I really value the camera on my phone, since it is essentially my main camera and I enjoy taking pictures. I might rather lean into graphene-ing this pixel than a fair phone, unfortunately. But probably not purchase a future pixel, since they abandoned the physical SIM slot
*in the US
My 9 has one. (Canada)
Same, my 9 (us) does too. But I heard going forward they want to be eSIM only
I like the look of these but I would much rather to not use Android again. It appears that they’re trying to port Ubuntu Touch over and the Postmarket wiki shows some functionality is not all there. Interesting to see this coming along though.
I will have to consider Fairphone when I am looking for my next phone. Looking at their site, my only hesitation is about water resistance. I understand that repairability comes at the cost of making everything glued and sealed shut, but I drop my phone in water once every couple of years. If that risks killing it, it is not going to be a phone that will last long in my hands.
Have you considered not dropping your phone in water?
I have, but decided against it. I am clumsy and my hands are big enough to barely use my phone one handed (but not hold it securely when I do).
Hard to avoid when you have a toddler and dog bowls around…
Is it?
I feel like people have had toddlers and dog bowls for a long time, and that people in the past have been ableto keep certain things away from water successfully. Perhaps if you have increased opportunities to get the phone wet, you should take extra precautions.
I assume they just haven’tspent the money for higher IPS ratings?
With an IP55 rating, I would assume it can resist a drop in water. As long as you don’t stare at it for multiple minutes and do get it out asap.
I would hope, but I would want to check reviews to be sure.
Has anyone tried loading KDE Plasma Mobile onto one of these?
The Fairphone team has tried to help with mainline Linux support: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_(Gen._6)_(fairphone-fp6)
Is plasma mobile any good?
I haven’t had a chance to try it, myself, but the developments on their site looks promising. I’ve heard it’s pretty functional, but it’s lacking in battery optimization, and compatible devices.
I am leaning toward Fairphone to replace my Apple.
Not compatible with Verizon
Welp, that sucks. I’m not switching to T-Mobile. I’ve seen their infrastructure up close and personal after working on mixed carrier cell towers for years and that shit is absolutely third world by comparison.
If anyone is looking for a Canadian or international order, I just found this U.K. site which multiple threads of Reddit have been talking about. They offer shipping tracking.
https://www.clove.co.uk/products/fairphone-gen-6
https://www.reddit.com/r/fairphone/comments/kkd44p/is_there_a_way_to_get_a_fairphone_in_canada/
I’ve been running a Fairphone 6 for about 6 months now and it’s by far the buggiest phone I’ve ever used. I’d love to keep using it until the security updates stop but it’s already such a miserable experience already I can’t imagine how bad it’ll be in a few years time.
I bought a Fairphone 5 when they were somewhat new and immediately flashed an alternative ROM onto it (CalyxOS at the time, though now it’s iodeOS as Calyx appears to have gone on hiatus).
Nothing terrible bug-wise, but I have already had to return the phone to be repaired for a fault I couldn’t repair by swapping parts out myself… Which considering it’s apparently got a number of years ahead of it before it officially gets dropped is a bit worrying.
It’s been fine for me
I’m interested in this brand and their Gen 6. I kind of wish I was in the market for a phone. Unfortunately I bought a used Pixel 6 three years ago and everything is just fine with it 😄
My 5yo Pixel 6 inflated just last Friday. I panic-ordered a Pixel 9a, but since Google didn’t fulfill my supplier’s shipment, I cancelled and switched to a Fairphone today. It’ll arrive tomorrow. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You can change the battery of Pixel 6, it’s not insanely hard.
It’s popped open and deformed.
I replaced the power button and battery on my android phone. Managed to fix it by watching YouTube tutorials.
I bought an HMD Pulse Pro which is also made to be repairable. They have a partnership with ifixit.
The issue with that phone (and seemingly everything coming from HMD) is that it only gets 2 major OS upgrades. Also, it launches a major version behind, so it is actually only a single upgrade.
I am quite upset about it. I had a Nokia 6 (made by HMD) and loved the well made, durable hardware and very clean no-bloat software. I have been saddened to see that while most phone brands have been extending their OS support window, HMD has been shortening it.
Yeah, it’s definitely not ideal but £110 brand new made me get over it :D
Hopefully they continue the repairability and do something better with the OS in the future.
hmd has an awful website. I want information, not random photos and hype
wtf are these!
Here you go. Both links from the page with “no information”.
Full Specs - https://www.hmd.com/en_int/hmd-pulse-pro/specs?sku=286946224
Repairability - https://www.hmd.com/en_int/self-repair
that indeed is a clean page that gets to the point
Either this or a fairphone would be an instant buy from me if they were smaller. Modern phones dont fit into my pockets comfortably anymore
Sony is the only available manufacturer of phones that still makes something that feels smaller, albeit only on one plane since theyre just less wide. I really enjoy it, but something even smaller like the z3 compact would be great.
Yeah, i’d love a Fairphone but it’s 5 times the price of the HMD and I just don’t care that much for processing power or the camera. I just use my phone for messaging, playing music, banking and sudoku.
I bought the Pulse for £110 new.
my mum bought a fairphone 3 about 5 years ago and is extremely happy with it, so far she’s gone through one usb-c port and one battery. it looks and feels exactly like a normal phone but it pops open with just 4 screws. helping her fix it has taught me that phone manufacturers could make repairable phones easily and they all just choose not to
I used to run a small electronics repair business and you are 1 billion percent correct. Slowly watching things over the years become unrepairable was just such an obvious business decision for profit over customer satisfaction. There is absolutely no reason to make those changes unless you have a profit driven motive. So so so many electronics used to be like the fairphone your mom has. Pop it open, take out what’s broke, replace it with some OEM or 3rd party part you bought for like 2 dollars and you’re all set. It’s so frustrating nowadays with how purposefully difficult manufacturers make any repairability. Can’t even change a damn battery in your phone now! lol
I remember the glory days where my alarm would go off for school and I’d just take the battery out of my phone to get it to shut up
Man I remember when my Mom was actually able to fix a VCR at home with simple tools as well. That VCR lasted as long as sears repaired shops and then they were out of business and the VCR was out for good.
I recently moved from an iPhone 11 Pro to a Fairphone (Fairphone Gen 6), and it’s been a genuinely great change.
It’s made me realise how little I actually use most of the features you end up paying extra for in flagship phones. Because of that, I’m really looking forward to keeping this device for five years or more.
The only thing I occasionally miss is camera quality especially at concerts or when travelling but it’s a small trade-off rather than a deal-breaker. I’d love to see future Fairphone models improve on this.
Hopefully, Fairphone helps set a trend as more people start looking for products that are ethically sourced, repairable and built to last.
Still running a FP4, only replaced the battery and the charging port. No further issues, works like a charm.
Love that, can’t wait to rock the FP6 for as long as possible!
I asked someone else, but I hope you don’t mind me asking you as well… With the FP6, 5g works as well? Any issues with MMS or RCS messages? Visual voicemail works fine?
I am trying to find a new phone, and while there are a few different companies making repairable phones, (Fair phone, HMD, shift) most of them are aimed at EU markets, so I want to make sure that a majority of the features also work in the US. My goal it’s to find something that will work for me, my wife and my in laws that won’t be a hassle. (Because, I do the tech support for all of them, and ideally I’d love to support just 1 device)
Ask away, I have no issue with anything you mentioned inside The Netherlands so I assume the majority of the features would work in the US as well. As they promise a good working phone in the regions they sell. (To keep in mind i do run android not e/os/!)
Do they work on US networks?
Yup! I daily drive a Fairphone 6 with Mint Mobile in the US.
Awesome! And just to clarify, 5g works as well? Any issues with MMS or RCS messages? Visual voicemail works?
I ask because I am actively looking for a replacement for my 4a, it really is at its end of life at this point.
I was also considering some Nokia/HMD phones,as they made good scores on the ifixit repairability scale. Apparently HMD (who actually make Nokia phones) has a whole line of phones where their goal was modularity/repairability. It’s just been unclear which of these phones actually work on US networks.
There’s also shift phones out of Germany, but same deal, will they work on US networks?
I’m guessing the EU has some incentive programs to help these phones exist, but as a result, they’re mostly aimed at EU markets and networks.
Yeah, 5G works (I’m on it at the moment!). No issues with MMS, but I haven’t tested RCS since I’m on /e/OS (which doesn’t support RCS as far as I’m aware - I just use SMS/MMS and Matrix). The visual voicemail functionality in the stock /e/OS Phone app doesn’t work with Mint Mobile, but the T-Mobile Visual Voicemail app does work.
Ya I just want to browse , bank, text and msg and call.
I want GrapheneOS more than repairability, personally. I hope the Fairphone + GrapheneOS combination is possible some day…
Fairphone is the sort of phone for people who think LineageOS with an unlocked bootloader is secure made by a company who has sincerely promised to make things better but hasn’t substantially improved security (especially in how often they push security patches). Grapheneos is not a brand name you can just apply to give a phone more reputation, its an OS that represents the highest standard of security.
The Graphene devs explicitly only support Pixels. Sticking with Graphene means continuing to give Google the profits from your hardware.
/e/OS is not bad as an alternative. The system wide ad and tracker blocking is nice.
Sticking with Graphene means continuing to give Google the profits from your hardware
GrapheneOS only supports Google Pixel because they are the most secure Android phones, with open-source images and 5+ years of security updates.
You don’t have to give money to Google. I got my Pixel 4a and my mother’s 6a from second-hand sellers.Sure, but then you are also not funding Google’s competition in order to help improve choice.
Buying second hand might make you feel better because you didn’t directly fund Google, but you’re still helping them maintain their position.
«Funding competition» means giving money to Chinese State companies, for most consumers.
Most of the american companies are using Chinese manufacturing for much of the devices. Fairphone is European, but same manufacturing sources.
In 2026, as a Canadian… Choosing between a country that is adopting nazi practices and threatening us with annexation, and one who has a questionable history but is overall doing more for climate change and global stability right now than the other… The choice is easy. Anything but american.
No, it’s choosing between giving money to a company or to no one at all, in the case of a 2nd hand.
/e/OS is not bad as an alternative. The system wide ad and tracker blocking is nice.
I switched to e/os on a couple of motorolas that supported it and it’s great so far.
The comparisons to GrapheneOS are fair to some degree, but also not. Graphene is meant to be privacy and security hardened, whereas e/OS, while it is more secure than regular android, is more concerned with privacy hardening. The biggest misconception people have seems to be thinking that privacy and security are the same thing; and while that is true on the surface level, security (a la GrapheneOS) goes much deeper.
So while my phone may not be as “hack resistant” as a GrapheneOS, it’s degoogled and very protective of tracking, which is what I’m primarily concerned with. So I’m happy.
I just wish I could afford a fairphone in Canada.
FYI, I think your third mention of Graphene was meant to be /e/OS.
Whoops. Thanks for the catch.
Google makes way more on services so I don’t think they are making that much off the phones.
This is a big issue that the fairphone doesn’t have its dtb open yet. It’s not easy to build ROM for it. Despite their core claim of sustainability, without addressing the blobs, it remains just a tad more convenient for green minded people. We need a full Fairphone.
That’s fair and all, and I see your point. A 100% “fair” phone is the end-goal.
Butin the battle against corporate douche-baggery, if we keep making perfect the enemy of good, we’ll never get anywhere.
And besides that, fairphone is just greenwashing when it comes to repairability, good luck finding parts for previous generations.
That demonstrably false by just going to the store…
I don’t know why people keep saying that.
I think it is because 90% of company sustainability is simply greenwashing.
Fairphone also had the whole “fairbuds” thing where they released tws earbuds (and then removed the headphone jack) and supported them for under 2 years before throwing them away and they are completely non-repairable, then acted like they didn’t exist.
The new fairbuds are 10x better though, but I have heard the sound on both of their headphones is mediocre at best.
You can still get cameras and screens for the Fairphone 2 from Fairphone. No they’re not making more, but they also have never said “unlimited support forever”.
That the process doesn’t require prying apart glue alone makes it significantly more repairable than any other mainstream phone.
I just bought a refurbished (as new) Pixel 9 to use Grapheneos.
Saved ~50% and didn’t pay Google.
Genius! That is exactly how I buy my slaves
Agree, buying a used pixel made by slave labor wage is still morally grey. And buying them used increases their market value, therefore people can find buying a new pixel easier as they can sell it for more later.
What the fuck dude
Phrasing?
That wasn’t as funny as you thought it would be.
I’m sorry, your what??? 😳
They said “possible someday”, not “possible currently”.
What maskes you want Graphene over e/OS? I’m not so familiar with how they feel.
Graphene modifies AOSP for much more security.
E.g.
- you can disable USB data at a hardware level
- Receives Kernel updates even faster than Google’s phones
- uses a different memory allocator, hardened_malloc
- changes the way zygote launches apps, so ASLR actually works
- doesn’t allow apps to ptrace themselves
- disables JIT per-app
- disable network access per-app
I dont think e/OS is as security oriented, more privacy oriented
Thanks for sharing. For someone who is not so well versed in these technicalities, what does that mean for the user? That you’re more susceptible to fraud and hacking and malware?
Basically GrapheneOS is for people worried about law enforcement or some state actors trying to access their phone using some commercial tools or 0 day exploits. It’s useful for journalist, lawyers, activists and so on.
Average users don’t really have to worry about those things. It’s unlikely that someone will try to hack you using such tools, you most probably don’t have any data wort protecting and it’s quicker and easier for you to just unlock your phone than to spend days/weeks/months in jail trying to protect your data.
What average user should care about is removing Google from their phones and blocking trackers. Other ROMs like iode also come without Google and have better tools than GrapheneOS for blocking trackers. They are as secure as any other Android phone.
Average users don’t really have to worry about those things.
That’s true, until it isn’t. What’s legal and moral now can change in a flash. Having a phone that’s resistant to software infiltration isn’t a bad thing.
From a user’s perspective, when you install an app, you can:
- Determine if that app is allowed to access the internet.
- If it needs access to your contacts, you can share which of your contacts, it can see (or none at all)
- If it needs access to your files, you can determine which files/photos/music it sees (or none at all, but the application still believes it has access to everything)
There are a bunch of other, security features it provides, but from a “normal user” experience, the ability to take control of your data is probably one of the most impactful.
It is possible to do similar things with other CFW, but AFAIK, graphene is the only one to cleanly integrate it as a polished feature of the ROM.
edit: fix formatting
I see, and it can’t be installed on Fairphone?
If I’ve got my story straight. (and if not, someone here will surely correct me)
For Graphene to deliver the advanced security provided by their OS, they need features found on newer processors and want more timely firmware updates. Google currently delivers on both needs.
FP is behind on hardware, prob cost cutting to make modular costs more affordable.
No, currently only on Pixels. Plans to support another future platform exist.
Hmm, in mean time I prefer buying Fairphone over supporting Google.
A big thing is gOS not using JIT compiling. So, app updates are pretty slow but this kills a lot of malware exploits.
So if I were to choose graphene over eOS it would mainly be to be more protected from malware?
That and privacy, you also have a lot of control over what each app can do with gOS’s permissions settings vs standard ROM and most of that is enabled by default. Can break some apps, especially banking related. I have 122 installed, of that three gave me a little bit of trouble where I had to disable some protections to get them functional. DeGoogled by default, I use microG for some limited Play services to get stuff like Youtube Revanced working.
You would choose it for security hardening in general. E.g. it is harder for malware to infect, harder for unauthorized parties to gain access to data when the phone is locked, etc.
Really glad to hear that. I’ve been using a Fairphone 5 for about 2 years now and while it’s certainly not on the level of a flagship I can’t say I miss anything. Sure, a better camera or faster processor would be nice to have, but both get the job done and are certainly not necessary for the average user. Samsung and Apple would have us believe that we all need a DLSR camera strapped to a supercomputer in our pocket in order to swipe on Instagram and take the occasional selfie. I’d gladly trade that in to make the world a tiny bit better by not supporting slavery and not wasting resources.
