Fairphone 6 will get a ten/10 on repairability
The brand new Fairphone 6 is smaller and extra modular than older fashions within the sequence, but it surely’s simply as repairable. The telephone picked up an ideal rating in iFixit’s teardown check, regardless of not providing tool-free battery replacements.
It helps that the one device you do want — all through the telephone — is a T5 Torx screwdriver, and solely seven screws sit between you and a battery swap. Fairphone itself has proven you may get from shutdown to reboot with a brand new cell in simply 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 telephone’s mainboard, which is nearly the one restore Fairphone doesn’t suggest you make your self: nearly the whole lot else, from the USB-C port to the person digicam sensors, could be changed with minimal effort. Substitute elements shall be out there from Fairphone and iFixit, and the telephone’s replaceable backplate additionally allows a line of swappable equipment just like these discovered on the CMF Cellphone Professional 2.
iFixit additionally rated the telephone extremely for its IP55 ranking — not the most effective round, however spectacular for a telephone sealed with screws slightly 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 telephone 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 digicam is pretty primary, 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 because the Fairphone 2 has acquired a ten/10 in iFixit’s teardown checks, a rating that no different telephone has ever managed. The Fairphone 6 is out there 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 working /e/OS, Murena’s privacy-focused and de-Googled tackle Android. It’s out there to preorder now, and ships in August.