The environmentally friendly and fairly produced Fairphones have not necessarily impressed with their outstanding specifications. But there are two major technical advances in the latest model. But is it worth buying a sustainably manufactured smartphone? TECHBOOK took a closer look at the Android device.
The Fairphone 5 has been on the market since the end of August 2023. While the environmental aspect is usually neglected by many large manufacturers, the Dutch company Fairphone promotes a sustainable concept. The individual parts are usually fairly traded or manufactured and there is also a strong focus on recycling. The company also relies on modularity. This means that (independent) repairing of various individual parts should generally work.
The specifications of the Fairphone 5 at a glance
Fairphone 5 should get 10 years of software updates
The new Fairphone 5 could be a smartphone for a whole decade. While many other manufacturers’ devices become obsolete after just two or three years due to a lack of software updates, the Dutch company promises security updates between eight and ten years – an industry record in terms of sustainability.
To make this promise a reality, the developers in Amsterdam made an unusual decision about the main chipset. In contrast to the previous model, the Snapdragon series, which chip supplier Qualcomm actually intends for mobile phones, was not used.
Instead, they opted for Qualcomm’s QCM 6490. This chipset is otherwise used in completely different environments, such as the self-service terminals of large fast food chains. There is also an outdoor cell phone from AGM with this chip. Although the QCM 6490 was not necessarily developed for smartphones, from the Fairphone designers’ point of view it has a decisive advantage. Qualcomm guarantees eight years of software support.
Without this promise, the small Dutch manufacturer would have to develop the complicated driver software itself for major updates to the Android operating system. In terms of computing power, the Faiphone 5 is comparable to mid-range smartphones such as the Galaxy A54 from Samsung.
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Strong colors thanks to OLED
The second important technical innovation is immediately obvious. The Faiphone 5 has a significantly better display compared to the previous model (Fairphone 4). The Dutch no longer use a simple LCD panel, but have opted for a high-quality display with OLED technology. On the one hand, this ensures that photos on the device have significantly stronger colors and appear nice and sharp.
And when playing video, dark areas actually appear deep black and not just dark gray. The OLED technology also ensures that the screen is easier to read outdoors. The frame rate is 60 or 90 Hertz. The OLED display also makes it possible to implement an always-on mode: information such as the time or current notifications can be displayed constantly without the battery running out prematurely.
Innovations in the camera
The position of the selfie camera has also changed. In the older models, a larger, teardrop-shaped area was cut out for the front camera. In the Faiphone 5, this “notch” has shrunk to a black circle (“punchhole”), which makes the device look much more modern, also because the display edges have become significantly narrower.
The selfie camera itself does its job quite well. It now has a resolution of 50 megapixels, twice as many as the previous model. This makes the selfies nice and sharp. At first glance, you might think that you are dealing with three cameras when it comes to the main camera system. In fact, there are only two: a main camera with optical image stabilization and an ultra-wide-angle camera.
What looks like a third camera is a depth sensor. Both cameras have a resolution of 50 megapixels. After so-called pixel binning, in which several individual pixels are merged together to form a larger pixel, 12.6 megapixel photo files are output.
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No optical telephoto lens
In the test, the main camera of the Fairphone 5 produced high-contrast photos with strong colors without slipping into squeaky colors. On the other hand, shots taken in darkness and twilight were not quite as sharp and detailed as daylight shots.
Objects that are far away can only be zoomed in digitally because there is no optical telephoto lens. In our test, we quickly reached the limits beyond the 2x magnification. In photos taken at the maximum magnification of 20x, many details were lost in image noise.
Fairphone battery not exactly good
The battery is also better than the previous models. It now has a capacity of 4200 mAh. The battery can be charged to 50 percent in 30 minutes using a 30-watt charger via USB-C.
If at some point the battery has lost so much capacity that the phone can no longer be used effectively, the battery can be easily replaced without any tools. You can use your fingernails to remove the back, as well as the battery itself.
The disadvantage of this solution is suboptimal water protection. But at least the Fairphone 5 achieves an IP55 certification. The device is therefore protected from a rain shower, but should not fall into the bathtub because, as mentioned, it is not really waterproof.
Ten parts interchangeable
The modular design not only allows the battery to be replaced. The three cameras, the USB-C socket, the speaker, the earpiece and the “top unit” with SIM card compartment and memory card slot can also be replaced without any tinkering experience.
The Phillips screwdriver required for this is included in the package. A replacement battery costs 40 euros, the display costs 100 euros, the back costs 25 euros, and the cameras cost between 35 euros (selfie camera) and 70 euros (main camera).
Sustainability as the main concept
The environmental concept doesn’t just include very good and easy repairability: in the Fairphone 5, 14 raw materials come from fair supply chains or from recycling. According to the Dutch, this applies to the aluminum used, the plastics and raw materials such as gold, tungsten, lithium, silver, cobalt, tin, zinc, rare earth metals, magnesium, indium, copper and nickel. Fairphone also claims to be “electronic waste neutral”. This means that for every Fairphone 5 sold, an old smartphone is recycled.
The Faiphone 5 costs just under 700 euros, which is 120 euros more than the cheapest version of the previous model cost. But there is now a much better display. In addition, the Fairphone 5 now has 256 gigabytes of memory, twice as much as the entry-level Fairphone 4. This means that the price of the new model has been increased by 50 euros.
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TECHBOOK means
“It is quite refreshing that there are also sustainably manufactured smartphones on the market. Apart from this, there are other advantages and disadvantages. First the positive aspects: A big plus of the Fairphone 5 is the modularity and the repairability of the parts. In addition, the update guarantee of many years is optimal, as you can always keep the smartphone up to date.
The RAM and storage are also strong. Even the specs of the cameras are impressive. Although the Fairphone 5 is not a dedicated camera phone, it does deliver quality that is worth seeing.
However, two points in particular are negative. On the one hand, there is the battery, which has a capacity of under 5000 milliamp hours, which is actually the standard for most mid-range smartphones. In addition, the price is definitely too high at almost 700 euros. In some cases there are flagship models for the price that have significantly stronger specs. Sustainability has its price.” – Isa Kabakci, editor
With material from dpa.