The Fairphone was an effort to bring a more “ethical” smartphone product to the market by using “conflict-free” materials, exploitation-free factories, and generally being more environmentally-friendly by being easy to repair. But the fact of the matter is that technology moves ever forward, and support for the first Fairphone now needs to end, ushering in the new Fairphone 2.
The first Fairphone was released in late 2013, and it offered a handy device with a 4.3-inch display and ran on Android 4.2.2. According to Fairphone, they made around 60,000 of the phones were made and sold. When parts for this phone wore out, users bought replacement parts from them, but as it happens, the company has run out of some parts, hence the decision to finally end support. Fairphone CEO Bas van Abel says that “most of the original Fairphone 1 spare parts have now been retired by our suppliers. In other words, the parts we need no longer exist.”
So enter Fairphone 2, a more modern take on the Fairphone, and a lot more modular. The successor to the Fairphone now has a 5-inch FullHD (1080p) display, powered by a Snapdragon 801 processor and supported by 2GB RAM, 32GB internal storage. It runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and has a 2,420mAh battery. By making it modular, Fairphone hopes that this second generation device will last much longer.
You can pre-order the Fairphone 2 – it retails for around USD$617 and should start shipping by October 2017.
VIA: The UK Register
