Thank you for your patience while waiting for us to restock the Fairphone 3 Camera+ Module. Unfortunately, the Fairphone 3 Camera+ Modules are permanently sold out.
I am really surprised that Fairphone is already letting down FP3(+), since the FP3+ were release around august 2020.
As we all know, if we want to make a difference with our electronic habits, we should keep our phone around at least 7 years. If I do the math, April 2024 - August 2020 = 3 years and 7 months. That’s barely half of 7 years ! It is precisely from now on that spare parts will come in handy !
I know that this message won’t change anything of Fairphone decision, but it seems important to me to share my opinion about this wrong decision. Currently, half of the parts that can be changed on FP3(+) are not or will not be available anymore. In my opinion, it’s a shame.
Most of the times, it is not a conscious decision by Fairphone not to produce or sell spare parts anymore, but not to be able to find someone to manufacture spare parts in the small batches Fairphone is ordering.
What happened to your camera? Is it really broken? Did you check the marketplace? For example:
I just received this email as well, and am likewise disappointed. The Camera+ was billed as (also) a potential upgrade to the FP3 camera, which is in line with the goal of keeping a phone for longer (by upgrading components rather than the whole thing).
I expect Fairphone have realised that it is not a practical route, at the moment, to upgrade components, not when each new model has to be so different from the previous one, and not while it is just a single, small company who is trying to do that.
And I wish they said outright that it is being discontinued, rather than saying for many months that it is out of stock (though I suppose they only now made the decision not to make any new ones).
And I see that the original FP3 camera is also discontinued, so really, anyone with a FP3 or 3+ who needs a new camera is rather stuffed (ditto for the top module!)
Any plans for replacement modules from a different source (assuming sourcing is the problem)?
Additionally to the Market category, you might have a look at eBay, or perhaps some of the Fairphone resellers might still have stock?
It’s not that simple probably … they would need some vendor to make the modules in relatively low numbers (compared to industry scale orders), or at least to make crucial parts needed for the end product, and this can be a problem (example).
Doesn’t take away from the fact that this is really disappointing as this happened in the past already with other parts and thus doesn’t bode well for the Fairphone 4 and especially the 5 with its long software support (Will the hardware be there to even witness this?).
If they are touting repairability, they should better have the parts for it, the Fairphone 3 is the third iteration of the concept, this parts thing has to work somewhen.
This is a bit of a shocking development for me, too. I never minded when the 12 MP module was shown as discontinued because a perfectly compatible substitute with better specs was available, but no FP3 camera module at all … Having said that, while I am quite unhappy with Fairphone’s decision, the camera module is obviously not as essential to the core functionality of the FP3 as the bottom module. – Speaking of essential modules, the latest estimate for FP3 displays is now “the end of April”.
I would strongly recommend to those needing a camera module to use this forum’s marketplace category. My guess is that there are probably still quite a couple of retired functional FP3 camera modules (without +) resting in drawers.
From the discontinued product descriptions (at the bottom of both versions’ pages):
We are still able to repair your Camera at our repair center. Keep in mind that the costs for this repair may not covered by the manufacturing warranty and would require sending your device to our repair center.
I guess there are thousands of working FP3 modules sitting in someones shelf due to the “upgrade” module.
If the camera works, the FP3+ module isnt worth the money and was in my eyes rather a marketing tool…
So anyone in need, I suggest to open a search topic in the market section, I’m pretty sure its not difficult to find a used one of the FP3 modules at least.
Else all modules out of stock after not even 5 years would be a bit surprising…
For anybody still using their Fairphone 3/3+ I guess it would be a sensible decision to keep them there as a spare part now.
If this wasn’t a sensible decision already.
And, just saying, the second hand market is not everybody’s first choice and favourite leisure activity (buying as well as selling).
Perhaps Fairphone could start thinking about acting as a middleman for user-to-user transactions … require user accounts for both parties, get the part from the seller, check whether it works, forward to the buyer, finish the money transaction once everything’s in order.
It would certainly take a few days longer, it would certainly cost the buyer an additional fee for this establishing of some trust in the transaction … and as with everything else nowadays there probably would be some legal stuff to sort out … who knows.
I just think the parts situation can’t go on like this.
They apparently can invest in writing lengthy blog posts about all the coolness of repairability … perhaps they could invest in backing this up in practice, too.
Thanks for the info. At least there’s some official way left.
Any plans for replacement modules from a different source (assuming sourcing is the problem)?
We are looking into refurbishing any camera / camera + module that we have in our repair center in France, but they will only cover customer support availability.
I’m starting to wonder if people really buy spare part for repair their phone. I mean what is the part of FP owners who had need to buy a spare part.
When you see that FP4 was released 2 years just after the FP3 (not the +), we could think that selling spare parts isn’t a good economic choice.
But when you sell a component to upgrade your phone, this seems to be working great (indeed, module camera are available any more…)
For me, it is really pertinent if you can upgrade your phone with upgraded module, and when we look at Fairphone, on 5 models released, only the FP3 had an upgrade, and at singular : only the camera module !
Because Fairphone is making their phone ethically, it’s still the best solution for people like us who are sensible to ecology. But if I had to change phones tomorrow, I would certainly opt for a solution as ethical as Fairphone, but not necessarily towards a fully removable phone (or at least, just with a removable battery). Quite simply because Fairphone’s spare parts argument is not relevant enough if they produce it less than 4 years and ultimately does not justify a higher phone price due to a removable phone design.
For FP3(+) owner, it will be time to maybe change some parts because the wear, or simply because statically you will have more chance to break it. And the solution to this need has just been undermined because of your choice to no longer produce spare parts only 3,5 years after the release.
Not selling any more spare part of FP3(+) is just cancelling ALL your arguments about sustainability, and it’s really a shame…
Edit : I had taking a look at different marketplace, and there is only 12 Mpx modules to sell. But even if it can be a solution, that’s doesn’t justify the choice of Fairphone to stop the spare part production.
Thanks for pointing that out and sorry to alarm!! I was too dismayed with what seemed to be increasing numbers of discontinuations that I didn’t notice…
@Juan.Bianchi Thanks for the reply.
May I ask what is the communication strategy for spare parts availability?
Is it reasonable to expect in the future some kind of notice that any given part will be discontinued?
FP3 is still supported so I would assume the owners might have expected the spare parts availability at least that long.
I have recently purchased FP5, I am not stocking on any spare parts yet;-) but I guess in few years time I might get some just to keep them in the drawer, just in case. It would be nice to be able to plan that, or to feel certain that they will be available if I destroy something. You might well imagine that sending a phone from Poland in order to switch the then discontinued/out of stock display would be a hassle.
We worked hard with the learnings of FP2 to ensure better spare part availability for FP4 and FP5, but we did not have as much data during the FP3 launch and maintenance period, thus we fell short of some modules.
If there will be any issue with manifacturers we will try provide communication in advance, but some times it just isn’t possible.
I understand that many of you want to be nice and understanding but this kind of stuff is absolutely incongruential with Fairphone’s messages and claims.
It may be even plain misleading with some of the statements made by the company. I don’t see any excuse in this case.
In a way you could see this coming with the extreme change of strategy that Fairphone had since the launch of FP3+ (from a new release every now and then to an industry-standard one phone per year release). Some of your products are bound to be unattended. The FP2 was such an incredible example of caring that we may have been spoiled too much.
I don’t think that this is an important question. The question should be: why are people buying a FP product in the first place? The answer for many buyers to that question is (partly) that there will the option to repair the product for a long time. That is also the way how Fairphone does it’s marketing and brand building. That is also part of why buyers pay a premium for a product from FP. Discontinuing these parts makes potential buyers wonder why they didn’t buy a same or even better specced Motorola, Xiaomi, Nokia, Oppo…(etc) for less than half the price of a FP. Don’t forget that many FP3/3+ phones were sold just less than two years ago.
No, Fairphone should start thinking about restocking the currently unavailabe parts. This should be done before potential buyers start looking at other brands. If a company is building around the idea of creating the most repairable (and ethical) brand on the market, the product should be actually repairable. No spare parts simply means not repairable and nothing else.
(ditto for the top module!)
Having said that, while I am quite unhappy with Fairphone’s decision, the camera module is obviously not as essential to the core functionality of the FP3 as the bottom module. – Speaking of essential modules, the latest estimate for 
.