Fairphone

Fairphone is a social enterprise company which aims to develop smartphones that are designed and produced with a lower environmental impact. The company is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands and was supported in its startup phase by the Waag Society, a foundation which aims to foster experimentation with new technologies, art and culture.

Fairphone B.V.
TypePrivately held company
IndustryTelecommunications equipment
FoundedJanuary 2013 (2013-01)
FounderTessa Wernink 
Headquarters
Amsterdam
,
Netherlands
Key people
ProductsSmartphones
Websitewww.fairphone.com

Fairphone was founded with the aim to develop a mobile device that does not contain conflict minerals (which in smartphones are typically gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten), has fair labour conditions for the workforce along the supply chain producing it and help people to use their phone longer.

The second version of the company's device is one of the first modular smartphones available for purchase. The modularity is supposed to make the phone more easily repairable and therefore longer lasting.

History
A Fairphone employee meeting tungsten miners at the New Bugurama Mining Company in Rwanda
Back of a Fairphone 2 with transparent cover, showing its modular design

Fairphone was founded by Bas van Abel, Tessa Wernink and Miquel Ballester[1] as a social enterprise company in January 2013, having existed as a campaign for two and a half years. The company's website states that its mission is to "bring a fair smartphone to the market – one designed and produced with minimal harm to people and planet".[2]

Since version two the Fairphone is produced in Suzhou, China by Hi-P International Limited. [3]

Fairphone's founder Bas van Abel acknowledged in 2017 that it was currently impossible to produce a 100% fair phone, suggesting it was more accurate to call his company's phones "fairer".[4][5]

Products
Name Release
Date		 SoC CPU GPU Memory
(GB)		 Storage
(GB)		 Display Camera Initial
Android
Version		 Battery
Capacity
(mAh)
Type Speed
(GHz)		 Cores Type Speed
(MHz)		 Size
(inches)		 PPI Rear Front
Fairphone 1 Dec 2013 MediaTek MT6589 Cortex-A7 1.2 4 PowerVR SGX544MP 286 1 16 4.3 256 8MP 1.3MP 4.2.2 2000
Fairphone 2 Dec 2015 Qualcomm 801
(MSM8974AB)		 Krait 400 2.26 4 Adreno 330 578 2 32 5 446 12MP 5MP 5.1 2420
Fairphone 3 Sep 2019 Qualcomm 632 Kryo 250
Gold+Silver		 1.8 4+4 Adreno 506 600 4 64 5.65 427 12MP 8MP 9.0 3060
Fairphone 3+ Sep 2020 48MP 16MP 10.0

Criticism

In response to the company's marketing it was criticized that "conflict-free" is by no means equal to "fair" since it does not rule out child labor and other "unfair" practices.[6]

Awards and certifications
Tessa Wernink (right) receiving the Tech5 award at The Next Web Conference 2015

Fairphone won the award for fastest-growing European tech startup at The Next Web conference in April 2015.[7]

The Fairphone 2 was the first[8] smartphone to be awarded with a 10/10 score at iFixit for repairability.[9][10]

Fairphone's founder and first CEO Bas van Abel was one of the three winners of the German Environmental Award in 2016.[11]

Fairphone is a certified Benefit corporation.[12]

The Fairphone 2 was the first mobile phone to receive Blue Angel certification.[13]

In 2019, Fairphone won the Partnership Of The Year prize at the Responsible Business Awards.[14]

See also

References
  1. Homerun.co (27 January 2017). "Fairphone: Calling for Change". Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  2. "Company profile" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 December 2013.
  3. Hebert, Olivier (19 February 2015). "The path to finding our new production partner: Hi-P". Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  4. Douglas Rushkoff (24 July 2018). "How tech's richest plan to save themselves after the apocalypse". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2020.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  5. Bas van Abel “Fingerprints on the Touchscreen” (March 2017)
  6. Jekutsch, Sebastian. "Was heißt „Konfliktfreie Rohstoffe aus dem Kongo" und wie fair ist das?". Faire Computer. Faire Computer. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  7. Van Wijhe, Jelle. "Tech5: Fairphone named Europe's fastest-growing startup of 2015". The Next Web. The Next Web. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  8. "Modulares Smartphone: iFixit gibt Fairphone 2 die volle Punktzahl". heise online. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  9. Fairphone 2 Teardown (Technical report). iFixit. 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  10. "iFixit gives modular Fairphone 2 a rare 10 out of 10 for repairability [Updated]". Ars Technica. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  11. Lomas, Charlotta. "Fairphone creator: Success is a signal to industry". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  12. "Fairphone B-Impact Report". Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  13. "Environmentally Friendly Mobile Phones". The Blue Angel. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  14. "10th Responsible Business Awards 2019". Ethical Corporation. Retrieved 1 November 2019.

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