Launched just a few weeks ago, Fairphone 3 is a socially responsible phone that aims to be modular, easy to repair, and manufactured in a way that’s kind to mother nature and worker as much as possible.
In terms of ease of repair, there’s very little competition, as most phones manufacturers don’t design their phone with that goal in mind, and iFixit, a wiki-based site that teaches people how to fix almost anything, often ranks phones from mediocre (iPhone X: 6/10) to really poor (Samsung Galaxy 10 Note+ 5G: 3/10) in their repairability score.
Fairphone 3 is supposed to be very easy to repair, but it’s always good to have a third party verify such claims, and iFixit got hold a sample to tear it down.
They only have to use four tools to completely disassemble the phone as shown in the photo above: T5 Torx and Philips screwdrivers, their opening picks set, and a Mako driver kit with 64-precision bits. That’s all. If you check their other teardowns the list of tools is much longer, and the use of more expensive tools such as a hot air station or an ultrasonic cutter is sometimes required. So that’s definitely a plus for Fairphone 3 here.
Removing and replacing the battery is really easy. No tools needed. Take the back cover with your hands, take out the battery and you’re done.
The top, bottom, camera, and speaker modules can all be replaced after loosening a few screws. Spare parts can easily be purchased on the Fairphone website.
The final Repairability score is excellent, and Fairphone 3 is the perfect phone if you want something to repair yourself, as it got 10 out of 10.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Hope the software will follow…
So screens break and batteries go bad and it’s cool you can replace them. I’m pretty rough with my phone and I don’t like cases, so I’m all ears. But the rest I don’t quite understand. What’s the point of replacing say for instance the camera? Like.. if the camera somehow breaks? Does that really happen? I imagine you’d really have to smash the sucker for that to be an issue.. but they don’t offer a replacement frame or mainboard. I thought maybe they will offer nicer cameras going forward and you can upgrade your phone with them, but looking… Read more »
The camera started to fail on my phone a while back: https://www.cnx-software.com/2014/10/09/camera-not-working-on-your-smartphone-no-problem-massage-it/
It was probably because of a bad connection though. I agree that offering different camera module is a good idea.
On my wife’s Samsung phone I had to replace camera glass because it broke when the phone hit the ground.
After some months the phone started to act strange, turned out the camera started to fail, had to replace that too. But failing camera did make phone act very strange, the phone did all sorts of strange things before it became apparent that the camera is the problem.
No wireless Qi charging? *sigh*
Concept is great. Price — not so great.
Better phones are available for less than half the cost. With Fairphone, you’re paying up front for 2 phones and only receiving one — and you still have to buy any repair parts as needed — and they’re not cheap either.
Is this “fair”?
Here is a “half-priced” alternative:
https://www.umidigi.com/page-umidigi_x_overview.html
The other phones doesn’t offer me the philosophy and the way it gets produced. Fairphone is for people who would otherwise still use their old Nokia or a used two year old phone from a friend who always has to have the newest stuff. The price is high, that’s true, but comparing it to other devices isn’t fair because they produce their stuff without the ethical guidelines. It would be suspicious if the fairphone wouldn’t be much more expensive. I hope the software get more updates though, hadware became irrelevant in the smartphone industry in the last four years imo… Read more »
So the parts in a Fairphone are more “ethical”?
You really have no way to make this sort of value judgment because they don’t disclose the specs or the source for a lot of the parts. Take the display for example. Who makes it and what type it? Is it AMOLED or a cheaper type with lower contrast ratio?
Since they don’t say, I’m guessing the later. I do know it costs twice as much as a good quality AMOLED model. Is charging you twice the market price more “ethical” in your judgment?
How is this an “alternative”, when there is no breakdown of the component source chain? People here seem to overlook, that the Fairphone’s raison d’être is exactly that. The Fairphone folks want to ascertain, that no people in the manufacturing of the device and in the production of its components are exploited. If such a device can be made any cheaper, why don’t other companies look at Fairphone’s web site in order to learn, where their materials are sourced, buy from that sources and sell basically the same product as a “half-priced alternative”? Seeing how people buy Fairphones, that should… Read more »
Show me the breakdown of the component source chain for the Fairphone. And once you have that, explain how the list proves that no one was “exploited”.
How do we know that the person paying double for a Fairphone isn’t the one getting exploited?
“Price — not so great.”
Mainly because they do not produce millions of devices. Lower quantity > higher price. There was a breakdown of costs for the Fairphone 2, and it showed that they made just 9 Euro per sold device…
I’m a “fixit” kinda guy. I’m all in on a phone that can be repaired at a reasonable cost — but charging double upfront for the privilege kinda defeats the purpose.
A better phone at half the cost has device insurance built in. *If* I need to replace it, I can and still have money left in my pocket. Maybe I won’t “fixit” after all.
Should that be Torx not Torz? Or is that a localization thing?
It’s just the z key is really close to my x key 😉
Fairphone with unfair price, nice combo.