I can confirm you the following:
USB 2.0 OTG with 480Mbit/s
Made big data transfer (3.5GB) for test purposes and had a constant speed of 45MB/s
Hope this satisfies your requests.
Hope this satisfies your requests.
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Sorry, but USB 3.0 was introduced in 2008. In other words, it will be a fully grown adult next year.
Again, there simply is no justification for not having it. Supply chains already have been, are right now and will be as simplified as possible for the next 8 years. It’s a standard technology.
And even if desktop mode isn’t a pleasant experience (which I cannot even complain about), there’s so much more usage for USB 3.0 than just desktop mode.
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As I mentioned, I agree. But it could still be a possible reason. The System76 keyboard V2 was also a downgrade to USB2 due to supply chain issues. The V3 is again using USB3.
Thanks @mike_1312.
Wow, this is a shocker. No FP6 for me then. Ever.
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Thanks for this clear answer. As long as a majority of buyers don’t know about the lack of USB 3 there is a possibility sales will go OK. I hope so at least but of course hope for a redesign with data lanes and chip utilization and connector for USB 3.
My assumption is that the choice of USB 2 was a mistake in strategy team or design team. I believe the product strategy should be latest version = latest standard tech e.g. USB 3.2 & premium price, and previous version (i.e. Fairphone 5) = previous gen e.g. USB 3.1 & lower price. If economically possible. Most consumers would support a higher price.
I will stick to Fairphone 5 as it just got Android 15 and I guess Android 16 will arrive some day with improved desktop mode (never tried using desktop mode as a feature yet).
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I have been using my fp6 for 3 weeks now, while i love the device, i absolutely hate the idea that I cannot use desktop mode in the future.
I didn’t think it was a big deal at first, but I remembered how much I appreciated the time I used it on my old device, and low key regret buying the fp6 because of it.
Will continue to use it and hope it won’t bug me in the future (as I want to support the cause), but FP really dropped the ball over here big time.
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I just remembered, not all external displays use a world connection, i believe nexdock allows you to connect wireless as well.
Looking forward to try this out once the Android 16 update is released, its a log shot but it might be the solution in looking for
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I was literally about to buy a FP6 but this is a deal breaker
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Why ? Have you try external display before on a smartphone ? Samsung has the best implementations but it is still a gadget thing, it is not practical to use, it is too far from a computer and the app support is too light to really become your next computer. I don’t think this will change, this is a niche functionality.
Remember this functionality is not available in Android for the moment, and with the direction Google is taking, this functionality can never arrive.
And for speed, it can increase the speed when flashing another ROM but we rarely do this operation. Same as transferring photo when you can just sync your phone on your WiFi with your computer automatically.
If it is too much a deal breaker just take the FP5 and when Fairphone stop the updates, just install an alternative ROM to continue receive the update.
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I literal had a fairphone5, but it was too big, it didn’t fit in my jacket chest pockets so I gave to my wife. The desktop mode with the taskbar was good enough for emails and some accounting I need to perform when traveling for work.
I’ll keep on waiting and searching, but I just had discovered the fp6 was out, I was so excited, it was smaller than the fp5, was about to buy it when I made a last minute check….to discover it didn’t do what I could do on the fp5….
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It’s more than enough for web browsing, editing photos, or connect to remote workstation and perform some more demanding tasks using RDP. I currently replaced my old and dying phone with new one with USB3 and DP and it’s valuable thing during travels. I don’t need to carry and worry about expensive notebook, I don’t need to carry about sensitive data when I leave all this stuff in hotel room, because there is no any sensitive data on “dumb” accessories - I only need a “dumb” and cheap external display, mouse, keyboard to get decent workspace. And all important/sensitive things are always in my pocket.
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At least Fairphone is in good company. History shows that as soon as Apple does something in a certain way (like getting rid of audio jacks) it doesn’t take long before it’s considered extremely smart, practically ingenious and most bravest. 
But seriously Apple still does transform industries so maybe it will turn out as a wise selling move by Fairphone after all. As for me, I, too, would have liked the USB 3 capabilities much more than the price reduction.
https://www.heise.de/en/news/iPhone-Air-and-17-remain-with-lame-USB-2-0-10639828.html
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They know what they’ve done, why would they hide behind intentionally misleading advertising otherwise?
Instead of clearly stating “Connector: USB 2.0” they say “limited to USB 2.0 speeds” but “compatible with USB 3.1 cables”. Instead of clearly saying that it can’t ever have a desktop mode they say it does not “currently” have a desktop mode…
This is false advertising and I’m furious about it.
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Hi,
I just had a very unfortunate discussion with support in which they confirmed that due to USB 2.0 being used in the FP6 it is unable to connect displays. Does anyone know where the actual controller is and if it could be possible to upgrade to USB 3 or would that require a new mainboard?
I’m asking because in the FAQ they’re claiming that the thing does not “currently” support a desktop mode. Which in my opinion is a lie, because the device would require at minimum a physical upgrade to do so, and I simply don’t think that’s feasible without a major redesign…
Needless to say I’m very disappointed by this and the misleading language in the product description being intentionally vague and resorting to language like “limited to USB 2.0 speeds” instead of clearly stating that they slapped an obsolete connector from 20 years ago on a brand new device in 2025…
Regards,
Justus
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Welcome to marketing. It’s like when they described their Fairphone 4 camera like this on release:
The Fairphone 4 dual cameras are the real deal. A pair of premium lenses for all the details or the bigger picture.
I have worked in marketing, and this is legally actionable misleading of customers… I’m currently trying to find out if there is any way to possibly upgrade the USB, but since the USB-C connector simply passes the pins off to the mainboard I can’t imagine any way to upgrade the thing to USB 3.0 which makes this simply a bold faced lie.
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Welcome to the community forum.
Which in this forum is known for almost since launch, as you can see in this topic. Visit internet forums often, they are awesome 
. (Just ignore and forget the ones that aren’t.)
It was established that a new mainboard would be required, as there are simply no additional USB 3 lanes on the current one. Deliberately, to save space and cost.
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Yeah, it’s just that I kinda didn’t expect to be outright lied to in official documentation, considering the mainboard is the big part that cannot be user swapped…
Brilliant, let’s hope they’re gonna “goodwill” refund me, otherwise this one is gonna be a very unhappy camper.
Yeah, they got me with these statements as well. I am not unhappy with the FP6 (although the refresh rate issues are a real pain in the ass), but the lack of USB 3 still bothers me. The whole “compatible with USB 3.1 cables” led me to believe that it was a current software limitation until they improved the OS.
I had a oneplus 8 before this, and they had their fair share of software issues in the 2nd/3rd year, so I expected this to be a temporary issue, not a permanent one due to hardware fuckups.
Yes, I should have done an additional spec-check, but this is also a clear case of misleading advertisement.
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It’s such an unforced error, too… They knew they already got backlash for the headphone jack, what on earth possessed them to do this, of all things? Such a significant downgrade and basically ruined all my plans. I had a touchscreen display I wanted to mod for this phone as a battery dock. Now I’m gonna have to do it with some other phone instead…
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