Fairphone 5 Review after 3 years

Discuss The Products
1

After three years with the Fairphone 5, my conclusion is blunt: this device never lived up to its promises and aged faster than any smartphone I’ve owned.

Fairphone markets longevity, sustainability and repairability. In reality, the FP5 combines weak mechanical design, unstable software and slow, unhelpful support. The idea is good. The execution is not.

Hardware & Build Quality:
– USB port developed mechanical play early on
– SIM slot intermittently lost contact
– Battery degraded noticeably faster than comparable phones

Software & Reliability:
– Frequent freezes during the first months
– Proximity sensor and lock screen behaved erratically
– The phone regularly activated itself in pockets or cycling jerseys
– WLAN roaming across multiple access points was consistently unreliable

Support Experience:
– Response times measured in months, not days
– Repetitive, generic advice (“clear cache”, “factory reset”)
– No meaningful technical analysis or escalation
– Issues that were clearly systemic were treated as isolated user errors

Bottom Line:
The Fairphone 5 is built on good intentions, but intentions don’t make a reliable smartphone. Mechanically fragile, software‑unstable and backed by slow, superficial support, it fails to deliver on its core promise of longevity.

After three years, I switched to a different device that simply works. The contrast is enormous.

2

Indeed, you even had it for three years even though three years ago it was not even released :wink: SCNR

But to contribute something useful here: I ordered mine at the day of release and it will thus soon be with me for three years, too. Software hasn’t always been great, but I never had any freezes and the phone has always been well useable. Hardware had no issues so far, but whenever I contacted support (mainly because of SW issues) my experiences were exactly what you described, too.
Maybe an unfair smartphone would be able to impress me with how well it works, too, however I’m quite happy with how my FP5 works. It has been a huge step forward coming from my first smartphone, a Fairphone 2.

3

I remember the freezes early on. It was seemingly never acknowledged, and quietly went away one day. A forum member litetally took it off from the community bug tracker because we figured noone reported the issue occurring for a while.

My battery also degrades way too fast. Recently made a post in the battery health thread about it. And the screen burned in so fast and so severely. Though I put some blame on Android for that, with it’s static and never hidden UI.

Lately however, it’s just been fine. I mean, yeah I splurged on a new screen and battery. Wish I didn’t have to. But the phone has been the most okay and seamless it has ever been. Being careful with my praises, because I still stand by my “death by a thousand cuts” review. It doesn’t simply just work, as you have said it yourself.

Though physically it’s been sturdy enough for me. Knock on wood, a case is enough to keep it safe and clean.

4

I used the Fairphone for about 2 years and 7–8 months. Looking back, the device is even more short-lived than I wanted to admit. I fell for the marketing and genuinely believed I was buying a high-quality, durable product. In reality, “longevity” at Fairphone mainly means a high rate of spare-part consumption caused by the modular design — not mechanical robustness.

Under these conditions, Fairphone’s sustainability claims should be critically examined. A factual discussion about the actual hardware quality is urgently needed.

I live a very active lifestyle: cycling, outdoor activities, constant movement. The module connections simply don’t seem to withstand this. I never used the phone for long navigation sessions, gaming, or mounted on the bike. It was always safely stored in the back pocket of my jersey. Other phones have survived this for years, even older, more moisture-sensitive models.

On my last cycling trip, the situation became unacceptable. In warm weather, the FP5 loses SIM contact. You go offline and must remove the battery and SIM to regain network access. This is not just annoying — it is dangerous in emergencies. A smartphone that loses network connectivity under normal conditions is, for me, a complete failure.

If only software and support were weak, one might tolerate it with strong hardware. But the basic reliability of the device is compromised. It’s not about being “impressed” by other brands — it’s about the FP5 failing at everyday tasks that other phones handle effortlessly.

I initially intended to repair it. But when central components like the SIM module or USB port fail after 2.5 years, the question of what breaks next is justified. From both an economic and ecological perspective, repairing the device makes no sense for me.

Put simply: Fairphone is a device for people who rarely leave the couch. If you are active and need a reliable smartphone that works without fuss, you should look elsewhere.

5

Okay, that’s too much now: I have the phone with me during long distance rides with my recumbent bike. The USB connector is stable enough to allow charging during that time, too. Often it is in the bag at the luggage carrier. Sometimes I have it in the front pocket of my cycling jersey and then use it for navigation or for listening to something via wired headphones or simply to take photos. The only thing I hate here is that sometimes it gets wet from sweat and I know that people had issues with corrosion during warranty claims.
I have the phone with me when cycle touring on rough roads/gravel. It’s usually in the handle bar bag then, so I can grab it for taking photos, too.
I have the phone in my backpack when doing mountain unicycling. Only last Saturday I spent a whole day on trails.
I have the phone with me when hiking, sometimes in the backpack, sometimes in a pocket either in the jacket or the trousers, so I can take it for navigation or taking photos. No issues here.
I only leave the phone at home when going for a run because I don’t want to carry it around. But I used to do that on the past when I wanted to listen to something while running. No issues here.

I understand that you were less lucky and I don’t want to disregard your experiences. However your general statement up there is simply not true.

6

That is just wrong in this general phrasing.

And this is just nonsense

So while I understand the phone is not for you, your experience is not the truth but only your very personal anecdotal evidence.

7

To add my experiences. I bought the FP5 just under 2 years ago, due to the fair and sustainable ethics. I am by no means a power user so only need the phone for messaging, doom scrolling and a few other apps. I could only get a 128GB phone at the time, but this is not enough, even for my low level use. This is a me problem though. The USB C port needed replacing after just over a year. The battery barely lasts one day. Bluetooth also seems inconsistent. It keeps cutting off and this does happen sometimes while driving so cannot do anything.

8

I don’t think I live on the couch and I think the Fairphone 5 is a very sufficient phone. Yes, I think there are caveats in the name of fairness and modularity, and I partly bought the phone because I want the brand to exist when I need to replace it, hopefully not for another 3 years. I also think the 6 is objectively better than the 5 which is a step up from the 4, etc, so I hope Fairphone won’t stop improving here.

Sure, I have an office job, but for me it’s also most important that the phone performs well when I’m out and about. I use it pretty intensively when I’m in nature (for bird ID, GPS, etc) and the 3 years old battery is starting to show its wear on those days, but I’m very happy with its general performance.

I’m going abroad next month and I think I’ll just bring the spare battery I bought during a promotion a while ago. I don’t know what could be better about this arrangement!

But this is exactly what the SD slot is for, isn’t it? (my phone is about half full, mostly with pictures going back a decade, and far too many apps)

9

I also bought an SD slot to add to the storage, and I use for photos and videos, but when I asked about putting apps on it, the forum suggested not to. The apps are what takes up most of the storage. I don’t have that many apps, but they take up 95% of the space.

10

Yeah okay, I believe you! For me it’s 53 GB of apps (and their data) out of 256, but they are definitely huge.