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Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

(www.androidcentral.com)
401 points Bluestein | 7 comments | 23 Jun 25 15:29 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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strangecasts ◴[23 Jun 25 16:20 UTC] No.44357341[source]▶
Was lucky enough to get my Fairphone 4 on sale, but I'd happily pay full price now - even though the Fairphones are pricey for the specs, unless you absolutely need 24 cores etc. I'd say they are worth it, knowing the company is at least trying to improve the parts supply chain, and knowing you stand a chance of fixing the devices yourself (luckily I've only had to replace the USB-C port, which was trivial)

About the only thing I'd ding Fairphone on is not communicating earlier that they were having trouble getting Android 14 out to the FP4s, but the security patches have been consistent.

(Okay I'm also dinging them on getting rid of the headphone jack, yes I know it's a lost cause... )

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bombela ◴[23 Jun 25 17:03 UTC] No.44357765[source]▶
The removal of the phone jack is so obviously planned obsolescence, it is ironic that this project for sustainability follows the trend.

Wired headphones still have better sound quality. Don't need charging. Don't break with software update. But because of that it means less consumption.

Think about how insane it is that companies can remove the phone jack and glue in the battery with the very obvious goal of planned obsolescence. And this is legal.

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jack_pp ◴[23 Jun 25 17:09 UTC] No.44357829[source]▶
I don't think it's about planned obsolescence. It's about cutting costs and having one less hole water can get in.

Also wired headphones are a very niche market. If you care so much there are wireless DACs that can feed your wired headphones better than any phone in history.

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1. h4ck_th3_pl4n3t ◴[23 Jun 25 22:09 UTC] No.44360713[source]▶
> It's about cutting costs and having one less hole water can get in.

That's a lazy excuse. Every single IP68 rugged phone has a headphone jack. And the ones that are more waterproof even made for diving with them also have one.

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2. xmprt ◴[24 Jun 25 01:09 UTC] No.44361903[source]▶
Those rugged phones are also thicker and more expensive for what you're getting. Mainstream companies have tried offering the headphone jack in some phones and every single time, those phone have undersold their jackless competitors.
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3. mc3301 ◴[24 Jun 25 02:16 UTC] No.44362298[source]▶
Blackview n6000 has no headphone jack.
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4. Dylan16807 ◴[24 Jun 25 03:13 UTC] No.44362577[source]▶
> Mainstream companies have tried offering the headphone jack in some phones and every single time, those phone have undersold their jackless competitors.

What, when?

I hope you don't mean when the flagship phone has no headphone jack, and a mid tier phone does. It's not the choice between the headphone jack and 3% more battery making the decision in that situation.

5. user_7832 ◴[24 Jun 25 07:45 UTC] No.44363786[source]▶
> Those rugged phones are also thicker and more expensive for what you're getting. Mainstream companies have tried offering the headphone jack in some phones and every single time, those phone have undersold their jackless competitors.

Yeah… the budget Moto G3 from 2015 with IPX7 says hi. To the limited surprise of anyone who was familiar with the brand back then, the top model (16GB/2gb) sold out in less than a week.

You can’t tell me it’s harder to waterproof a headphone jack in 2025 than it was in 2015. And could you please tell me how a rubber gasket adds appreciable thickness to a phone? Because I find that a bit hard to believe.

6. h4ck_th3_pl4n3t ◴[24 Jun 25 17:51 UTC] No.44368855[source]▶
I'm wondering now how much time you used to find that single one that has no headphone jack and is also IP68 certified.

Congrats, I guess?

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7. mc3301 ◴[27 Jun 25 04:19 UTC] No.44393671{3}[source]▶
I just happened to have that model on my desk when I read your comment.