Paul Jones / Android Authority
The Samsung Galaxy S5 still has a special place in my heart, purely because I could pop the back off and swap in a fresh battery myself. Phones have come a long way since then, and that kind of easy repairability largely disappeared along the way. But Fairphone has spent years trying to keep the idea alive, and its latest phone brings that philosophy to the US more directly than ever.
The Fairphone Gen 6 Plus is the first model the company is selling directly in the US — rather than through Murena — and it runs the standard Google-equipped version of Android. It costs $649 and lets you replace up to 12 components with a single screwdriver, including the battery, display, cameras, and USB-C port. The upgrades over the regular Gen 6 are fairly modest, but we still wanted to know what you made of the package. We asked our readers whether the Gen 6 Plus was hot in a recent poll, and the results could hardly have been more definitive. Take a look for yourself.
There wasn’t much suspense once the votes were counted. Of more than 1,500 responses, 91.5% said the Fairphone Gen 6 Plus was hot. Only 8.5% went the other way, making this one of the more decisive poll results we’ve seen in a while.
Even in an article that Fairphone fans might be more likely to read, that’s an impressive reception, especially since the Gen 6 Plus isn’t pushing the bigger brands hard on specs. At $649, you can find plenty of Android phones with more powerful hardware, and the upgrades over the regular Fairphone Gen 6 aren’t dramatic. What you’re paying for is a phone designed to be kept and repaired rather than replaced when one component starts giving you trouble.
In an article about the phone’s predecessor at the start of the year, a poll on what might tempt people away from the biggest smartphone brands named repairability the second-most popular reason. As such, maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised by this result. Plus, the Gen 6 Plus also removes one of Fairphone’s previous hurdles in the US by being sold directly by the company with Google’s usual apps and services onboard. In hindsight, what’s not to like?
Despite the poll’s overwhelming outcome, there were a few reservations in the comments section of our previous article. Reader Dooglehead liked the repairable idea but called the missing headphone jack “a deal breaker,” with Changhaitravis agreeing that “if only it had a 3.5mm headphone jack and FM radio built in, i woulda bought one near instantly.”
In fairness to the bigger players, Kameljoe21 argued that modern phones already last long enough that replaceable parts are solving a problem most people won’t have. For a balanced view, Secureopensource was coming from direct experience, saying, “I love the idea of the fairphone, I’m using one to send this comment,” but didn’t feel the Gen 6 hardware had addressed longstanding issues well enough to justify paying the premium again.
Fairphone Gen 6 PlusFairphone Gen 6 Plus
Repairable • Long update policy • Expandable storage
An easily repairable phone with updates to 2033
The Fairphone Gen 6 Plus brings a repairable design, allowing you to remove up to 12 parts with one screwdriver. Expect years of software updates as well, with at least six OS upgrades.
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