Fairphone 4 life cycle assessment

Fairphone have published a detailed lifecycle analysis for the Fairphone 4. Including a focus on how extension of life through repair reduces environmental impact.

(the above link seems to be currently broken - but it’s also archived here)

It’s 215 pages… but quoting from the executive summary:

As production is the main driver for Fairphone 4 impacts, extension of use is a strong measure
to reduce the impacts per year of use. Based on the analysis, it is estimated that the GW
impact per year of use can be reduced by around 45% if prolonging use from 3 to 7 years.
The analysis of varying repair scenarios also shows that lifetime extension through repair is
beneficial, with the module repair approach (repair scenario B) being the best option of the
three.

(Repair scenario B is sending modules back to a repair centre for board level repair rather than a full module replacement)

Treehugger has a look at the LCA here:

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Can anyone recommend where to buy a Fairphone in the UK. They don’t ship directly to outside the EU.

My pair of 8 year old Samsungs now have too many lead-free solder failures to battle on (lead-free solder being another life-limiting factor in such devices).

I know you can get Fairphone 4 via YourCoop (used to be Phone Coop):

You can get contracts or just the handset.

Not sure about the older models…

Can anyone recommend where to buy a Fairphone in the UK. They don’t ship directly to outside the EU.

Are you sure they don’t ship to the UK? Their site makes it look like they do (although I haven’t gone all the way to the end of the checkout process)

https://shop.fairphone.com/gb_en/fairphone-3-plus

You can’t enter a UK delivery address. Only EU countries. I imagine they did ship to the UK before Brexit, and the accessories do include a UK power adapter.

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YourCoop only have a few models of the phone, and no accessories or spares.
A fairphone with no spare parts available defeats the whole object.
If no spares are available in the UK, I’ll ditch the idea. I would want to get a spare battery from the outset.

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Are you browsing the gb_en version of their site? You can choose country and language at the top right of the site. When doing so, prices are in pounds, and I was able to go all the way to payment in the checkout process, with delivery options provided for a UK address.


Ah thanks!
Yes, I was on an English site, but not their UK one.

I have my fairphone3 for over a year, I may buck the tread here, but the worse phone company I have every experienced.

I was so excited to hear about fairphone, their concept is amazing, but not as fair or should I say quality as I would have liked.

First day my screen scratched, not believed, would not replace. I also bought additional charger, lasted only a month before lead came away from plug.
Plug lasted less than 7month before not working.
Rub insult to womb, less than a month they introduce their 4 model, Ok so I can upgrade my part as that I was expecting when I purchased it. Unfortunately not.

Camera quality is poor, had a few technical issues to be fair a lot have been sorted with program up;oars.

There is no customer service in Uk, so beware when things go wrong, I have had to wait for week for emails to be answered, and was with generic emails, that they obviously didn’t read my issues.

I still have fairfhone, because I bough on contract, as soon as it ends I would be happy to not go back to fairphone, also beware buy back price is £10 not so fair

In my humble opinion they promote an amazing concept, that definitely fits a need, but the product just don’t; fulfil it really.

Hi Trevor, thanks for sharing your experience. I think you can upgrade the camera module of a Fairphone 3 to match the 3+, but it’s not the same as the one on the 4. Regarding the value of a used Fairphone, I’m sure it’s much higher than £10, so you should shop around…from a quick search, CeX pays a lot more

Thanks for. The info I have the 3+ as you said not compatible with the new 4. So them just relaunching new phones every year is no full filling their concept.
Maybe It’s me, I misunderstood, I thought the concept parts were comparable or at least upgraded, Maybe its just the lack of customer service that has put me off them. I am so frustrated because I really want to say what an amazing phone, but alas I would never encourage anyone to purchase it as your main phone, especially if you run a Repair Cafe.

I have mine through sky contract so not sure if it is unlocked,

Just for discloser, are you or Restart obtaining anything from Fairfone? As I understand a lot of their marking and ambassador’s to promote them, as this is as I bought into them via an ambassador.

I completely understand your frustration! And you should not shy away from providing this feedback to Fairphone directly.

On the technical point, I’m quite sure they don’t sell any locked phone.

As for your question, the only direct connection that Restart has with Fairphone is that they are a member of the European Right to Repair campaign, which we co-lead alongside other partners. And similarly to all other companies in the campaign, they pay a contribution to help with the campaign costs.

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