Fairphone is the most ethical smartphone in the world, scoring 98 out of 100 possible points by the magazine Ethicalconsumer.[5]
History
A Fairphone employee meeting tungsten miners at the New Bugurama Mining Company in RwandaBack of a Fairphone 2 with transparent cover, showing its modular design
Fairphone was founded by Bas van Abel, Tessa Wernink and Miquel Ballester[6] as a social enterprise company in January 2013, having existed as a campaign for two and a half years.[citation needed]
Since version two, the Fairphone is produced in Suzhou, China, by Hi-P International Limited.[8]
In November 2021, the Fairphone 4 was made available.
As of February 2022, Fairphone had sold around 400,000 devices.[9]
In 2023 a consortium of impact investors led by new shareholders Invest-NL, the ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund, and existing shareholder Quadia, with its Regenero Impact Fund, invested €49 million in Fairphone.[10]
The phone is modular, which makes it easily repairable and customisable by the user. According to the company, increasing the lifespan of a phone by two years reduces CO₂ emissions by 30%.[9]
The gold and silver in Fairphone 4 has the Fairtrade label, also metals used are said to come from conflict-free mines.[13] The company promises a 5-year warranty period and long-term support for software updating and spare parts.[14] In 2017, Fairphone's founder Bas van Abel acknowledged that it was currently impossible to produce a 100% fair phone, suggesting it was more accurate to call his company's phones "fairer".[15][16]
In an interview with Will Georgi, Fairphone founder Tessa Vernink mentions:
“There might be a misconception that as a social enterprise, we don’t operate like a ‘normal’ business, but that’s not true. In many ways, most of our choices are the same — we still need to make money and sell phones — but the outcome and the goals are different. Our focus is investing in social innovation, instead of purely technical innovation. When other phone companies design a new phone, they research new technology — we research supply chain improvement.”[6]
Surprisingly, the findings show that alternative consumption seems to influence the involvement with the Fairphone and social commitment negatively seems to play a minor role in the model. These aspects point to the Fairphone as a technical artifact, centered on a choice for a sustainable lifestyle.[1]
Shiftphone is another small mobile telephone manufacturer with a focus on sustainability, and also developed a modular smartphone. The founder of Shiftphone considers that the two companies working in collaboration could have more influence on bigger competitors.[9]
Recognition and certifications
Tessa Wernink (right) receiving the Tech5 award at The Next Web Conference 2015
In 2016, Fairphone's founder and first CEO Bas van Abel was one of the three recipients of the German Environmental Award.[17]
Operating systems
Fairphones can run several operating systems, including CalyxOS, DivestOS, /e/, iodeOS, LineageOS, Ubuntu Touch, and more.[18] Murena, the company associated with the /e/ foundation, also sells Fairphones with /e/ pre-installed and offers a warranty for them.[19] As of 2023 the official /e/ support for FP3 is based on Android 12.
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