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

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... )

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.

No, that’s not planned obsolescence. Why would it become obsolete faster due to the lack of a phone jack?

Not delivering updates, that’s planned obsolescence.

I do agree however, that a jack is nice. Wired USB-C headphone do exist though, if you insist on wired.I am not an audiophile, wouldn’t that provide an even better sound quality potentially (digital to analog conversion happens later, not distortions due to cables for example)?

There seems to be more movement in the standards space on wireless headphones. The wireless standard today could be very different in 5-10 years time. The 3.5mm jack is over a century old, it isn't being changed dramatically in any way.

Personally, I am just not a fan of something that requires both a software connection that usually isn't always the smoothest thing rather than a direct hardware connection. And having yet another battery to deal with and the down stream impact of that. Typically all on hardware with the battery sealed inside that will die long before the rest of the hardware will.

Nothing wrong with wireless as an option but mandating it, I do not like that one bit. It is now the first thing I check on a phone as it is an absolute deal breaker for me.

Hot take maybe but I think it would be a worthwhile endeavor to come up with a replacement for the 3.5mm audio jack. It’s served us well but there’s several improvements that could be made to it that’d make it more durable and less prone to issues like becoming loose. It’s probably longer than it strictly needs to be too.