I owned a fairphone 3. It was expensive but very easy to take apart and promised years of updates. Then it broke, after about 18 months. Fine, I thought, I'm glad I got a repairable phone. I'll just fix it, it'll be easy. I determined the problem was with the main logic board and found that a) a new one would cost much more than an entirely new, and more capable phone and b) it was out of stock.
I just bought a new phone. I didn't feel good about my fairphone experience.
I was looking into Fairphone seriously recently and got repulsed by this parts out of stock thing. It's not just one occurrence, peolle are complaining about different parts out of stock for prolonged period or times (or still not available to this day). What's the point of repairability if parts cannot be acquired? Not much of used market, either.
And their support tells you to pretty much f-off without are purchase receipt, even if you want to buy the part. It's garbage.
The only way this model would work is if specs are completely open, there is optional certification/audit for parts and third parties are encouraged to freely compete selling the parts.
As much as apple (seemingly) tries to actively make repairs harder, they're some of the easiest devices to source replacement parts for, due to their popularity.
Given Fairphone is a rather small company they sometimes have such problems of economy of scale - no manufacturer will prioritise you if you make small orders.
That said, one reason for the Fairphone price is the "fair to the people labouring for the parts of the phone" part. I'm unhappy with the camera quality, but honestly knowing that the premium I pay means fairer working conditions is for me an important element. I prefer to pay the small social enterprise establishing a new kind of supply chain and developing a modular phone, rather than the Samsung CEOs and stockholders.
This is why I like the Framework way: keep the chassis the same so you can just buy a shiny new motherboard with the latest processor if your old motherboard dies.
It's probably not as suitable for phones what with changes to antenna requirements and such though.
To be fair, you are describing a 1:1 comparison of how Fairphone does it here. The issue of economical viability for PC motherboards is easier than smartphone mainboards, but the premise is basically the same- the core component of the device dies and needs to be replaced. There are more modular standards for PC to make the hit here less hard (memory, being the big one) but it's all the same. Fairphone has not done as good of a job as Framework has in making it viable for customers to replace their mainboards, and I will say I think Framework is the odd one here in really stepping up in that market.
However, I do want to point out that when such unfortunate things happen, perhaps the remaining parts that still works could be helpful to other fairphone users?
I'm typing this from my Fairphone 4, which I started using Sunday after almost reaching the six-year mark of my FP2. One reason that obedience managed to last as long is that a friend stopped using his FP2, and I could use his old phone for spare parts.
Sorry to hear that! I have a pretty low sample size of ~8 friends on FP3 and I can't remember hearing of a single hardware failure. Some batteries got replaced and some are even still going strong on their first battery. I've updated mine from 3 to 3+ and I'm on my second battery since this summer, I.e. the main board is ~4years old. A friend had some minor issues in the beginning with some internal connector but I can't remember him mentioning it again.
Another friend got rid of her FP2 this spring in favor of a FP4, but only because some apps she uses got really unusable. Otherwise she would've stayed.
IMO it's a fairly good platform and I'm looking forward to how it evolves in the future. Hopefully they will introduce a smaller phone at one point.
I had to replace the USB module on my FP3 because it couldn't charge my battery anymore. At first I tried to replace the battery but that didn't work, and I was afraid that the issue would be from the motherboard, but no I just needed to change that module. Great experience!
I bought a FP3+, still using it after 3 years, but would not go Fairphone again. Despite supporting what the company stands for, I feel they didn't deliver on their promises.
I was hoping for more upgrades to be available over time, but that was never the case. Instead, two new models appeared with a year interval and the 4 didn't even get any upgrades. Worse even, the 3.5mm jack was removed, following the trend of getting customers to buy headphones with a limited life time due to their battery. The promise of being the responsible choice for the planet is fading away.
I also faced issues when it came to repairing my device. After only 3 months the USB-C port died, impossible to charge it and once out of battery, I couldn't get my data from it. I contacted the support and they offered me two solutions: I send in the phone, it will get fixed but wiped clean or I order the part online and they reimburse me (they couldn't just send it from the repair center...). I chose the latter as I didn't want to loose my data and felt it was the more ecologically responsible choice, especially since the phone is so repairable. Well, the part was not available on their store, checked every retailer in Europe and third party parts don't exist. I was stuck with a brick for 4 months. The irony is that if I had an iPhone or Galaxy, I could get it fixed the same day at the phone repair shop around the corner...
I appreciate all the efforts Fairphone put in setting up more responsible supply chains. But in my opinion they still failed on their sustainability promise. The devices aren't well supported, it's difficult to repair them and they quickly fall behind due to the lack of upgrades (that also goes with the main board not being replaceable). New devices follow the disastrous trends of other brands with a new model each year and removing the headphone jack. Sure, they are a business and need to make money, but not by going against their own values.
I had a similar experience with replaceable batteries (1) expensive on the one hand, but at the same time (2) unavailable.
I think batteries are the main consumable of a phone. It seems to me there should be an after-market of smaller batteries, and a set of universal power adapters (like you get with power supplies), and shims to fit it securely within the phone.
But I haven't seen this, so either people prefer to upgrade (demand) or manufacturers successfully made it too hard (supply).
Although I really appreciate Fairphone, I've got to admit my experience is similar. I had a Fairphone 2 until the screen went haywire. Not broken, but showed random noise. Replacing it was expensive. Meanwhile, I've replaced several broken iPhone screens. Even if iPhone's are harder to repair, they're still not all that hard to repair. It just takes time and patience. And instructions from ifixit of course.
With the incentives our economy is aligned to for things like phones, repairability will be a hard sell on a dollar to dollar basis with replacement. It's more about values than strict consumer cost.
Fairphone is a for profit company. What is there to prevent the company from choosing not to use the highest quality parts so that you will need to buy more parts to repair it later on?
I have an iPhone 11 Pro. The back is made out of glass which is easily breakable. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why, because behind the glass is an opaque piece of aluminum. The glass broke on the third day I had the phone when I tossed it from knee height on to a folded up sweatshirt that was sitting on a rug on a tile floor.
Oh, actually, I guess I do know why an opaque part of a thousand dollar phone is made out of incredibly fragile glass, but I’ve made it two years without cutting myself too terribly badly and I’m not planning on replacing it while it still works.
(Obviously, the front glass is broken too but that’s utterly unremarkable for an apple product).
The glass prior to iPhone 14 is UNREPAIRABLE as well. You are better off breaking the screen. The Apple repair process for iPhone 12 and 13 is to replace the entire chassis. Ebay sellers will sell you a replacement back glass but you have to painstakingly break off all the back glass including a sensitive microphone near the cameras and also the chances you don't break the wireless charging is zero. Polycarbonate plastic would have been ideal
I have memories of a time where Apple was praised for their polycarbonate quality. You know, those expensive devices they called MacBook and iPod. They even released the iPhone 5C which, ironically, only made consensus on its good design.
Really nothing is forbidding them to release nice plastic phones.
The only reason they won’t is that they want this shiny aspect in their App Store because the consumer will hide this under a mandatory case if they intend to keep it for years.
Well It’s a shame thinking of all those nice things we could have if we actually decided to break corporate monopolies. But now we are stuck between stupid glass phones without default applications and Google spy phones.
I feel a little better knowing this is necessary, but it's hard to believe they couldn't figure out how to charge through metal (like ever other "put it on the charger thing I own like handheld radios). I guess the radios are more "put it on the charger in the right position" whereas I can slop the phone on the wireless charger wherever I want.
Of course I don't have a wireless charger but hey, progress.
I don't get this either. My OnePlus 7 also has a glass back. These thin, fragile phones all require a case (making it thicker and hiding the sleek looks) to protect them, and my glass back still broke despite the case. What's the point?
I'd rather have a sturdy phone that doesn't require a separate case. In fact, the replaceable body of my old Fairphone 2 is a much better idea.
This happened to me too. Every committed iPhone user told me - you should have used a case! Ummm... What's the point of a phone being beautiful and thin if I then anyway have to make it large with a case? It was a bad piece of design.
To each their own. I bought myself and my partner iPhone 13. She kept her in case, mine always case free.
2 years later, she broke back and screen. Mine while all scratched up is still intact. Went underwater at least 5 times. Number of falls on concrete, tiles, etc.
Also, it’s pretty false. Apple already did it with the iPhone 5C and the plasticky aspect was about the only positive thing in the reviews of this phone.
Apple largely have the competence and the marketing power to make everyone believe that their premium plastic is amazing. In fact, they managed to make us believe that for glass which must be one of the cheapest materials on earth to produce.
Unless you're accusing the commenter of lying, that seems exactly what happened.
Which doesn't surprise me. I've dropped case-less phones on concrete and asphalt many times with only minor scratching to the frame. But I've also seen people drop phones onto decent-pile carpets and break their screens. It's hard to predict what will happen.
Sir, reading comprehension. The tile floor was separated from the device at all times by a rug and a folded up hooded sweatshirt. If I tossed it on a tile floor we would not be having this conversation.
I comprehended it, but I assume it's incorrect. It probably landed in the one spot that didn't have any meaningful separation from the tile floor. Or it wouldn't have broken.
You mean “the spot that didn’t have any meaningful separation from the rug,” I’m sure. This has been a deeply fulfilling conversation and I’m glad we got the chance to talk past one another today.
technically they tossed it onto the earth's core, which is estimated to be around 5000°C. though even if it had been a (completely uncovered, unrugged, and un-folded-up-sweatered) tile floor, i would absolutely expect most manufacturers' phones to hold up just fine at that height...
to get serious for a moment though, id like to go against the anti-glass grain by pointing out that supposedly, successive generations of Corning Gorilla Glass get stronger by some multiple each time, yet we see phone screens smashing with the same regularity because manufacturers are just using thinner panes each time (probably chasing thinner phones more so than some kind of planned obsolescence conspiracy, although both explanations are credible). so we end up with a tradeoff between thickness, durability and glass backs, but that beats having to rule out durable phones with glass backs entirely from being able to exist
Thinner panes are cheaper panes. In theory they could keep the thickness the same and use a lower grade of material, but the savings likely aren't that high and thinner phones are likely the nail in the coffin.
I don't think it's a "conspiracy" so much as "the first design objective" but I think I agree with every other part of your comment. (I have also added the bit about the earth's core to my standup routine; thanks).
my iPhone 4 battery went up in smoke after owning it for 1.5 years.
my iPhone 6 plus developed touch disease after 2 years, the replacement developed touch disease after a week, and the second replacement began exhibiting mild symptoms after a couple months, the nand failed after another 2 years. (applecare replacements mind you.) plus I wasn't a huge fan of apple trying to sweep the issue under the rug until it gained nationwide attention.
I dropped my iphone 14 in the ocean. It was in there 2 days until it washed up onshore. A fisherman picked it up and it was still on and it had service. It was in lost mode so he was able to call my emergency contact and I got it back. Aside from minor scratches on the screen it has no damage and works perfectly. That experience taught me that Apple takes reliability extremely seriously, even if they dont care about repairability. I dont know if they could have made a phone this bulletproof while also making it repairable. I do believe it is a good thing for people to be able to repair stuff they own, but there is a tradeoff.
We found an iPhone in the ocean in Mexico. Verizon put us in touch with the owner who said it had been there for a week. It worked fine. I agree, reliability can be a proxy for repairability.
Wow, did you drop it nearby, as in, on the beach? I always imagined that a denser object like that would stay put and even perhaps nudged outward by the ocean motion.
Hardware can just fail, but just from what I've seen, Apple stuff seems to randomly fail the least. I've had so many other brands just randomly die without any damage. While the only time I've had this happen with Apple was a macbook SSD that died. I took it in to the store and they replaced it for free out of warranty.
Nope. I was android user for 13 years. Just bored of switching between multiple android phones and bought iPhone. Not that I particularly like it, but I appreciate some effort on Apple’s part for privacy and security.
I just bought a new phone. I didn't feel good about my fairphone experience.