.This makeshardware backdoorsstill possible.

The SHIFTphone 8 does includehardware kill switches,for example for the microphone and camera.

Workers' care

Shift employees in Chinado not work more than 50 hours a week, while it is common for people to work up to 90. Compared to theaverage Chinese workerin the manufacturing business, the staff is provided with insurances.

Criticism and controversies about conflict minerals

In 2016c'tdescribed the Shift5 as a typical cheap smartphone. Besides, the journal argued that there was no evidence thatcoltanis not used in Shiftphones and thus criticized the transparency of SHIFT. SHIFT and further secondary sources claim that coltan is not in use for their manufacturing.However, according to c't, the SHIFT partner company "Vstar and Weihuaxin" did not provide information about conflict-free material used in Shiftphone. Unlike Shiftphone,Fairphoneprovides detailed audit reports about component suppliers through a Chinese agency, and also facilitates detailed information on problems and compromises in the supply chain.

Coltan is used to make components for mobile phones and other electronic devices. A huge part of the ore is frommines in the DRC(Democratic Republic of Congo). "Much mining has been done in small artisanal mining operations, sometimes known asArtisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM).These small-scale mines are unregulated, with high levels ofchild laborand workplace injury. "Some 50,000 children, some just seven years old, work in Congo's coltan mines. Workers often have little or no protection and often work underground in self-made shafts.

Recent reports paint a clear picture: articles by many magazines were able to capture the statements of Carsten Waldeck and prove their credibility accordingly.

For example,golem.dereported in detail on the company and its efforts in terms of sustainability and fairness in June 2018.

TheProSiebenmagazineGalileotested the newly released smartphoneShift6mand illuminated, in the form of video recordings, the production conditions of the in-house manufactory located in China in June 2018.

N-tvdescribed the initial efforts for fairness and sustainability as well as the history of the Shiftphone, in September 2018.

In August 2018, the ecology portalUtopia.deno longer reported any lack of transparency regarding Shift's Chinese hardware manufacturing process.

In the issue 15/2018, the computer magazinec'tshowed a more positive approach on the topic of German smartphone manufacturer Shift, although the report itself was rather short in comparison to other European hardware providers.

See also

• Fairphone
• Ethical consumerism
• Fair trade
• Green IT
• Open-source hardware
• Phonebloks
• Framework Computer

External links

• Official siteofSHIFT GmbH