Fairphone’s Android handsets are known for their sustainability and repairability, and it’s no different with the latest model. The Fairphone 5, which debuted in August this year, achieved a perfect ten in the iFixit repairability score. It is the fourth straight model to receive a 10/10 in the firm’s repairability evaluation.
The Fairphone 5 achieved a 10/10 repairability score
The Fairphone 2 was the first-ever phone to achieve a perfect ten for repairability from iFixit. The company has since reiterated this winning formula of “modularity paired with easy access to all major components” for each new generation. The latest model keeps the same core design with some minor “quality of life improvements” that fixers would love.
The plastic back cover still comes off fairly easily as Fairphone doesn’t glue it in place. You just have to unclip it and you are already in. However, the company has redesigned the cover and increased the thickness of the nano coating for an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance. The Fairphone 4 has an IP54 rating, so the new model has better protection against water.
On the inside, we have a larger battery (4200mAh instead of 3905mAh) that takes up more space than before but is still easily removable. The first quality-of-life improvement is seen on the connector cover of the top module. Fairphone has attached it to the module itself rather than keeping it separate. This ensures that the small plastic piece doesn’t get lost or misplaced during the repair.
Elsewhere, replacing the USB Type-C charging port of the Fairphone 5 is easier thanks to the company using a small metal lid. “No more prodding using a small cutout,” iFixit noted. The new phone also switches to a motherboard and daughterboard design instead of a single board that snakes around the casing. Fairphone made this change to make room for the bigger battery.
The company has color-coded the cables connecting the two boards and added stickers to denote the correct place for each cable. “That’s what intuitive repair design is all about,” iFixit says. “It should be easy to do the right thing and complicated to do the wrong thing.” Replacing other components such as the cameras is fairly straightforward too. Like before, you can replace each camera individually.
The longevity of Fairphone devices complements their repairability
Fairphone phones aren’t all about repairability. The aim is to make sustainable devices that can run for years with an easily repairable design. The Fairphone 2 received updates for seven years after launch, something no other Android maker has done yet. For the Fairphone 5, the company has promised 8-10 years of support, including five major Android OS upgrades.
Hopefully, its Qualcomm QCM6490 processor can handle Android and its apps five years from now. The chip is purpose-built for industrial and commercial IoT applications and comes with longer support than Qualcomm’s standard smartphone SoCs. The Fairphone 5 is available in Europe but there is no word yet from the company for a US release. The previous-gen model arrived in the US nearly two years after its European debut.
2023-12-11 15:04:29