TheFairphone 5 is finally official. The Dutch company presented its new phone in an online launch event, and I’ve had the chance to go hands-on with it for a few days. As someone who reviewed the last two generations of Fairphones, including theFairphone 4, it’s incredible to see how far the company has come and how modern the Fairphone 5 feels, all while being easy to take apart and repair. The fact that Fairphone was able to build a beautiful device like this makes me very hopeful for the future of consumer electronics, with a number of right-to-repair regulations on the horizon that could bring the essence of Fairphone to all thelatest and greatest smartphonesout there.
Fairphone 5: A design almost like a regular phone, but repairable
While theFairphone 3and, to some extent, the Fairphone 4, still had quite a few design compromises to battle to enable their repairability, the Fairphone 5 looks and feels like any other good phone released in 2023. It retains the sleek metal frame and the signature triangular camera bump the Fairphone 4 introduced, but it’s stepping up its display with a punch-hole selfie camera and even bezels all around the phone, making the front look much more modern. The only thing that really makes the Fairphone 5 stand out are its bigger dimension, some bigger-than-usual bezels, and a small recess in the frame that lets you pry off the backplate to reveal the removable battery and access to the rest of the phone’s interior.
If it wasn’t for the transparent back that my review unit has that reveals aNothing Phone-like interior, it would be hard to tell the Fairphone 5 apart fromcurrent mid-range phoneslike the Samsung Galaxy A54 or the OnePlus Nord N30. And yes, I know that Fairphone had transparent backs long before the Nothing Phone popularized it as a design feature.
Fairphone 5
Fairphone adds some more much-needed upgrades with its fifth handset. Apart from the overdue switch to a punch-hole selfie camera that makes the screen look more modern, the bezels deserve another mention. They’re still bigger than on most other phones, but at least they have the same spacing at the top and bottom, something that many other manufacturers forgo to get a slightly smaller handset. The display itself has also been upgraded to a laminated OLED with a refresh rate of up to 90Hz. Most screens these days are laminated, which in essence means that the display is as close to the glass as possible, making for a more immersive experience. While this offers some compromises when it comes to repairability, it makes for a much better-looking display. and it’s something most people expect their screens to look like these days. The biggest upgrade is definitely the switch from LCD to OLED, though.
Despite the repairability that inherently involves making the device more open and less tightly packed, the company achieved a new milestone with water and dust resistance this year. It’s Fairphone’s first handset with IP55 water and dust resistance, which means it’s protected against limited dust ingress and against low-pressure jets of water from all directions. This still isn’t as good as what many other phones offer with IP68 (full dust protection and immersion), but those phones also aren’t easily repairable.
Fairphone 5: Long-term software support
Fairphone doesn’t only put a lot of thought into repairability, but also long-term software support. That’s why the Fairphone 5 is powered by a processor you’ve probably never heard of: The Qualcomm QCM6490. It’s an 8-core mobile chip with three clusters, consisting of one big 2.7Ghz Cortex A78, three 2.4GHz Cortex A78, and four Cortex A55 at 1.9Ghz, joined by an Adreno 643L for graphics. If you’re a spec nerd and that seems familiar, it’s because it is: The configuration is basically identical to the Snapdragon 782G, with the difference that the QCM6490 is made for industrial and IOT-focused applications.
The unusual chipset offers a big advantage for Fairphone, as the chip enjoys a longer support window from Qualcomm than usual. Qualcomm will push software updates until 2028, with Fairphone vowing to keep the flame burning after that, committing to extended support until 2031 and aiming for 2033. Just to emphasize this number: That’s 10 years from now, and thus longer than any other phone receives updates. In that time frame, the company wants to provide five Android version upgrades, which is more than any other manufacturer offers, including Google and Samsung.
The five OS upgrades are also a leap forward compared to the Fairphone 4. Back when it launched, the company guaranteed updates until Android 13, with the company only promising to try its best to launch Android 14 and 15. It’s likely that this is made possible by Qualcomm’s special chip, because for the Fairphone 4, the company cited Qualcomm as the culprit standing in the way of longer-term support.
We also need to remember that Fairphone isn’t an international behemoth like Google or Samsung but only a small team. That means that updates will likely take longer to reach the Fairphone 5 than the newest Google and Samsung flagships. However, the Fairphone 5 makes good on that with its long-term support. It will receive updates long after the current high-end phones from these other manufacturers are obsolete.
Even once official support ends in 8 or 10 years, the Fairphone 5 doesn’t necessarily reach the end of the road. Fairphone encourages custom ROM development, so if you’re absolutely willing to hold on to your phone as long as possible, you might be able to do so if the developer community is big enough.
Fairphone 5: Going beyond repairability
Right-to-repair regulations would mean some form of repairability for all phones in the future, but Fairphone goes further. The company isn’t only on a mission to make electronics last longer and make them easily repairable, it also wants to change the way the supply chain works: “We continue to be unique in working with our suppliers to pay a living wage bonus to the people who make our phones,” said Ballester. “In an industry first, we have now started supporting living wages for the people who make some of our phone components.” I would even argue that this aspect is more important to the company than repairability itself, given that it only recently launched somenon-repairable but fairly sourced true-wireless earbuds.
Fairphone says it’s “positively impacting more than 30,000 people” in and around mines, opting for recycled materials and “fair mined” alternatives as often as possible. It also pays a “living wage” bonus to workers in assembly, including those who only assemble smaller parts of the full phone. This is also true for the battery, which the company additionally claims is the fairest on the market, “based on available industry data.” Additionally, the factory putting the Fairphone 5 together is certified with one of the highest standards for good working conditions.
It’s likely that there are some buzzwords involved here, and the company is clear that there is still a road ahead, but at least it’s one of only a few businesses in the industry addressing both the environmental and social consequences of our thirst for new electronics. A right-to-repair bill won’t change the social impacts of mass-manufacturing electronics, and that’s where Fairphone continues to lead the industry — even if, for example, iPhones become repairable someday, and even if they offer similar long-term software support.
The Fairphone 5 is up for preorder now
The Fairphone 5 is up for preorder in Europe now, starting at €700 or £620, which is roughly $700. This might seem like a high price to pay for a phone with these specs, but you have to remember that you’re also paying extra for the modularity and repairability as well as the fair supply chain that is more concerned with giving everyone involved a living wage than sourcing the cheapest possible materials. And if you’re serious about owning the phone for the next 8 to 10 years, the price likely also doesn’t seem as high anymore.
We haven’t heard word on a US launch just yet. TheFairphone 4 just recently launched across the pondwith a special Google-free Android version, though, so it’s possible that the Fairphone 5 will follow suit at some point in the future. If you’re still unsure about the Fairphone 5, we will have a full review of the Fairphone 5 up soon, so stay tuned for that.
The Fairphone 5 is a culmination of everything Fairphone learned over the past years. It’s the company’s most repairable phone yet that comes closest to a modern-looking flagship phones, all while being easily disassembled using standard tools.
