I didn’t say that people must buy a new iPhone every year, but most of the Apple users still buy new iPhone every year (that is the answer to: why Apple still build a new iPhone every year?)… regarding software support Apple is great although phones have a programmed obsolescence, batteries gone, software start lagging and “features” don’t come anymore (Apple still remain good regarding updates, not as well as what they provide with updates). But, my friend, Apple is a giant and has the power to do whatever it wants and people doesn’t care to if is good or not, they blindy trust it. Fairphone is great small industry which has a fair vision that can’t be compare to this kind of empire, marking/update profile/motto/etc. 
I can’t say that anyone I know as an apple user buys a new phone every year, probably some of them every two years, because when the phone contract is renewed, they get one for an euro. But most of them use their phone much longer or reuse them for their partner or kids. And you can swap a battery even in an older phone, not like a FP1 which became unusable because of the lack of a new battery. So not everything is bad with the big companies and not everything good with the ‘fair’ ones.
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I just want to slow down the enthusiasm that some people have about the charger-free iPhone.
This is just greenwashing and nothing else.
The iPhone 12 is the mos irrepairable iPhone so far. It is not even possible to swap two camera modules from two out-of-the-box phones because they are digitally locked to the phones they shipped inside. This effectively prevents your trusty third-party phone shop from repairing your phone, so your only option is to go to the nearest apple store and pay their horrendous fees. Or just buy a new phone, after all, it’s just 100€ extra, and it’s new…
This company will never be remotely environmentally friendly or concious about human rights. They just saw an opportunity to get good publicity while saving costs at the same time.
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Yes, every company wants to make profit, that was mentioned already above.
But anyway there are different ways to approach sustainability. I never had to repair any of my Apple devices, and they worked or work for a very long time. So why would I try to swap two camera modules?
My FP1 never got a new software, although advertised as long lasting phone without software bounds, my FP2 was never working reliable, and then was struck by a software failure Fairphone wasn’t able to solve until now. But I guess, that’s too off topic now.
I really like the idea behind Fairphone and want to support it, but I look also over to the other side, when I want to use something more reliable.
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The FP1 was advertised as a phone with fair minerals in it. From the FP2 on repairability and the possibility to change the software were being advertised.
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I bought the FP1 in May 2013 (got it 2014), when I was fed up with other telephones running out of software support too fast, because there was an advert of Fairphone somewhere adressing exact that point, promising a long lasting software update support.
But that’s way too off topic now.
I don’t mean to be rude, that’s great for you, but it doesn’t change the fact that purposefully making it impossible to repair a device is a dick move which will definitely need to more phones being bought. They had absolutely no reason to do this beside selling more new phones.
And I know that FP is absolutely not perfect, my FP for example is on its 5th bottom module and it’s broken again, but to be honest, I think the sustainability standards for a trillion dollar company should be a lot higher than for a small startup founded by a guy who at the time had no idea what he was even doing.
Why should I be worried about a non changeable camera, when it is most unlikely, that it will ever break? That’s what I wanted to express.
And the iPhone is not irreparable, maybe not by the ‘Smartphone Doctor’ next door, but by Apple itself. A battery change at Apple costs about 55€ for older and 75€ for newer iPhones. Or you can buy a new battery at iFixit for example. Not easy to change, but also not completely impossible.
I don’t want to give the impression, that I’m the biggest Apple fan of all times, I use different devices, for work or at home, just what suites the requirements. And sometimes it’s an apple 
.
This is exactly the problem, and for me it’s also a moral one. I bought the device, so I should have the possibility to do with it whatever I want and that also includes repairing it myself or letting it be repaired by whomever I choose.
Let’s say you buy a chair and one of the legs break off. Wouldn’t you be angry at the furniture company if the only way to fix the chair is to go to their super expensive store to repair it instead of just glueing a piece of wood to it yourself or letting your carpenter friend repair it for you?
Also, the camera was just an example. This probably applies to other, more important components as well.
Maybe I’m different, but I would always prefer to give the chair to the manufacturer, to have it repaired perfectly, instead of just ‘glueing a piece of wood to it’.
I think you would be surprised by Fairphone. They make a phone which they want you to be able to repair yourself. A totally different approach compared to apple.
So I speak of really repair yourself.
Maybe you do. But this is not an excuse for the manufacturer to make it impossible for my carpenter friend to repair it for a fraction of the cost.
Maybe you overlooked it, but I already have two fairphones, one that is obsolete because of old software and missing battery and one, which goes the same way because it got no updates for more than a year now and the current software is not working correctly. The update to Android 9 might be possible a few months before this is obsolete too.
Again, I really appreciate the idea, but the reality is something else.
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Man, and draw the line about what kind of experience? You have a FP1 which is like a piece of museum for all of us and a FP2 which has more than 5 years, which was launched with Android 5 and could try a beta of an official Andoird 9, without speaking about LineageOS 17.1 officialy support. I really can’t catch your disappointment. I own a FP3, switched couple of months ago from a well known OEM flagship and yes it isn’t perfect but it is gorgeous. 
Those things didn’t happen yesterday, the FP1 was outdated quite fast, and always buying the newest stuff ain’t what Fairphone is all about isn’t it?
Incanus has an interesting point. Why make those parts of the phone modular which do not easily break and instead up the quality on the assembly. Unless it is not that easy and modularity actually makes sense in this case?
The phone really needs only two things that should be replaceable, the screen and the battery. Or make the screen virtually unbreakable and the battery imperishable, but till then… lets not create dogmas and fetishes but listen to common sense.
As a cyclist I do not wear a helmet, for one reason, that this does not provide me with a false sense of security and especially it does not give motorists a false sense of my security, in fact the crazier your appearance the more room motorists will give you. And yes I understand this subject is controversial. But my point is I never broke screen on any of my phones, because I’m not used to looking at a broken screen, I cannot tolerate it, as some people I know can. But with that said these things happen, and the ability to easily change the screen without melting the glue with the hair dryer sounds very logical to me.
And then comes the battery, a phone that has been in use for a few years will not find a second home as easily if the buyer knows the battery is old and cannot be replaced, no man wants to charge their phone 2 times a day. There are other reasons.
Concerning the accessories, like the Stanzi said it is nothing but greenwashing, everyone are jumping on the bandwagon, there’s nothing commendable in here. In fact this practice does not impress me at all. We need to come out of our bubbles, this practice may seem like something but is absolutely nothing if we look at the whole industry. I will never, ever believe that a manufacturer cares more about the environment than profit… unless that was the model from the start as in case of fairphone, which still has to be realistic and find balance with profitability.
As a footnote, here’s a picture someone sent me of all the packaging you’ll be throwing out if you do want to use the things Apple no longer bundles:
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Yes, but only once, if you don’t already have those parts. And it’s only packaging, not the third headset, the fourth charger and the fifth cable which are produced just for lying in your bookshelf uselessly.
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