There are decisions at Fairphone which I just do not understand: They release Android 9 and cease spare parts for a device that might need them the most to run the OS for the next few years.
But yeah, the news about longevity have been spread already. Well done, Fairphone…
I’ve had my FP2 for 5 years now and in that time I needed to renew six or seven bottom modules (lost count for obvious reasons), all of them because of a broken microphone.
Maybe it’d be a good idea to produce better bottom modules instead of none.
I guess that the issue is caused by the frame that does not provide enough stability to almost all modules…
From what I know, I would agree to that analysis.
The FP2 is “trouble by design”, as it is quite modular, very flexible and the display, that could lend stability is fixed by click and snap only.
The bottom module is most likely to break, as it is stressed not only by the flexible design. The USB cable connection is adding lots of stress/movement as well. And even more so, when one is using the phone while it’s plugged in; e.g. as navigation device in the car or playing while charging.
While I fullheartedly share the frustration and annoiance with the end of production, I have to admit, that it kind of makes sense businesswise.
More and more users, that are experiencing troubles, start looking for a new phone instead of spare-parts. That’s even visible in this forum with quite a few threads to that regard.
Please don’t tell this to my phone that within 4 years and 4 months has needed a new display as the old one became unresponsive and I gave it a new battery in that time. Everything else is working just fine. However I could imagine that the micro USB connector could be a candidate of failure in the future simply because it has the mechanical stress that you mentioned already. And given this it’s a pitty that exactly this part won’t be available anymore.
On the other hand it seems like this part has always been the one that was replaced most often and therefore is sold out now while other parts are still in stock because these are leftovers from the last production batch - just guessing of course…
High time to take the stress off it with a magnetic adapter.
My Fairphone 2 is still on its first bottom module since 4 years, by the way.
I too want to voice a slight disappointment. I’m aware that supply chains are difficult and all that, but at the rate that bottom modules fail for me (and quite a few others), I expect my phone now has less than a year left. 5 years is certainly not bad, probably the longest I’ve ever done with a smartphone, but equally I haven’t found an incentive to upgrade. Whatever my phone does today is sufficient for me. And with Android 9 in the pipeline, that could have lasted long enough to bridge the gap between the current 5G roll-out and mainstream 5G, one that I was hoping to skip over. Today new would just be for the sake of newness.
Seriously? In my FP2 the microphone is always broken after 5 to 6 months and I need to buy a new bottom module. What good is a phone, one cannot talk with? I am very disapointed, this is not sustainable.
Mine too, even without magnetic adapter (yet).
But then, I don’t carry it around that much (and only occasionally & very briefly in trouser pocket).
+1
Canfigure out why blue print can’t begive away to world community :-/
You know who would repair them. Meanwhile I have the mics available. A USB issue is mostly just a brokes solder joint.
Answer from the support of my questions.
Not enough for me. Still disappointed and I’ve lost the majority of my trust in the mission. I demand more details on the cost/benefice according to them to not have a solution for users who need to replace regularly their bottom module
Dear Alexis
Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us. My name is from our support team, I’ll be happy to help with your request.
In general, our aim is to support our products until roughly 5 years of life counting from the launch date. Hardware and software are important sides of this support.
Since the launch of Fairphone 2 in 2015, we’ve been working hard to ensure module availability. Spare part sourcing will always be a challenge, especially as a small player in the electronics industry.
Ensuring the availability of spare parts becomes an increasingly delicate balancing act once the manufacture of the phone stops. You can read more about supply chain and sourcing Fairphone 2 spare parts in our blog post
We stockpiled parts based on future sales and refurbishment projections - while keeping in mind our environmental footprint and minimising e-waste by not producing more than necessary. However, since 2019 sales of the bottom module have been higher than projected.
Despite needing to end sales of the Fairphone 2 bottom module, it’s still possible to extend the life of your Fairphone 2 device and we recommend to check out the [Market section] of our Community Forum. Our community is very actively involved in our mission and arranged a second-hand market place for Fairphone products, including the bottom modules.
We remain committed to supporting all Fairphone users and other Fairphone 2 spare parts are still available via our [webshop]
In case you have no use anymore for your Fairphone 2 device and would like to give it a 2nd life with us, while also keeping in line with your values then you can consider upgrading to Fairphone 3/3+. In exchange, we are happy to offer you a discount through our upcoming recycling programme. You can already sign up and be the first to know about our new recycling programme on our recycling page.
Thanks for supporting us on our journey towards fairer electronics and please let me know if you still have questions.
Have a good day!
I quite agree with you. The Fairphone reply links you to a blog post from 2017 which includes the quote:
“While we still can’t guarantee that manufacturers will continue to supply the specific components we need for five years, in the event that a component is no longer available, modularity gives us room to modify the design to accommodate a different part. In the coming years we will also have more working capital available, thanks to increasing sales and new investments. That means that finances will play less of a role in our longevity decisions.”
So where is that modification, where is the flexibility? A commitment to five years support for a product sounds groundbreaking, but if Fairphone 2 was launched in 2015 and ceased production in 2019, then it’s only one year post-production support. Not very impressive, particularly to somebody who bought a phone in 2019 and is having a lot of trouble with it.
Exactly.
I feel like I’m not the one really impacted by the decision as my FP2 has been there for a long time (5 years) .
But what about the most recent FP2 acquirers ?
i’ll share here their next answers to my questions
Signs of these modules breaking at a higher-than-acceptable rate go all the way back to 2016. This is essentially admitting that they have not taken this failure seriously for years, a rather gross negligence on FP’s side.
While I tend to agree; we always should keep in mind, that this forum is not the “real world”.
There might be a higher percentage of users with trouble in this forum, than is representative for most users.
And it might as well be possible, that quite a few users gave up on their FP2 and did not buy a replacement module.
Essentially, we do not know, how things were looking on the sales side of Fairphone.
I am on my first bottom module as well and my guess would be, that it’s a question of the way one is using the phone. Maybe users in this forum are the more adventurous kind, which results in more and faster broken bottom modules. (To be clear: It might just be a possible explanation and does not mean, that it’s their fault or that they mishandled the phone.)
And if the bottom module for the average user broke after 3 years, than this would have caused a higher demand 2018/2019.
(Those modules broken within the first two years, Fairphone should have a most exact count of, as they will have been warranty cases mostly.)
I found the warranty procedure quite complicated and annoying and a few times they wanted me to send my phone to the Netherlands. So after some time I just started to buy a new bottom module everytime it broke again although it have been warrenty cases. Avoiding the hassle was worth the money for me.
Admittedly, I did not read all the messages here. I am also disappointed that the bottom module will not be available any more, but my disappointment does not go towards Fairphone but the electronics industry.
The aim of Fairphone is to change industry and this current issue is a proof that there is still a long way to go. As I am also working in the high-tech area with manufacturers mostly in China, I know how difficult it is to even get the same parts after 2 years. The industry is still of the kind “you don’t repair, you throw away and buy new”. Thus finding a manufacturer who is willing to keep up production of a very low volume (below 1k parts/months) is virtually impossible and I am amazed how Fairphone managed to continue the support of Fairphone 2 up to now.
So this is another moment where good will meets reality. And it will depend on companies like Fairphone to keep going, trying, despite these draw-backs to really make the change we decided for when we first bought a Fairphone. And it also depends on us, the users if companies like Fairphone will have a chance.
The intention remains to build a fair economy, long lasting electronics and ideally a circular economy. We still have a long way to go, it will be hard with lots of throwbacks like this one, but the fact that we decided for a Fairphone in order to exactly achieve these targets shows that we do care.
As said above, I am disappointed, but for our economy, not for Fairphone. Let’s keep striving. Let’s also keep supporting each other with spare parts once our phone definitely says good-bye.
I agree with you and have liked your comment, BUT, all of the issues you have highlighted were known to Fairphone, especially upon manufacture of Fairphone 2, and it seems that decisions have been made that if anything make the problem worse rather than better.
It is simply wrong to sell somebody a phone in 2019 that is sustainable and repairable and then say that in 2020 you are withdrawing support for it in fundamental ways because you have ‘supported it for five years’.
If you want to withdraw support, as people suggest, throw open the blueprints to third parties to plug the gaps. The problem areas are not insurmountable.
I agree to a certain point.
But first a tiny correction. We have 2021 already, when they are announcing the end of selling bottom modules.
It really is extremely sad, that they have taken this decision. But if they in fact sold way more than expected right in the last year of production, there might have been no more possibility to get new ones.
First of all; I have no idea if the did if or didn’t do it.
But I wouldn’t draw any conclusions from the availability of third party spare parts. My guess is, that there would hardly be any third party supplier stepping in for bottom modules.
Just take a look at the availability of third party batteries.
There were essentially no spare batteries for the FP1 and there are only 2 manufacturers besides Fairphone selling batteries for the FP2.
And that’s a spare part, that sells quite good and is a kind of standard device.
But I might be wrong of course.
And I fully agree with @DietmarP .