The Fairphone (Gen. 6)

https://shop.fairphone.com/the-fairphone-gen-6

by DavideNL • 1 year ago

158 146 1 year ago

shop.fairphone.com

raffael_de2• 1 year ago

If they'd just provide a physical switch (not software-based but actually cutting off the respective chips and antennae from electricity) to go full offline (no GPS, no Wifi, no mobile connection, ...) they'd effortlessly at least double their market potential.

DocTomoe• 1 year ago

I made the switch to iPhone because they had a physical mute slider. A physical 'airplane mode' would be even better.

Now Apple has removed that ... and I am not happy. Yes, the functionality is theoretically available by configuring the 'smart button'. But I don't physically see the state of the device without picking it up.

lynx975• 1 year ago

Genuinely interested, why is that? IOW, why do I want a (mobile) phone without connectivity?

_Algernon_3• 1 year ago

Not a phone without connectivity. A phone with truly optional connectivity.

twiss3• 1 year ago

I'd be happiest if they'd provide a physical switch for the microphone and cameras. That way, you could have a private conversation and be sure you're not being recorded.

Turning off connectivity doesn't help as much to guarantee your privacy as the phone could theoretically be recording and then upload the recording later, when you turn it back on (if it was thoroughly compromised, which admittedly seems unlikely, but nevertheless it would be nice to have some guarantee that it's impossible).

mkayokay3• 1 year ago

The easiest solution to such strict privacy needs is to not carry the phones. But then again you also need to worry about other means of espionage.

spankibalt2• 1 year ago

Such a device, sufficiently deshittified, might win some contracts in the sasec (safety and security) biz. But let's be honest, the Fairphone, strictly from a security standpoint, is more aimed at the performativity crowd. Heck, most people already seem to lack the imagination for when and why killswitches and the like might be a really good idea. Kind of like with mSD card slots, audio jacks, etc.

Wireless-only, data-harvesting slabs are good enough for ME, so they oughta be good enough FOR EVERYONE!

raffael_de2• 1 year ago

yes, of course, this as well

mkayokay3• 1 year ago

I've never heard this request from anyone before, so I guess that implementing such a switch wouldn't "effortlessly at least double their market potential".

What a lot of people talk about is a headphone jack. But even that niche has been filled by USB-C adapters for people that really want them and not only talk nostalgic about it.

onli3• 1 year ago

It hasn't been filled by those adapters. Usb-C adapters suck as you have to carry them with you, they can be lost, quality is often bad and they block the one charging port of the device.

The demand for a headphone jack is fueled by functionality and sustainability concerns, not nostalgia - can't, too recent a change and current devices do have the port.

IlikeKitties6• 1 year ago

they'd effortlessly at least double their market potential.

I doubt they'd even get the RND cost for that change back, this is a feature no one cares about except a very very small minority within a small minority. I'm a hardcare FOSS only user and only use grapheneos/fedora linux on my devices for privacy and security reasons and even I am not remotely concerned about hardware switches when i can just powerdown the wifi/Gps/wwan connection.

fergie• 1 year ago

I'm not sure if thats true. I would love the ability to be able to save battery by turning off my mobile.

At the moment iPhones seem to drain power even when they are "off" which makes me suspect that they aren't, in fact, actually fully powered off. There have been a few occasions when I have been without a charger for one reason or another, and would like to be able to fully power off my phone in order to save battery.

ChrisRR2• 1 year ago

they'd effortlessly at least double their market potential

I think you overestimate the appeal of such a feature

mavhc• 1 year ago

Or you overestimate the appeal of the device as it is, how many do they sell?

GuB-42• 1 year ago

This would appeal the privacy/security crowd, but it is not really Fairphone's market. There are better options if that's what you are looking for, such as the Librem phones.

They probably don't want to position themselves against security-focused phones as they would likely be compared unfavorably with them. That is unless they also do whatever it takes to enter that market, for example by supporting a security-focused OS like GrapheneOS.

They could have kept the headphone jack though, but I guess they wanted to sell their earbuds (with replaceable batteries! which is at least a good point).

gessha• 1 year ago

Unless you assume the market for smartphone hardware with physical switches is the same as the one for sustainable smartphones, I don’t think they’re going to gain much from adding the switches. The only phones with switches that I know are the PinePhones and the librem phone that has a very questionable customer service. [1]. Adding them to the phone design will mean expensive constraints, making the overall cost even more in which case you’re either shedding money to increase market share or you’re narrowing your target market to the librem-phone size. At that point, what’s the meaning of this exercise?

[1] https://consumerrights.wiki/Purism

pickledoyster• 1 year ago

available with /e/OS too https://shop.fairphone.com/the-fairphone-gen-6-e-operating-s...

As I near the eol of my daily driver, I'm considering a Fairphone, but what it's missing is a folding card holder, like the Satechi wallet stand for iPhone. Putting the phone in horizontal mode on a table and using a bt keyboard is how I do a lot of my writing

poisonborz• 1 year ago

eOS uses microG. I'd wish Fairphone offered partnership with GrapheneOS, especially now that Google broke their workflow. Sandboxed Play Services is pretty much a must for a lot of people.

daveoc64• 1 year ago

I'd wish Fairphone offered partnership with GrapheneOS

The makers of GrapheneOS have indicated that Fairphone doesn't meet their security requirements:

https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/114737139118874189

I think there are some fundamental flaws with how Fairphone operates, plus they don't seem to release security updates promptly.

Iolaum• 1 year ago

Unfortunately there seems to be bad blood between the two :(

It would be good if Fairphone could make a product that meets GrapheneOS requirements, but they measure the tradeoffs between security, usability, and cost (to do hardware and software things) differently. Each team is free to make the choices they deem fit. If only the intersection of GrapheneOS and Fairphone users were bigger, market forces would push them towards a common vision.

IlikeKitties6• 1 year ago

This question always comes up:

The Reason GrapheneOS isn't made for Fairphones Officially is that Fairphones lack a lot of base requirements for official support:

https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices

There's nothing preventing anyone from making a 3rd Party port of GrapheneOS to Fairphones, it just seems no one does.

jeroenhd6• 1 year ago

Which features specifically do Fairphones miss? It seems to me like most of those requirements are all part of the (mostly open-source) software stack. The Fairphone uses a standard Qualcomm chip that should work as well or as badly as a Pixel SoC.

The "Complete monthly Android Security Bulletin patches without any regular delays longer than a week for device support code (firmware, drivers and HALs)" part isn't even true for Pixels.

bcye• 1 year ago

This seems to be missing the new focus features introduced with the physical switch, or am I missing something here. Also quoted as 50/100€ more expensive (two prices on the same page?)

DavideNL2• 1 year ago

The $50 extra, for a pre-installed eOS goes toward the eOS Developers;

However you could also install eOS yourself instead of course, if you prefer.

Maken3• 1 year ago

I'm actually interested on this. Has anyone used previous Fairphones with /e/os? ¿How painless is the experience?

lawn5• 1 year ago

While I use CalyxOS not /e/os the experience was very painless. I assume it's the same with /e/os.

Vinnl6• 1 year ago

I've used it on both my previous phone (Fairphone 2) and now on the Fairphone 4. It's very painless, their installer is easy to use. The caveat here is that my most-used app is Firefox, and I don't use banking apps or Chromecast, which people seem to be worried about often.

PoignardAzur• 1 year ago

It's not clear to me how many of the components are swappable in this version. That was a big selling point of the Fairphone to begin with.

hashworks• 1 year ago

The website speaks of 12 modules, haven't investigated which.

lower• 1 year ago

The shop has the 12 available replacement parts: https://shop.fairphone.com/shop/category/spare-parts-4?categ...

whilenot-dev• 1 year ago

The technical descriptions are clearly lacking, up to the point where this product page almost makes me angry... the dimensions seem to be "156.5mm x 73.3mm" with "9,6 mm" thickness, but just right below in the isometric view it says 162mm x 75.5mm x 10.5mmm. I would be really interested in this product as replacement for the iPhone SE, but how can they screw up something so simple?

t0bia_s5• 1 year ago

Anything above 72mm is too big to use it comfortable by one hand or put it in pocket.

I wish there is compact android phone with open bootloadet option.

Jhsto• 1 year ago

Fairphone also sent some Linux patches: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pm/20250625-sm7635-fp6-initial...

przmk• 1 year ago

One core member (@z3entu) of postmarketOS works at Fairphone.

tonur2494• 1 year ago

The tech specs for the Fairphone 6 say the following:

USB-C 2.0 (OTG capable) can be used to connect USB Sticks/SD-Cards/Audio Amplifier/Network-adapters directly

I was really looking forward to use this with a pair of display glasses, like the XREAL One Pro, but this seems like the Fairphone 6 might not support display output? That's sad. Especially since the Fairphone 5 had this in their tech specs:

USB-C 3.0 (OTG capable) can be used to connect USB Sticks/SD-Cards/display (also Android™ desktop mode)/Camera/Audio Amplifier/Network-adapters directly

But maybe it was not used enough?

mhitza2• 1 year ago

But maybe it was not used enough?

Likely not used enough, yet. It would be premature to drop support this quick, as Google seems to just now move Android in the direction (DEX by Samsung is the same thing, but it's Samsung specific).

At the same time, only last year I saw a device in which I'd "dock" my phone (the Nexdock looked reasonably priced) and having both a phone and the steam deck with desktop mode would make such a device more useful.

I know you're talking strictly from the perspective of display glasses, but convergence is the main category under which I'd classify this feature.

tonur2494• 1 year ago

I agree, display with desktop mode on mobile devices could be useful. I'd really like the idea of using a phone as an everything device at some point, but there are a lot of things that are not lining up, with missing compatibility with external displays being a huge blocker.

adrian_b• 1 year ago

Really sad.

Based on what I had read yesterday, when I still hoped that it will have the same USB 3.0/DisplayPort like Fairphone 5, I was considering very seriously to upgrade my rather old ASUS smartphone to a Fairphone 6.

However, if it lacks USB 3.0/DisplayPort, which can be acceptable for a $200 smartphone, but never for a $600 smartphone, then Fairphone 6 is completely disqualified from my point of view.

Unfortunately, only some Chinese smartphones, e.g. from Motorola, offer USB 3.0/DisplayPort in smartphones with decent price/performance ratios and up-to-date Qualcomm SoCs, starting as low as $400.

tonur2494• 1 year ago

Yeah, I am considering either the previous Fairphone or a Samsung for this capability, but I had looked forward to go with a European developed phone this time. Oh well.

zozbot234• 1 year ago

Isn't USB C 2.0 on-par with what recent iPhone models offer? It's just fine.

tonur2494• 1 year ago

Yeah, totally adequate for a normal phone, yet lacking if you want to use your phone for something more. You could argue that this isn't something that a phone should be used for, but yet it's something that I'd like to try.

FirmwareBurner3• 1 year ago

Isn't USB C 2.0 on-par with what recent iPhone models offer?

Except I don't want to put up with the bs that Apple does to its customers, otherwise I'd buy an iPhone. It's not outrageous to expect USB 3.0, a 15 year old standard, on a 600 Euro phone with modern internals in 2025 that users are expected to keep for a long time without upgrading.

It's just fine.

Just because it's fine for you doesn't mean it's fine for others. For other's that's the dealbreaker. Fairphone isn't a mainstream brand, it's a niche brand which tends to draw enthusiasts (often tech workers, hackers, tinkerers, etc), and enthusiasts are more picky and expect more features than your regular Apple and Samsung "muggles".

People buy niche phone brands not because they're the most performant or sexy, but because they still provide the niche features that Apple and Samsung gave up on, like SD cards, headphone jacks, removable batteries, etc.

OnePlus had USB 3.0 and DisplayPort outputs on 500 Euro phones all the way in 2019, and that feature was a lifesaver when my laptop suddenly died. There's no excuse now for this phone.

jantissler• 1 year ago

The iPhone Pros have USB 3.0 since the 15 series.

karussell• 1 year ago

Strange. Even my Fairphone 4 has USB 3 it seems and supports connecting to an external display. Is a nice feature although I don't use it (yet).

DavideNL2• 1 year ago

I wonder if this is something that could be “upgraded” at some point, aka a part that could be replaced later?

Or would there be other limitations, like compatibility with a processor/chip…?

roflcopter69• 1 year ago

Is it just me or does the discourse about a product like the Fairphone often feel kind of "culture war"-y? So many times I read comments where people are very upset and offended how a Fairphone costs way too much compared to other smartphones or how it supposedly is completely unusable because one feature does not work the way they expect. It's just strange. If you don't like it, don't buy it, no need to engage. But so many people seem to feel obliged to present their strong dislike for the Fairphone as if it's sole existence attacks them personally.

fossgeller• 1 year ago

I noticed the same general reactions for Framework laptops. Some folks are acting like these smaller companies are trying to force their products on the consumers, but their advertising is completely fine.

However I also find some of the supporters of consumer friendliness unbearable (e.g. Framework or Thinkpad fans).

I get that tribalism is present in many layers of our society and culture (politics, sports, music), but I always found it weirder when people do it for products. The only goal of a company is to maximize their profits, why someone becomes a die hard supporter of them is beyond me.

To summarize, I just wish people would put less emphasis on consumer practices. Buy a product you like and is beneficial for you, but don’t judge others for their choices.

neogodless• 1 year ago

The only goal of a company is to maximize their profits

Overall this is effectively true, but it is not a law of the universe or anything.

Why can't a collection of people have ideals, want to support and realize those ideals through action, and also find a way to financially support themselves and even profit by pursuing those ideals?

The hypothesis you've put forth is that the group that founded Framework were sitting around thinking about the best way they could invest money to make money, and the best option they could come up with was to make modular laptops. What has their return on investment been thus far, and does it clearly and readily beat all other options they had for investing?

brookst5• 1 year ago

Plenty of companies choose different balances between profits and social impact. Compare Unilever and Nestle and tell me all companies are equally profit-focused. Look at Patagonia.

I agree with a live and let live view of purchasing decisions, and I agree that tribalism about companies is weird, but at the end of the day it’s far too reductive to say all companies prioritize profits equally.

berkes3• 1 year ago

I see it as a larger problem in many "ideologically inclined" projects, like Open Source software, fairtrade products, etc.

A large amount of energy is wasted on "infighting" where people spend significant effort on attacking projects that, seen from a distance, are actually allies¹.

Or where people dismiss the entire project because it's not 100 aligned with their view of perfection².

Or, indeed, where people who don't even use or want to use a project, spend significant effort to discredit this project.

¹ an example is the enormous amount of effort and campaigning within the "mastodon" community against projects like bluesky or nostr. But also gnome vs kde, Ubuntu vs Redhat, Etc

² an example is Opensource software being discredited because they use GitHub, or host on AWS. It's Patagonia being discredited because they use plastic. Or Fairtrade coffee being dismissed because it transports coffee with trucks and ships burning oil.

boredpudding• 1 year ago

I experience this a lot. I have a Fairphone 5 and helping provide answers to questions in threads online is a minefield. You answer questions of someone, and somebody else comes along and starts shouting they want feature x.

People seem to flock to smaller phone companies and demand they fill in their one feature. Whether it's USB-OTG display functionality, headphone jack, slider to kill all connections, etc, everybody is convinced their one feature is holding this phone company back, just because they want this one feature.

It's just disappointing. I'm just happy with my long-lasting repairable phone.

lawn5• 1 year ago

This is super common with most slightly niche devices I feel.

Framework/Oura/Whoop/Garmin/Fairphone etc etc it's all the same.

phoronixrly3• 1 year ago

The main camera still sucks, and they seem to keep with the misleading messaging. It's not a 50mp camera if the sensor is 50mp but each pixel in the final photos is averaged from 4 pixels of the sensor...

Yes, the closed-source camera app that does not work on Lineage OS and other alternative firmwares has a 50MP switch, however the quality of the 50MP photo is as poor if not worse than the processed 13MP photo...

sva_• 1 year ago

This practice of pixel binning is pretty much the industry standard though. Pretty much all recent phones do it

filcuk• 1 year ago

It is 50mp camera still, otherwise you would not be able to increase quality by averaging those pixels. I dont think anyone need 15000px noisy poor quality image over standard high res with good quality

phoronixrly3• 1 year ago

Maybe it wasn't clear in my original comment. It sucks picture-quality-wise, and ON TOP of that, they use misleading messaging with their 50MP mode... Colour is washed out, focus is all over the place... I see no reason to buy a 6 before my 5 dies, which is funny because I can swap its components out indefinitely I guess...

Vinnl6• 1 year ago

FWIW, that closed-source camera app is also available on /e/OS, who they partner with.

phoronixrly3• 1 year ago

Well the picture quality comparison from e/os speaks for itself https://gitlab.e.foundation/-/project/177/uploads/5584822b24...

Source https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/backlog/-/issues/8193

neilsimp12• 1 year ago

This is better than most phones on the market, but I can't help but be turned off when I scroll down and start seeing the Google Play logo and mentions about AI and Google Gemini.

Kind of defeats the purpose, no?

skonteam• 1 year ago

There's an /e/os version : https://shop.fairphone.com/the-fairphone-gen-6-e-operating-s...

neilsimp12• 1 year ago

Thank you, I did miss this.

aiiizzz• 1 year ago

Carousel breaks vertical scroll on mobile

hackrmn• 1 year ago

To be fair (pun intended), I am still on Fairphone 4, and I've gotta say it has lasted me very well, and the battery is still in good condition so the selling point of being able to swap the battery (something I actually _have_ practically missed in the phones I have owned before the Fairphone) hasn't really even come up yet. Ironically, I have been mildly itching to replace the 4 with the 6, just because. But I am not going to -- not until current phone becomes unusable.

tempfile• 1 year ago

Still rocking a 3 here (albeit only 5 years old). Going quite strong after a couple of replacements and upgrades.

verbify• 1 year ago

Isn't that one of the selling points of the Fairphone - the durability?

ntnsndr• 1 year ago

Same story here. 4 is running strong, with ongoing updates from e/OS.

lawn5• 1 year ago

I've got a Fairphone 4 since 4 years and I've bought two replacement batteries so far (one has gone bad and I like to have an extra to swap with if needed).

It still works very well with CalyxOS so the rational thing to do is to keep using it.

vinc• 1 year ago

I got a FP3 in 2020, replaced the battery and the bottom module in 2022 because I couldn't charge it anymore, and I've been really happy with it ever since. I'm not planning on buying a new phone until this one die.

My only issue with my FP3 is that I have to tighten all the screws from time to time otherwise whenever the screen displays too many green pixels the touchscreen will start to trigger at random.

Artoooooor• 1 year ago

Where is the headphone jack?

brookst5• 1 year ago

And the parallel port?

timbit42• 1 year ago

...and the front panel toggle switches?

goda90• 1 year ago

Reminder that the most sustainable choice in phones is to keep using your current phone as long as possible.

lowwave• 1 year ago

Or install custom ROM to get life back into old devices.

Maken3• 1 year ago

But mine just got soaked.

mnmalst• 1 year ago

Absolutely! I can't bring myself to buy a new phone when my current one still works perfectly. Still using my Pixel 4a!

HunOL• 1 year ago

Disappointed. No USB 3 and no AV1 hardware decoding in phone supposed to last for years?

NoSalt• 1 year ago

Although it does have a μSD card slot, it does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack. Sadly, my search for a new phone, since Samsung now has neither, will continue.

ebiederm• 1 year ago

The Motorola Moto G series has both.

I just bought their 2025 model for that reason.

rpaddock• 1 year ago

The obscure Brax3 has a jack, which is why I ordered one and am awaiting its arrival.

EmilioPeJu• 1 year ago

The moment they release the schematics (a.k.a information on how to repair and recycle), I'm buying one or two

Vinnl6• 1 year ago

They released them for the previous model [1] [2], so presumably will come for the 6 as well.

[0] https://www.fairphone.com/en/2024/01/24/have-you-seen-the-sc...

[1] https://www.fairphone.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Fairpho...

fsflover• 1 year ago

Perhaps you may be interested in Librem 5, for which the schematics is available.

lawn5• 1 year ago

I'm not a fan of the new battery and back panel.

I've got a Fairphone 4 and the most useful thing about it is the replaceable battery. I can't count the number of times an extra battery in my backpack has saved me.

Sure, maybe it's not that big of a deal to bring a screwdriver with me as well. But I just know I'm going to lose those tiny screws and changing the battery at the back of a taxi goes out the window.

mrweasel3• 1 year ago

That screw in the battery is strange. Old Nokia phones had no issues with batteries falling out.

lawn5• 1 year ago

The only time the battery has disconnected on the FP4 for me was when I dropped it from a fairly high distance.

Popped it back in and booted and went on my way.

AdmiralAsshat• 1 year ago

I wish like 75% of the overview page weren't dedicated to the camera. Yes, I get it, camera is important to the average smartphone user these days, but, come on. I'm not potentially buying a Fairphone for the camera.

Jotalea• 1 year ago

To be fair (pun intended), the Fair Phone 6 is a very good option for a midrange phone in 2025, the Snapdragon 7s gen 3 is more than enough for running any app the general user might use. That is without considering the ease to fix.

lousken• 1 year ago

8 GBs of RAM, what is the point of this? if you can't upgrade the ram this device lifespan will be limited

put at least 12 GBs or just don't even bother, EU already has rules for software updates and repairability, so there're not that many selling points left

The Fairphone (Gen. 6)

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