The Fairphone 5 is a Dutch-made smartphone. The phone seems to be tremendously good for the environment. But whether the gadget will also last a long time remains to be seen.
The Fairphone 5 is a great option if you want to go for sustainability. We previously awarded the smartphone as one of the most sustainable gadgets of 2023.
But a sustainable gadget does not guarantee good quality. Whether that is also the case with the Fairphone 5, we found out for you. Here are our findings.
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How long will the Fairphone 5 last?
The latest Fairphone features a chip you don’t often see in a smartphone, the Qualcomm QCM6490. In fact, this chip is made for a lot of different devices, including tablets, notebooks and laptops. But you don’t often see it in phones.
Fairphone plans to release five Android updates and eight years of security patches. This is all possible thanks to this remarkable processor choice. The Qualcomm QCM6490 has eight CPU cores and offers midrange performance. Therefore, Fairphone promises that the processor will last about eight to 10 years (!).
Here you can see the device inside. (Image: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian)
The sustainable production of green smartphones
Fairphone has paid close attention to the sustainability of its smartphones. The company says the Fairphone 5 retains at least 80 percent of its original capacity after more than a thousand charges.
Of course, the production of the Fairphone 5 also releases carbon dioxide. Therefore, the company recycles the weight of electronics for each phone sold. That way they are e-waste neutral. They make their smartphones with fair-trade gold and silver, ethically produced lithium and recycled aluminum, among other things.
Android as an operating system
The Fairphone 5 comes with standard Android 13, with no unnecessary add-ons. With it, you have full access to the Google Play Store and all of Google’s services. So you can download and use all your favorite apps.
With the Fairphone 5, you can safely use Android longer than any other device, thanks to its eight to 10 years of security updates. Interestingly, Fairphone also gives users the freedom to install another operating system if they want. For example, you can also install Linux or other versions of Android.
Good for nature (Image: Fairphone)
Is the Fairphone 5 easy to repair?
A smartphone that is easy to repair will naturally last much longer than models that cannot be repaired. Tests by iFixit show that this is very easy with the Fairphone 5.
The IT website gave the maximum score to the Fairphone 5 in terms of repairability. Not only is the smartphone easy to take apart, but Fairphone also sells all spare parts directly on its website.
In short, the Fairphone 5 is a smartphone that should still work fine after years of use. The phone has a strong processor, a battery that lasts a long time and if something does go wrong, you can easily repair it (or have it repaired). So you can definitely call it future-proof.
