GoKawiilYour iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel have a 1-year warranty. Unless you cough up extra dough for an extended service plan, you'll pay a hefty fee if you damage the screen and need a replacement (around $329 for an iPhone 17 done directly from Apple).
But it doesn't have to be this way. What if you could order the part from the manufacturer and do the repair yourself? That dream is finally being realized for American consumers, thanks to Fairphone. The Dutch company is bringing its repairable and sustainably built Android smartphone—the Fairphone (Gen 6+)—to the US. Each one comes with a screwdriver.
A replacement screen from Fairphone costs just $90. A new USB-C port is $20; a fresh battery is $40. In all, there are 12 modular elements you can swap yourself. It remains the only smartphone series with a 10/10 repairability score from iFixit, not to mention an unmatched 5-year warranty and software updates through 2033.
The new Fairphone (Gen 6+) is a small upgrade over the Gen 6 the company launched last year. It has a newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 processor and double the RAM at 12 GB, but is otherwise largely the same device (hence the “plus” in the name). It now comes in Cobalt Blue, a nod to the miners who extract the cobalt used to make phone batteries, and the company's efforts to improve working conditions in mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The new Fairphone is available on Amazon and at Fairphone.com for $650, and it’s officially certified to work on T-Mobile and AT&T's networks.
While this is the first time the company has brought its flagship mobile product into the US, its expansion to the States began last year with its repairable earbuds and headphones. (The company is also teasing its next-generation Fairbuds 2 wireless earbuds, launching later this year, which it says set “a new bar for repairability and performance.”)
Photograph: Courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Fairphone has been selling its ethically built smartphones in Europe for more than a decade. Its devices are easy to repair, and many of the components that make up the product are sourced sustainably. The Gen 6+, for example, is made with more than 50 percent fair-trade or recycled materials. The company supports living wages for factory workers in its supply chain, and its devices are assembled with renewable energy and are 100 percent e-waste neutral. The company is also a Certified B Corp with a platinum EcoVadis rating—two independent certifications that back up its environmental and labor claims.