Repairable, ethical phone brand Fairphone has released its second pair of earbuds. The Fairbuds 2 are just as repairable as the first generation, but deliver improved audio and almost twice the battery life. The Fairbuds 2 are out now in the UK and Europe from £99 / €119, and a US launch at $119 will follow on November 2nd.
The Fairbuds 2 have been redesigned from the ground up, moving to a stemmed design, available in black or green, and a case that’s 37 percent smaller than the first generation. Despite that shrinking hardware, Fairphone has almost doubled the buds’ battery life, which now totals 40 hours without active noise cancellation, with eight hours on the buds alone, dropping to six with ANC on. Charging is over USB-C, and takes a couple hours for a full top-up. Sadly Qi wireless charging isn’t supported — though it isn’t on Apple’s $129 AirPods 5 either.
I never used the original Fairbuds, but sound should be improved here thanks to new bio-cellulose dynamic drivers, though still at the same 11mm size, plus refined ANC and new support for the LDAC codec. Multipoint connectivity supports two devices at once, and a five-band EQ in the app lets you fine-tune audio.
I’ve been using the Fairbuds 2 for a couple of weeks, and while I wouldn’t say they’re the most polished or premium earbuds you’ll find for $120, I’ve got no real complaints either. They look great, the simple touch controls work well, and audio quality is good, if a little muddy at times, lacking the expansive sound stage of some other buds. The ANC has impressed me too, cancelling out most background noise I’ve wanted rid of.
Of course, the main reason to buy Fairbuds is the repairability, which remains relatively unique — though European legal changes will force other manufacturers to catch up soon. Here, Fairphone has concentrated on matching what it offered in the first Fairbuds, but that’s still impressive: the battery in each earbud can be removed in less than a minute without any tools, while a single T5 screw is all that’s between you and the cell in the case. Spare parts will be sold on Fairphone’s site, with a total of seven user-replaceable parts, including the eartips and sleeves. An IP54 rating guarantees some additional measure of protection against rain and sweat, though not complete waterproofing, and a three-year warranty should deliver a little extra peace of mind.
The other side of Fairphone’s promise is transparency about its production and materials. The company says that 49 percent of the materials in the Fairbuds 2 are “fair and recycled,” including recycled plastics and rare earth minerals, and cobalt, gold, and silver sourced with fair mining credits. It also says the buds themselves are assembled under fair working conditions.
Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge