The brand new Fairphone 6 is smaller and extra modular than older fashions within the sequence, nevertheless it’s simply as repairable. The cellphone picked up an ideal rating in iFixit’s teardown test, regardless of not providing tool-free battery replacements.
It helps that the one instrument you do want — all through the cellphone — is a T5 Torx screwdriver, and solely seven screws sit between you and a battery swap. Fairphone itself has proven you can get from shutdown to reboot with a new cell in just two minutes, so it’s nonetheless a easy swap. The corporate says that the screws are required for the slimmer soft-pouch battery.
The one glue all through is discovered on the cellphone’s mainboard, which is nearly the one restore Fairphone doesn’t suggest you make your self: nearly all the things else, from the USB-C port to the person digital camera sensors, might be changed with minimal effort. Substitute components shall be out there from Fairphone and iFixit, and the cellphone’s replaceable backplate additionally permits a line of swappable equipment just like these discovered on the CMF Telephone Professional 2.
iFixit additionally rated the cellphone extremely for its IP55 score — not the most effective round, however spectacular for a cellphone sealed with screws fairly than glue — and for the corporate’s longterm assist. Fairphone is guaranteeing seven years of Android OS updates and eight years of safety patches, with a five-year guarantee and a loyalty program that rewards you for hanging onto your cellphone and repairing it.
Regardless of the excessive rating, iFixit acknowledges that you simply do compromise on specs by choosing the Fairphone 6. Its twin rear digital camera is pretty fundamental, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7S Gen 3 chipset isn’t any powerhouse. Even the USB port is proscribed to sluggish USB 2.0, although the 6.3-inch 10-120Hz LTPO OLED show is extra spectacular.
This isn’t the primary Fairphone to fare so nicely. Each mannequin for the reason that Fairphone 2 has obtained a ten/10 in iFixit’s teardown assessments, a rating that no different cellphone has ever managed. The Fairphone 6 is accessible now in Europe for €599 (round $705), from Fairphone and different retailers. It prices significantly extra within the US, at $899, the place it’s solely out there from Murena and ships operating /e/OS, Murena’s privacy-focused and de-Googled tackle Android. It’s out there to preorder now, and ships in August.