A Fairphone is a smartphone that is fair to all the workers involved, to the people who use it, and to the planet that it is made on. They have just released the fourth incarnation of their smartphone (globally available except in the USA). Fairphone has always been very willing to share their journey of trying to achieve a fairer phone. “We believe that transparently sharing our insights with the public and wider industry is vital. We publish what we discover, share the choices we make, and raise awareness of alternatives,” says Ioiana Luncheon of Fairphone. You can browse many resources on their website and really dive into their complete supply chain. Their "Fair Materials" series is a good place to start.  

The Fairphone
The Fairphone smartphone (Source: Fairphone)

Fair Mine

Fairness might be found in not doing as others do. One example of this is a tungsten mine in Rwanda; a small-scale mine in a conflict region. Fairphone preferred to stay when many other material buyers left this region. Instead, they chose to work together with miners to improve ‘artisanal mining’ circumstances and provide a stable income.

Fairphone cobalt image
Cobalt is frequently found next to copper and malachite (the stones with blue-green). (Source: Fairphone)

In 2020 Fairphone co-founded the Fair Cobalt Alliance to improve the cobalt supply chain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “We have various initiatives, such as the Fair Cobalt Alliance, that other companies can join to use the same supply chain.” says Luncheon. This growing alliance has members like Freyr, Tesla, and BritishVolt, who are all trying to build the green electric revolution on fairer batteries, and will welcome anyone who wants to join.

Fair Repair

The Fairphone 4 receives a 10/10 repair score by iFixit. On the iFixit channel, they have a complete teardown showing off the properly labelled insides of this modular smartphone. The video ends in “… thinking about how different the world would be if every smartphone had a battery and screen that were this easy to replace. Props to Fairphone for reminding the world that this is possible and for making it look easy”.
 

Not surprisingly, Fairphone was a big supporter of the 10year phone initiative and the Fairphone 4 comes with a 5-year warranty and easily available replacement parts.

Finally Fair

Fairphone shows us that better approaches to electronics manufacturing are possible while still making a decent consumer product and a profit. It also shows us that there is a lot of room for improvement in the making of electronics, and that if maybe we can ask ourselves the difficult questions, we can come up with good answers. I hope that the development Fairphone is showing the industry means that it will soon be easier for small-scale businesses or even DIY enthusiasts to get their hands into a fairer supply chain. Finally, you and I might also use components based on reasonably mined materials and assembled in fair factories.

Priscilla Haring-Kuipers writes about technology from a social science perspective. She is especially interested in technology supporting the good in humanity and a firm believer in effect research. She has an MSc in Media Psychology and makes This Is Not Rocket Science happen. Haring-Kuipers was a panelist at the 2021 World Ethical Electronics Forum.