Sustainable smartphone specialist Fairphone has announced its latest and greatest product, the ultra-repairable Fairphone 4.
This so-called ethical smartphone is way more repairable than other modern smartphones, with a glueless, modular design that positively encourages you to crack it open and get tinkering. Fairphone offers eight modules for repairing each area of the device, including a battery, camera modules, covers, ports, and more besides.
It’s quite the opposite of Apple’s approach, with the iPhone 13 said to actively hamper repair attempts.
Unlike previous Fairphone devices, it also features a reasonably competitive specification. That includes a Snapdragon 750G processor, 6 or 8GB of RAM, 5G connectivity, and either 128 or 256GB of storage. The display is a 6.3-inch 1080p LCD, and it’s powered by a removable 3,905mAh battery.
Photography is handled by a pair of 48MP sensors, one for wide and one for ultra-wide shots, together with OIS support and 4K video. There’s a 25MP selfie camera up front, housed within a teardrop notch.
It houses all these components in a vastly improved metal frame, which supersedes the all-plastic builds of previous Fairphones. This is still made up of ethically sourced materials, however, including Fairtrade gold and a 100% recycled plastic back cover.
You don’t get a 3.5mm headphone jack like previous Fairphones, which is a shame, but that has enabled the company to offer an official IP rating (IP54) for the first time.
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Fairphone even promises to pay a living wage bonus to the factory workers who construct the Fairphone 4.
The Fairphone 4 also comes with an impressive five-year warranty and a guarantee of two full Android updates, with ongoing software support until the end of 2025.
The Fairphone 4 will ship on October 25, with prices starting from £499 / €579.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
