Conversations about thebest smartphonesseldom consider repairability as a factor. However, Dutch phone maker Fairphone has been challenging that notion for a few years with its highly repairable line of midrange phones. The latest entrant in this list is theFairphone 5, which was launched this August with minor upgrades over its predecessor. But it’s quite a challenge to improve on something that you’re already pretty perfect at, and iFixit’s latest teardown of the Fairphone 5 illustrates that.
The repair experts took apart the phone in customary fashion, outlining how each component was put together (and taken out) while noting the repairability improvements made along the way. First things first, the Fairphone 5 has earned a perfect 10/10iFixit repairability score. For context, both theSamsung Galaxy S23 Ultraand the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max scored 4/10 for repairability.
So what makes the Fairphone 5 the best phone to repair? It’s more of what made previous Fairphone models popular, with the manufacturer adding minor tweaks to make some components easier to remove. The first stage of disassembling the phone remains unchanged from the Fairphone 4, although iFixit notes that the outer shape of the removable rear panel has changed with this iteration.
Meanwhile, the rear cameras can be changed individually, a stark contrast to the Fairphone 4, which requires users to replace the entire camera module to fix just one sensor. The sacrifices made to accommodate the larger 4,200mAh battery are also evident from the split motherboard and daughterboard rather than a unified Core Module like on theFairphone 4. This also happens to be the most significant change and results in the addition of connectors that could be accidentally removed during repair, according to iFixit.
For this reason, there are stickers (Red, White, and Black) on the body to indicate which connector goes where. So even if these crucial connectors are accidentally unplugged during the course of reassembling the phone, putting them back in place is relatively uncomplicated.
Despite the perfect score on repairability, there are some areas of concern, such as the fingerprint scanner, which doesn’t have a replacement part yet. So, if you accidentally break the sensor, your only option is to wait until the part is made available by the manufacturer. But with that being said, iFixit deems this a “reasonable compromise,” citing the challenges with IP rating for water/dust resistance and component failure rates.
The hardware underneath the Fairphone 5 is designed specifically to last longer than your average smartphone, such as the use of the IoT/smart home-centric Qualcomm QCM6490 chip rather than a full-blown Snapdragon offering. While there are obvious drawbacks in terms of performance with this chipset, it has the benefit of receiving longer support from Qualcomm than other more popular models.
Arguably, the Fairphone 5’s biggest strength is the promised five Android OS updates and up to 8 years of security updates, with the company even considering an extension to 10 years. It’s hard to predict the future, but the company appears to be on the right track, especially based on itscommitment to older phones.
