Amsterdam [Netherlands] : Fairphone, a company that is known for upending conventional OEMs, has launched its next-generation device, the Fairphone 4, that promises to be an upgradeable, repairable and sustainable smartphone that can be used for many years without any hassle. As per Mashable, the company’s promises and commitment towards ethical sourcing of materials and the right to repair movement is a departure from the big traditional companies like Apple and Samsung. Fairphone 4 uses a similar modular design to the company’s previous models but with more powerful internals, along with a promise of two major Android updates. The software support of the phone will stretch until the end of 2025. The modular design allows the user to repair and modify the phone easily. But what has been the biggest contribution of the company is its commitment to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing smartphones. The philosophy of the company is that the biggest environmental impact of a phone comes from its manufacturing and being able to use the same phone for longer makes it sustainable. The right to repair movement has gathered a lot of momentum across the globe. The Biden administration is also looking into making rules to prevent big companies from using anti-competitive power to stop people from repairing their products. Companies like Google and Samsung have been manufacturing models that depend on intensive resource extraction and industrial production which are mostly sustained by child and slave labour. This makes every part of a typical smartphone highly destructive and unethically sourced. A lawsuit in 2019 condemned major tech companies for profiting from child labour in Congolese cobalt mines. These methods of extraction also create “cancer villages” and cause rare cancers in factories where these phones are manufactured. Fairphone promises to take a step away from this mode of production and insists that its materials are ethically sourced and free of exploitation and conflict. The company is also working with Arima, a Taiwan-based assembly partner to strive and continue to improve working conditions.
