I sure hope the missing display output is an error. No display output would be a deal breaker for me.
Also, I’m a bit surprised there’s no battery cover with MagSafe (or just not mentioned?). The cutout in the new case would make it even more useful.
It is possible that because on the FP5 the desktop mode was bugged they just removed it like AoD. What fix would be easier? 
Using phone as a PC is something that I care about deeply.
So no external display is a deal-breaker for me.
As other speculated above, hopefully the USB-C 2 OTG is just a typo. Hopefully Fairphone will clarify this, or explain their decision.
But then this is where modularity of FairPhones shines. Hopefully someone will make an USB 3 hardware port, which we can then replace ourselves in order to get the external monitor capability.
Now that Google is putting a lot of effort into Desktop Mode, it would be very good if FairPhone was able to experience it.
For some of us it’s the Fairphone 4.99. 
Sorry for dad joke, but I’m really disappointed with downgraded USB connection. I can live with more screws and torx over more common philips, bolted battery, stripped down cameras, IP55, but this one… I know that maybe desktop mode is not a deal breaker for major part of potential user base, but transfers speeds of backup is greatly affected as well.
I would wait until official confirmation.
There has been some sorting out of initial confusion about specs in the past.
(FP3 FM radio, ahem.)
Interesting.
So, this effectively kills Desktop Mode? Which seemed somehow important not even a year ago? … Have you tried Desktop Mode with your Fairphone? - Fairphone
Or perhaps the Fairphone 5 will be kept available for longer in parallel than at previous transitions from one model to the next?
What USB type had/has the FP4? Some kind of Desktop mode is possible with the FP4.
Edit found it the FP4 has USB 3.0 with OTG and support with external Displays… So thats a real odd decision
That is sad. I helped move both of my parents from Sony/One Plus to FP3. My girlfriend and me are on the FP4. They all accept the somewhat lower capabilities of the phone because they felt they were part of a movement.
I am sure almost every other phone company would be delighted if they could charge a premium price for a below average product because the users feel they are part of a movement.
Fairphone has decided to join entirely ignore tbat and tries to act like everyother company - now even with built-in obsolescence and no communication at all with their loyal user community - even on the day of the product launch! Shift Phones seems similar, but the production runs are very very small.
Buying an HMD or Samsung phone with replaceable battery is not the same - it’s just another commercial device. But I guess that may now the best option left.
Yeah confirm. I asked Javier about that too at the launch event. Apparently it’s a conscious choice and it’s not a mistake. The rationale is about affordability but also the fact that it’s going to rely more on wireless, cloud, quickshare, and more, to make up for this going back.
As for possible upgrades, it would be tricky hardware-wise. in short, a simple module swap would not be enough.
This seems like a very strange decision considering the SoC supports USB 3.1 , so minimal intervention would be necessary for a 3.0 port like the previous TWO fairphones have had.
Please don’t be like Apple and force us into what you think is the “right” way to connect devices to the phone we BOUGHT, especially as Android is just now getting better about connecting external devices via USB.
Every device with certain ports “forces” you into something in that regard.
I can’t connect my old DB9 joysticks directly either to play retrogames, I feel severely limited by that and cry foul (not).
We knew “hard decisions” were coming … How to design a Fairphone 101
I do not believe that is an equivalent analogy.
It’s sad the old joysticks use an obsolete connector, but there is still a connector used for such things available that has greater capabilities.
This is a 256GB phone, with the ability to download large files quickly.
A fast connector is still ideal for moving large files from my phone to my laptop within 5 minutes, it’s not like Bluetooth can replace that yet. 
and yes, I have needed to do this many times.
I hope this is a niche feature, as they seem to think, and sales are unaffected.
I was willing to accept the thickness but display support is a deal breaker for me.
My use case is remote desktop to my PC when travelling.
Best of luck and I already look forward to gen7…
If this had been a “hard decision” I would have expected a long FAQ entry on the Fairphone website about why this decision was made. Not doing that, and having zero discussion about it in the this forum pre-launch, communicates to me that this decision was made by executives with little understanding of what thosis and why some people need it.
Given that desktopmode will be available to all Android 16+ users (except Fairphone 6), it seemsabsolutely possible that this will be more and more the default way to do presentations at company meetings, etc…
Big strategic error in my view. In combination with the RAM size choice, I have a hard time seeing in what sense this is supposed to be a phone for people to use “for years to come”.
i have to admit, i never expected to be using desktop mode, but it really is a shame that the choice of using it (or not) is not down to us (i mean that it’s simply no).
Some very vocal people will say it’s a scandal and that the whole thing is worthless now.
but in reality I don’t really see it as much of an issue for the average consumer.
It might still come. There was one eventually for the abandoned headphone jack back in the Fairphone 4 days.
It seems they will not buy the phone then. Not everybody will, and Fairphone will have done some research or guessing in that regard.
It’s a disappointment for sure, but it will simply have to sit in the failed expectations corner with all the others … much smaller phone, much bigger phone, flagship specs, enter this or that market, etc., etc., etc. … not everybody can have nice things.
You know for sure that every possible Android 16 device has USB 3.0?
That’s what Microsoft thought when they wanted to save their doomed Windows 10 Mobile with this, and that’s clearly what Samsung thought when they introduced Dex.
This simply didn’t take off the way it was imagined, it was a marketing fad for a while and stayed in a niche.
Now, with more horsepower in the mass market and Google behind the concept, it might turn out differently, but that’s when the Fairphone 7 will come to save everybody, I suppose.
I’m actually speechless about this decision.
It’s 2025 and we got a USB connector with the speed from the year 2000.
I don’t have any insight in market prices for these USB-C 3.1 connectors but surely they don’t cost 50€ over 2.0? So where does the affordability come into play?
This seems like a penny pincher move to squeeze out a few extra cents per device.
The rest of the upgrades are not something to brag about like the already old and slightly faster chip compared to the FP5, and still no option for more than 8GB RAM. This works for now but will become a problem in a few years from now.
I was still excited and would have bought it because I read that Fairphone have already released some Linux patches for this device and I dream of a convergent Linux smartphone.
I guess this is not the device for it.
This is indeed really sad.
I was really excited to hear a new Fairphone being released, perfect timing for me to get a new phone. I already had the Fairphone gen. 6 in the shopping cart when I double check the specs - “just in case” - and stumbled over the missing external display support.
Planning on using my new phone lastingly for many years - and especially looking at the upcoming improved support for desktop mode in the next Android releases - this is unfortunately a deal-breaker for me.
And even besides the - maybe rather niche - desktop mode feature having USB 2.0 as the only physical connector feels like huge downgrade and also a really unnecessary one since it was part of FP4 and FP5 and prevents some interesting use cases just to shave of a few bucks in hardware cost.
I would rather have paid more instead of losing these options for a phone I want to use for a very long time.
That’s why I now ordered the Fairphone 5 instead 
yeah, that has to be one of their stupidest decisions yet. USB-C 3.0 is 8 years old by now. Even if they thought display altmode is unneccesary, the parts to support 3.0 are a few cents. And supporting display altmode requires a switch that you can get in bulk for about 2 bucks. So yeah, they’re saving somewhat about less then 3 bucks per device. I haven’t seen or bought a device that doesn’t have at least USB 3.0 for years now.
That’s bad, really bad.
I don’t wanna be mean, but I really hope this will be reflected in reviews and in sales so that they realize what a terrible mistake that was and correct that by releasing a bottom module with >3.0 and display altmode. Otherwise they’ll not gonna learn.