Fairphone - The Netherlands
When it comes to making our phone, we’re doing things a little differently. We aim to create positive social and environmental impact from the beginning to the end of a phone’s life cycle, thanks to long lasting design, fair materials, good working conditions, reuse and recycling.
Fairphone is the world’s first modular phone. Fairphone is using modular design as a means to create longer-lasting phones and directly combat the rapid phone replacement cycle that consumers and the industry have become accustomed to.
As a result, the Fairphone is easy to open, and the most commonly damaged component --the screen -- can be replaced in under a minute without any tools. The other modules can be repaired with only a screw driver. The free repair guide - iFixit -
gave the Fairphone 2 its first ever perfect score (10 out of 10) for repairability. Besides supporting longevity, do-it-yourself repair also gives buyers a greater sense of ownership and responsibility for their devices.
Fairphone’s modular design approach aims to increase product longevity and decrease the overall environmental footprint of producing smartphones.
The environmental benefit of extending the lifetime of Fairphone can be quantified with a Life Cycle Assessment. The reduction of 30% of the emissions becomes apparent when comparing the total emissions per year of the baseline scenario of an average of 3 years of use (average for smartphones in Europe is often around 2 years) and the repair scenario, enabled by the modularity of Fairphone 2 of five years (including the replacement of modules).
In 2013, Fairphone launched a movement for fairer electronics. By making a phone, we’re opening up the supply chain and creating new relationships between people and their products. We’re making a positive impact across the value chain in mining, design, manufacturing and life cycle, while expanding the market for products that put ethical values first. Together with our community, we’re changing the way products are made.
Fairphone’s efforts in creating fairer and more sustainable electronics have been recognized with a number of prestigious awards.
We’ll keep doing everything we can to reduce our environmental impact on the production, design and end-of-life phase, including studies like the LCA that will help us make more informed decisions going forward.