Fairphone, the sustainable smartphone manufacturer that tries to make easy-to-repair devices with responsive materials, has announced its latest handset. The Fairphone 3 Plus is an upgraded version of last year’s Fairphone 3 with improved cameras and speakers. More interestingly, however, if you already bought a phone from last year and do not want to upgrade to a brand new handset, then the modular design of Fairphone means that you can only purchase and install the new camera module in your existing phone.
The Fairphone 3 Plus will cost € 469 (about $ 550) when it is released on September 14, but the upgraded cameras will only be purchased if a modular upgrade costs € 94.90 (about $ 111). (Fairphone is offering an introductory price of € 70 (about $ 80) until the end of September.) Although buying the upgraded cameras is only cheaper, it is not about saving money. Instead, it is meant to stop people from replacing a perfectly functional phone, simply because a new model is available, creating unnecessary waste and putting pressure on the earth’s natural resources.
Anyone who chooses to upgrade to the new camera modules will get higher resolution sensors filled with more camera functionality. The rear camera now has a 48-megapixel sensor instead of a 12-megapixel sensor, while the selfie camera has gone from 8 megapixels to 16 megapixels. The new lenses also have faster autofocus, image stabilization, and better object tracking.
Fairphone says that the average person replaces their phone every 2.7 years, but ideally it wants people to be able to hold on to their devices for as much as five to seven years. Every time individual bits of a phone can be upgraded instead of the entire device is an attempt to encourage people to hold on to their phones longer. According to Fairphone, less than 5 percent of materials in a phone can be recovered and reused. That even if you submit a phone for recycling, many of its materials will still end up in landfill.
This is not the first time that Fairphone has offered upgraded camera hardware for their phones. In 2017, it also released upgraded rear and selfie camera hardware for Fairphone 2. You can upgrade the phone’s original 8-megapixel rear camera with a 12-megapixel module as well as the original 5-megapixel selfie camera with a 5 megapixel -megapixel model.
Outside of the new cameras, the Fairphone 3 Plus is functionally similar to the Fairphone 3. It still has a 5.7-inch, 1080p display, it is still powered by a mediocre Snapdragon 632 processor, and it still has a removable 3,000mAh battery. There is 4 GB RAM and 64 GB on board storage, expandable up to 400 GB via microSD. It comes with Android 10 pre-installed, and the company says the operating system will roll out to the existing Fairphone 3 in September.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21769602/image1.png)
Like the improved cameras, Fairphone says the new 3 Plus has better audio performance with louder, sharper sound. The construction also uses more recycled plastic. It now has 40 percent recycled plastic, up from 9 percent last year. Unfortunately, you can only get these upgrades by buying a brand new phone – they are not available as standalone modules.
Beyond the phones themselves, Fairphone says it is working on a number of other sustainability projects, including purchasing more ethically produced gold, cobalt, tin, tungsten and copper, and it is working to improve conditions in cobalt and gold mines. There are also programs in France and Germany whereby customers submit their old or broken phone modules so that they can be recycled or repaired, along with initiatives to help factory workers in China.
Fairphone’s relentless focus on sustainability means it has no easy task. It needs to produce phones with modern enough specs that people want to buy and use them, but releasing a new device every year risks creating the same cumbersome upgrade cycle as other phone manufacturers. With its modular construction, Fairphone has developed an interesting way around the problem.
The Fairphone 3 Plus will be available throughout Europe from select online retailers and operators, says Fairphone.
