Just to add my N=1 experience: the ability to easily repair (exchange) a broken display is the most valuable feature so far. Yes, repair shops can do this for many other phones, but ordering a new display and (the day after) just 10 minutes using a screwdriver to get the job done, well, that’s very appealing to someone who likes to fix their own stuff.
Just like I’m always fixing my own bike tyres when they are flat. Very satisfying.
That was just an assumption by me, and you can only recall something, if there is evidence for a fault and a relevant number of failures caused by this part.
I doubt that there is a faulty batch.
As I wrote here, depending on how the FP3 was handled, the flexibility that comes with how the phone is built could cause too much mechanical stress on the motherboard:
As the very last resort, you can try to reflow the core module. But just look at my post, it is written there.
I suspect you’re right. And in particular, regularly submitting the phone to torsion such as by keeping it in one’s back trouser pocket, might be unwise. I don’t, as a rule, but recently when on holiday did this quite often. I experienced two spontaneous reboots, that I’d never seen before. FP4 as it happens, but still relevant I think.
Hi!
2 days ago my Fairphone 3+ also suddenly stopped working. I reflowed the motherboard as explained by @HolosericaCaligo and it works perfectly now! 
Thanks!
I put the motherboard 15min the oven at 200°C (preheated) in a glass oven tray (pins up!). I let it cool down (~30min) and rebuilt my phone.
I found it pretty easy to do. The last 2 screws (the ones holding the motherboard) can’t be unscrewed with the Fairphone screwdriver, you need a very small torx.
Good luck to those who will try as well!
Side note: since my phone was open, I cleaned it and especially the bottom speaker. It incredibly increased the volume and quality of the sound. Sounds logical, but I wouldn’t have spontaneously thought of cleaning it.
@Ehocl I would like to try the same. Just to make sure, how you positioned the board in the oven: “pins up” means you put it in the glass tray with the side that we can see in the image facing upwards? Or vice versa?
He Nibor,
The other way around.
With the side visible on the pictures facing downwards.
That way the pogo pins are facing up.
Good luck!
UPDATE:
3 days after fixing my phone by reflowing the motherboard in the oven, another sudden death happened.
I put twice in the oven again but it sadly didn’t work…
Good to know, but at least it would be enough time to get some un-backup data, that might still be on the phone!
+1 or -1 should I say.
I’m very disappointed with my FP3. Never thought it was a great powerful phone but it did its job until sudden death last month and I’m next-to-absolutely sure the wame scenario is involved.
I’m fed up with fake “environmental-concerned” companies and I won’t spend anymore penny sending my dead phone to hear I have to pay the fee of a new device to have mine repaired.
That is just not acceptable from a company claiming such durable values.
I’ll go back to a poorly-conceived but still more durable device.
(My 2016 Samsung J5 is back up and working, my 2012 Sony Ericsson is still up too in case of backup needed).
Farewell UnFairP,
For somebody so much interested in green values according to your two almost identical messages, I think you are doing green washing about yourself. Why? You have two perfectly working phones but you bought an FP3…
Like many other people , I am the happy owner of an FP3. I am sad for your problem but you cannot just accuse without proof.
Hey Alain,
Yes, you are right, I have 2 phones BUT, as this world is as cruel as it can be, they are actually out of date, which is another problem with phones; they turn obsolete also because manufacturers don’t update them.
To be very practical, my Samsung J5 works fine but it’s stuck in. Android v7 while Android v13 or v14 is running now. That results in lots of applications I daily use not running on my old phone (not even telling about the 2012 Sony Ericsson).
My work involves a lot of technology and I quite need these applications. Had my J5 been able to update to Android v13, I might have considered keeping it (except it’s also quite slow).
I hope your FP lasts for some time, I really do, but being aware of what can happen, I advise you backup your data regularly and take care of it as in avoid using it under the rain or in very dusty situations.
And again, it’s a shame to have a phone die for no cheap reason so early, their policy being what it is.
That’s necessary for every PC, Tablet, Smartphone, SSD, HDD, memory card and so on you own, which contains valuable data. Nothing special for a Fairphone.
Accidents can happen, to accuse Fairphone to do that on purpose (planned obsolescence) is inappropriate. However, a discount for the repair of a FP3 with this fault after end of the warranty period, would be nice.
Hi,
I’d like to share my experience as well.
I bought a brand new FP3 in januari 2021. I installed /e/OS. Everything worked perfectly until end of November 2023 when it suddenly stopped working. I tried a new battery, a new bottom module, let it to a local repair. None of it worked.
And the, I reflowed as well the motherboard as explained by @HolosericaCaligo and it works perfectly now!
I could so retrieve various photo’s and sound record I haven’t on my last backup (6 month old)
Same here: FP3+ died last week with no warning, a little less than 3 years old. No immediate drop or accident involved, it was just in my pocket when it happend, with the battery at 70%. However I must admit that the phone had to endure quite a large amount of drops in the months before (favorite amusement for our child at the moment is to grab phones and throw them around).
Unfortunately, my backup HDD was faulty and the last working copy was more than 1 year old. (Remember not only to backup, but also to check the integrity of your backup!)
I was able to boot into OS (LineageOS) a day later once, but it only took 1 minute to die again. From then on, either no reaction or just a few seconds of the Fairphone logo and then black again. From what I read here, I was quite sure that the motherboard was the problem. So I tried the baking solution.
The side with the majority of the spring contacts facing upwards, supporting the two spring contacts on the other (bottom) side with a few layers of baking paper. Remember to remove all connector cables and the protective plastic film below them.
First I tried 10 minutes at 180°C, but that did not work. Then I gave it another 10 minutes at 200°C, and that did the trick. (You have to let it cool down in the oven without moving it.) It smelled a little weird when I opened the oven door, so you should ventilate your kitchen after the treatment, and propably also clean your oven after the procedure.
It’s working for more than 24h now, but I don’t really trust it. 
But even if it’d die again tomorrow, it gave me enough time to recover my data.
Thanks to @HolosericaCaligo and all others for sharing your experiences!
I had the same sudden death of my FP 3+ last week.
Did the oven treatment to my motherboard (12 minutes at 220° C) and it works perfectly again.
Thank you all for sharing your advice and experiences with this!
Hello, unfortunately the sudden death also caught me this morning - I was using the cell phone normally - it was almost fully charged - and suddenly it went out - I couldn’t start it anymore, it doesn’t charge, no lamp lights up and a USB connection to the computer doesn’t work either.
I opened it up once, cleaned everything (more out of desperation - no real plan). When I turned it back on, it suddenly worked again - I was quite pleased - only to realize after a few minutes that it was off again and nothing was working…
Sounds a lot like the sudden death phenomenon, except that I somehow managed to delay it a bit.
Last chance: probably this oven trick. I want to try it, but I don’t know anything about it. Hence the question of understanding - the motherboard, is that the entire lower part in the photo here?
+1 , mobile died like everyone else’s in so many threads. @MMGA please count me +1, I’ve seen you’ve been doing a lot of work saying the company is not managing this right out loud. Already tried the oven trick, didn’t work 
Yes, that is the core module/motherboard.
Just be sure to - carefully - remove the antenna cable and other plastic parts.