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What would be the use cases for such a easy repairable phone? Compared to other phones not so easily repairable (i.e. 6/10).

Tepix 7y ago
Longevity. Use less resources by repairing.
- ErikHuisman 7y ago
  But needs repairing more often due to no waterproving and a soft shell.
- zaroth 7y ago
  It’s somewhat morose to consider that the resources expended to bring this device into the world likely far exceed the positive environmental impact of the relatively few number of repairs that users of this device will ultimately perform. That is to say, a mainstream phone’s production is so optimized and streamlined, that the weighted average environmental impact of making 10 more (e.g. iPhones) is significantly less than the weighted average environmental cost of making 1 Fairphone. Maybe if you factor in the value of performance art and political proselytizing then you can justify it!
  - kasbah 7y ago
    And 80% of statistics are made up on the spot. (Would be interested in any links to studies or economic models in this area though.)
    - vanderZwan 7y ago
      Well, there is obvious bias but Fairphone itself has lots of articles about their research into their environmental impact: https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/208539846 https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/208539846 https://www.fairphone.com/en/research-resources/ https://www.fairphone.com/en/research-resources/
    - zaroth 7y ago
      It was slightly tongue in cheek, but the point relates to fixed versus marginal environmental costs of production. It’s sort of a backwards way of thinking about the “Marginal Abatement Cost Function” (MAC) which is non-linear at the point you decide to go from producing 1 unit of output to shuttering the factory entirely. At the point where you are producing 36 million phones, the marginal economic cost is at its lowest. The marginal economic cost of your first unit, by comparison, is a massive step function. Which is why I started by saying it’s a morose way of looking at things, because you get stuck in a local minimum that way.
      - zaroth 7y ago
        Too late to edit, but that should read marginal environmental impact, not marginal economic cost. (Both are true)
  - lallysingh 7y ago
    You should also factor in the 'setting an example for other vendors' value. They're showing it's quite easily possible, and are shaming other vendors a bit in the process.
  - organsnyder 7y ago
    > a mainstream phone’s production is so optimized and streamlined Economically, sure—manufacturers optimize to be as cost-effective as possible. Environmentally? Doubtful.
  - vanderZwan 7y ago
    So I used to have a Fairphone 2 until recently, and have put that phone through a lot of abuse. As a result I did have to replace various modules at times (most often the bottom module, which is responsible for the charger and the microphone). Relative to the entire phone however replacing these small modules represent only a few percentages in terms of embodied energy and resources. The bulk of energy goes into the core module, IIRC. In the end the core module also started becoming unstable (I have to emphasize though that the phone had endured a lot of physical abuse, as well as certain apps that probably overheated the CPU more than a few times) and I had to replace it two months ago. If the FP3 had been announced earlier I would have bought it instead of the phone I ended up replacing the FP2 with.
  - brnt 7y ago
    I see how that can be true, but won't you agree that specific numbers would help you make that case?
  - LaGrange 7y ago
    > That is to say, a mainstream phone’s production is so optimized and streamlined, that the weighted average environmental impact of making 10 more (e.g. iPhones) is significantly less than the weighted average environmental cost of making 1 Fairphone. I agree that the lack of repairability requirements and the sheer volume of production make it plausible such optimisations could have happened. But we know neither whether they happened, nor the scale of the benefits. Unless you're Tim Cook I guess, in which case bring back iPhone 5S form factor.
  - Tepix 7y ago
    Every single microchip uses a lot of resources. You can't just handwave that away by talking about streamlining and optimizing building an entire phone. You are making wildl inaccurate guesses.
pvorb 7y ago
You can do almost everything you can do with any other high end phone. I think the smartphone market will soon settle at a much slower pace like the PC/notebook market. I haven't replaced my personal notebook since 2012.
- organsnyder 7y ago
  I finally replaced my personal laptop from 2010 (a ThinkPad T410) last year. It lasted that long because it was upgrade-able and—crucially—repairable. It still has some life in it, but I decided a newer machine would give me enough performance benefits to be worth it. I've had my Pixel XL for about 2.5 years. I'm planning to replace it in the next six months only because the battery is getting worn out—the performance of the device is still very good.
  - morsch 7y ago
    I was about to tell you to just replace the battery, but it turns out this is quite the ordeal with a Pixel XL: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Google+Pixel+XL+Battery+Replacement/88342 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Google+Pixel+XL+Battery+Replace... Awful. Who came up with the idea of going through the front? Took me like 10 minutes with my last two Xiaomi phones.
  - dbrgn 7y ago
    My t410 from 2010 is still working happily :)
detritus 7y ago
I could fix my phone more than once, unlike my Nexus 5, which survived one attempt at repair (new screen and battery) and is now inscrutably beyond fixing, no matter what combination of replacement parts I try.
eswat 7y ago
Being able to swap modules out of your phone like you can swap components out of a PC is very enticing to DIYers. With enough maturity there could be a new market to sell modules for very different purposes than phone manufactures intended (ie: you can use the drive bays in PC case for a variety of components, not just “drives”, and it will work as long as it interface with the motherboard)
rvense 7y ago
Why should we accept less? People throw away phones that work perfectly well except for one simple component. E.g. the body and all the electronics are sent to the landfill even if it's just the screen that's broken.
kiba 7y ago
Everytime my macbook pro break, it becomes a session in anger management, because it's hard to fix or required lot of money to fix. If an easily repairable phone breaks, it's not a big deal.
- ozim 7y ago
  I just got bloated battery in my macbook pro 2016 with touchbar. Double presses on keyboard are now not an issue, it got really slower, bluetooth module seems to work a lot worse. Only last week I noticed it to be that bloated so I stopped using it and I am waiting for battery replacement. It was most expensive model at the time. I know people who have dirt cheap laptop 10 years, this macbook pro crap is like 3 years. Unbelivable. My macbook pro from 2014 is starting to get bloated battery I think as well.
- dexterdog 7y ago
  I don't have a problem with the MBP being hard to fix, but I have a problem with most repairs require a 2-week ground shipment (both ways) to get the apple store to send it for repair. This is with apple care. Right now I have a bulging battery and a ruined screen glaze that has to go in and I have to find a computer to live with for a few weeks while it's gone.
  - pessimizer 7y ago
    > I don't have a problem with the MBP being hard to fix, but I have a problem with most repairs require a 2-week ground shipment (both ways) to get the apple store to send it for repair. I don't understand the distinction. The MBP is hard to fix because most repairs require a 2-week ground shipment both ways.
    - dexterdog 7y ago
      I meant I wouldn't have a problem if I had to have authorized repairs because it's not meant to be user fixed like they were just a few years ago. I just don't want to have to ship them to Texas for pretty much everything. They should be able to do battery, keyboard and screen replacements locally.
meddlin 7y ago
Big cost savings. For myself, I would have no problem popping it open to replace parts. It would be great to get 5-6 (planned) years of use out of a single device. For family, that I regularly provide "tech support" for, it would be great to repair their phones instead of being beholden to some "bar", on the other side of town, requiring in-person visits/appointments for $100+ repairs. We could just get it done at the kitchen table.
- rootusrootus 7y ago
  I think you're setting the bar pretty low. You can get 5 years from an iPhone. Probably from some of the Android flagships as well.
  - opencl 7y ago
    You won't get 5 years without at minimum replacing the battery, and a large fraction of people will probably end up with a broken screen in that timeframe as well. Of course it's not impossible to replace these parts on a normal phone, but it is significantly easier/cheaper to do on something like the Fairphone. Readily available and easily installable replacement parts are certainly useful for anyone planning on keeping a phone for more than a few years, just like with cars.
    - drcongo 7y ago
      My daughter's iPhone 5s is 6 years old, still gets well over 24 hours battery life and the screen is perfect and never been replaced.
    - LaGrange 7y ago
      Replacing a battery on a 5S wasn't a problem — literally a trip downstairs and paying €20, if my memory serves me well. Done within 15 minutes. It would be neat if I could do it on my own, but that was good enough for me. And it means I'm on year 6 on this phone, and the lifetime is limited by software upgrades — and not just the OS, but also drivers and firmware.

Tepix 7y ago

Longevity. Use less resources by repairing.

ErikHuisman 7y ago
But needs repairing more often due to no waterproving and a soft shell.
zaroth 7y ago
It’s somewhat morose to consider that the resources expended to bring this device into the world likely far exceed the positive environmental impact of the relatively few number of repairs that users of this device will ultimately perform. That is to say, a mainstream phone’s production is so optimized and streamlined, that the weighted average environmental impact of making 10 more (e.g. iPhones) is significantly less than the weighted average environmental cost of making 1 Fairphone. Maybe if you factor in the value of performance art and political proselytizing then you can justify it!
- kasbah 7y ago
  And 80% of statistics are made up on the spot. (Would be interested in any links to studies or economic models in this area though.)
  - vanderZwan 7y ago
    Well, there is obvious bias but Fairphone itself has lots of articles about their research into their environmental impact: https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/208539846 https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/208539846 https://www.fairphone.com/en/research-resources/ https://www.fairphone.com/en/research-resources/
  - zaroth 7y ago
    It was slightly tongue in cheek, but the point relates to fixed versus marginal environmental costs of production. It’s sort of a backwards way of thinking about the “Marginal Abatement Cost Function” (MAC) which is non-linear at the point you decide to go from producing 1 unit of output to shuttering the factory entirely. At the point where you are producing 36 million phones, the marginal economic cost is at its lowest. The marginal economic cost of your first unit, by comparison, is a massive step function. Which is why I started by saying it’s a morose way of looking at things, because you get stuck in a local minimum that way.
    - zaroth 7y ago
      Too late to edit, but that should read marginal environmental impact, not marginal economic cost. (Both are true)
- lallysingh 7y ago
  You should also factor in the 'setting an example for other vendors' value. They're showing it's quite easily possible, and are shaming other vendors a bit in the process.
- organsnyder 7y ago
  > a mainstream phone’s production is so optimized and streamlined Economically, sure—manufacturers optimize to be as cost-effective as possible. Environmentally? Doubtful.
- vanderZwan 7y ago
  So I used to have a Fairphone 2 until recently, and have put that phone through a lot of abuse. As a result I did have to replace various modules at times (most often the bottom module, which is responsible for the charger and the microphone). Relative to the entire phone however replacing these small modules represent only a few percentages in terms of embodied energy and resources. The bulk of energy goes into the core module, IIRC. In the end the core module also started becoming unstable (I have to emphasize though that the phone had endured a lot of physical abuse, as well as certain apps that probably overheated the CPU more than a few times) and I had to replace it two months ago. If the FP3 had been announced earlier I would have bought it instead of the phone I ended up replacing the FP2 with.
- brnt 7y ago
  I see how that can be true, but won't you agree that specific numbers would help you make that case?
- LaGrange 7y ago
  > That is to say, a mainstream phone’s production is so optimized and streamlined, that the weighted average environmental impact of making 10 more (e.g. iPhones) is significantly less than the weighted average environmental cost of making 1 Fairphone. I agree that the lack of repairability requirements and the sheer volume of production make it plausible such optimisations could have happened. But we know neither whether they happened, nor the scale of the benefits. Unless you're Tim Cook I guess, in which case bring back iPhone 5S form factor.
- Tepix 7y ago
  Every single microchip uses a lot of resources. You can't just handwave that away by talking about streamlining and optimizing building an entire phone. You are making wildl inaccurate guesses.

pvorb 7y ago

You can do almost everything you can do with any other high end phone. I think the smartphone market will soon settle at a much slower pace like the PC/notebook market. I haven't replaced my personal notebook since 2012.

organsnyder 7y ago
I finally replaced my personal laptop from 2010 (a ThinkPad T410) last year. It lasted that long because it was upgrade-able and—crucially—repairable. It still has some life in it, but I decided a newer machine would give me enough performance benefits to be worth it. I've had my Pixel XL for about 2.5 years. I'm planning to replace it in the next six months only because the battery is getting worn out—the performance of the device is still very good.
- morsch 7y ago
  I was about to tell you to just replace the battery, but it turns out this is quite the ordeal with a Pixel XL: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Google+Pixel+XL+Battery+Replacement/88342 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Google+Pixel+XL+Battery+Replace... Awful. Who came up with the idea of going through the front? Took me like 10 minutes with my last two Xiaomi phones.
- dbrgn 7y ago
  My t410 from 2010 is still working happily :)

detritus 7y ago

I could fix my phone more than once, unlike my Nexus 5, which survived one attempt at repair (new screen and battery) and is now inscrutably beyond fixing, no matter what combination of replacement parts I try.

eswat 7y ago

Being able to swap modules out of your phone like you can swap components out of a PC is very enticing to DIYers. With enough maturity there could be a new market to sell modules for very different purposes than phone manufactures intended (ie: you can use the drive bays in PC case for a variety of components, not just “drives”, and it will work as long as it interface with the motherboard)

rvense 7y ago

Why should we accept less? People throw away phones that work perfectly well except for one simple component. E.g. the body and all the electronics are sent to the landfill even if it's just the screen that's broken.

kiba 7y ago

Everytime my macbook pro break, it becomes a session in anger management, because it's hard to fix or required lot of money to fix. If an easily repairable phone breaks, it's not a big deal.

ozim 7y ago
I just got bloated battery in my macbook pro 2016 with touchbar. Double presses on keyboard are now not an issue, it got really slower, bluetooth module seems to work a lot worse. Only last week I noticed it to be that bloated so I stopped using it and I am waiting for battery replacement. It was most expensive model at the time. I know people who have dirt cheap laptop 10 years, this macbook pro crap is like 3 years. Unbelivable. My macbook pro from 2014 is starting to get bloated battery I think as well.
dexterdog 7y ago
I don't have a problem with the MBP being hard to fix, but I have a problem with most repairs require a 2-week ground shipment (both ways) to get the apple store to send it for repair. This is with apple care. Right now I have a bulging battery and a ruined screen glaze that has to go in and I have to find a computer to live with for a few weeks while it's gone.
- pessimizer 7y ago
  > I don't have a problem with the MBP being hard to fix, but I have a problem with most repairs require a 2-week ground shipment (both ways) to get the apple store to send it for repair. I don't understand the distinction. The MBP is hard to fix because most repairs require a 2-week ground shipment both ways.
  - dexterdog 7y ago
    I meant I wouldn't have a problem if I had to have authorized repairs because it's not meant to be user fixed like they were just a few years ago. I just don't want to have to ship them to Texas for pretty much everything. They should be able to do battery, keyboard and screen replacements locally.

meddlin 7y ago

Big cost savings. For myself, I would have no problem popping it open to replace parts. It would be great to get 5-6 (planned) years of use out of a single device. For family, that I regularly provide "tech support" for, it would be great to repair their phones instead of being beholden to some "bar", on the other side of town, requiring in-person visits/appointments for $100+ repairs. We could just get it done at the kitchen table.

rootusrootus 7y ago
I think you're setting the bar pretty low. You can get 5 years from an iPhone. Probably from some of the Android flagships as well.
- opencl 7y ago
  You won't get 5 years without at minimum replacing the battery, and a large fraction of people will probably end up with a broken screen in that timeframe as well. Of course it's not impossible to replace these parts on a normal phone, but it is significantly easier/cheaper to do on something like the Fairphone. Readily available and easily installable replacement parts are certainly useful for anyone planning on keeping a phone for more than a few years, just like with cars.
  - drcongo 7y ago
    My daughter's iPhone 5s is 6 years old, still gets well over 24 hours battery life and the screen is perfect and never been replaced.
  - LaGrange 7y ago
    Replacing a battery on a 5S wasn't a problem — literally a trip downstairs and paying €20, if my memory serves me well. Done within 15 minutes. It would be neat if I could do it on my own, but that was good enough for me. And it means I'm on year 6 on this phone, and the lifetime is limited by software upgrades — and not just the OS, but also drivers and firmware.