They are not producing in EU, they just put parts together produced in China, most likely under bad conditions. So they throw out some smoke grenades like Re-Phone (I think its actually a gigaset phone) by putting the “made in Germany” label on it
Not saying its not a good step, still I dont like this label can be used as long as the real production is done in China
Without suppliers from Asia, there can (still) be no rephone, because some parts are simply not manufactured in this country. The rephone is also a call to change this and shows how much can be done regionally!
Ok, let’s get into the nitty gritty then - what does Fairphone do different here in this specific point?
You see, this specific point most manufacturers have in common. But there are other points where Fairphone is far ahead. We rather put them into focus (workers rights, work conditions, material sourcing to name a few…)
Unfortunately that’s an old story meanwhile relating to many, many other manufacturers e.g. cars, kitchen aids, wearables (smart gadgets), computers, clothing, you name it.
“Made in Germany” in these times does not mean anything different than “parts put together in Germany”.
I would exclude the manufacturer Miele, Kaipara here to name a few. They are doing their best to produce and treat wherever possible and rational in Germany and pay attention and respect to each step and individual along the manufacturing chain.
I guess since the pandemic we all have realized where actually almost all semiconductor chips are coming from, so maybe this lesson has been learned now.
I am on an FP3 so well down the mid range of phones but the ifixit guide to changing the battery! What is wrong with just opening a phone, taking out the battery and swapping it?
I’m on FP3 since 3 years and I’m already thinking that in one or two years I’ll have to buy a new phone, I already ordered a new battery, and I already had some issues. I’m broke and lives in Finland which makes me think that this nokia G22 might be a fair deal for me (in term of accessibility of repairable modules, I wouldn’t have to have them shipped from NL). The price also is still something important for me and it’s 200€ less.
Obviously if I could upgrade all the module of my FP3 one by one for better ones (likethe ones of FP4) maybe I wouldn’t have to do anything and would keep my fairphone for 5 years more… But well…
To summarise, it is just a cheap phone design with a marketing put on repairability. 39 steps to replace the screen and a bad design for repairability since everything is fixed to the back whereas you should do it on a central frame if you really look for repairability.
Sure, but as I said further up, the (only) important thing is that the big players have started thinking about repairability as a feature. Their marketing departments have woken up to it, and it’s only a matter of time before they get it right(-ish).
Doesn’t mean that the Veblen Goods flagships will disappear and be replaced by modular, repairable phones, it just means they’ll add a new line of “repairable” products.
