FP3 sudden death (motherboard?) and trust issues

Help Fairphone 3
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Hello all,
I always was quite the fan of the Fairphone brand. Owned the fp1, then FP3.
The last 4,5 years I’ve been using my FP3 happily, though it may be it got noticably more sluggish recently.
But last week it suddenly died without apparent reason, it was just in my pocket working one moment then nothing anymore, no single life sign. Came to the conclusion must probably be the motherboard. Also because coincidentally my friend who owned a FP3 also reported exactly the same behaviour a few weeks ago.

I’m currently traveling without any access to a computer so I must say it came at a very bad time. But my issue is this:

My plan was to hold onto the FP3 until the FP6 would come out.
But now I’m seriously doubting, because of this sudden death hardware issue, true it is after some years. But still I don’t trust this ‘built to last’ slogan anymore if the main component just dies after a couple of years, I never had this in any phone before. I am seriously doubting the quality of the hardware components used by Fairphone. As I’m reading here on the forum, as well as first hand experiences, that I am certainly not the only one. Also this whole notion of repairability is becoming somewhat of a joke if you can not replace this main part. And as you pay premium for mid range phones a long life expectancy is basically the minimum I expect.

Anyway, maybe people can ease my mind, find some reasons for trust again. Becaus eI still love tje brand and the idea behind it. But at this moment don’t really lean into choosing Fairphone again.

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I agree, your description certainly sounds like sudden death.

Regarding non-availability of motherboards, Fairphone state:

Core modules are not for sale. The Core modules are only to be replaced by our technicians due to electrostatic discharge concerns. If you have a broken Core module, you can contact our Customer Support to send your phone to our service center. In case the device repair is not covered by the manufacturing warranty anymore, you can have a look at the repair price list beforehand.

When talking of the FP4, they also cite administrative problems linked to the IMEIs.

To my way of thinking that would have been a good plan. You still managed 4½ years. To my mind (and you’ll find more detailed reports elsewhere) the “sudden death” issue is related to a physical weakness in the manufacture and/or design of the mb. The same problem is unlikely to occur with other models. That said, a modular - built device is likely to be a bit more susceptible than one that’s pretty much all glued together or only repairable by an expert.
I can certainly state that the current FP5 is a good phone. You open it up, it’s clean and tidy. While it has one problem (OLED black pixel extinction), that’s probably a software bug and it’s certainly not preventing normal use.
Fairphone obviously believe that their FP4 and 5 are “built to last”, or they wouldn’t provide a 5-year warranty and promise software support until 2030 for FP5.

Just my 10¢ worth.

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