I'm made for you - or am I?

Hello everyone, this is my first post here.

I like the idea behind Fairphone very much and I am seriously considering to make it my next phone. So here’s my input - I see that it states: “I’m made for you”, however it only comes in one basic variant. Why not make it so buyer/owner can choose starting modules you get in the package, perhaps someone wants better camera or faster CPU, or louder speaker. Choosing modules you get in the first build of the phone would definitely set it apart from other devices on the market. I.e. I would like a chassis with no audio jack since I don’t use it anyway (it’s a waste of material for me, but to someone else it might be essential). What do you think? Would you like an opportunity to choose hardware build for your FP? Then it could seriously claim that it’s made for you.

p.s. also I’m not fond of written logo FAIRPHONE on the front. Some kind of more discrete logo that reflects it’s eco-friendly nature would be better imo.

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Have you had a look at those threads already?

I guess, they are “made for you”.

Regarding your good ideas. They don’t seem really feasible right now for such a small company.
Offering different module variants like e.g. with/without headphone jack means a lower quantity of every module, which comes together with higher prices.

If they sell the phones as a kind of construction kit, it would come without OS.
As it is now, the OS has to be tailored to the hardware. Therefore every possible hardware combination would need an adjusted OS. If you get a kit, you would need to install the right one after assembling the modules.
And if the phone is manufactured to order, it will become really expensive (like all tailored stuff).
I doubt, that there would be too many people willing to pay even more than now.

Maybe, once Fairphone is a bigger company, they can take steps in that direction.

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Built-to-order and logistics needed for what you describe are not feasible for Fairphone, which is simply too small. This is about economies of scale or rather the lack of.

It would be really cool to have such a design but as mentioned by others it’s simply unrealistic at this time. What you are proposing is something that companies of the size of Google already tried and failed to do because of the complexity involved.

At this time, Fairphone really is the closest you can get to that dream and you’d be supporting the possibility of this happening in the future.

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Thanks for replying and giving your opinion. Actually I wasn’t suggesting that they should custom build every single device just to give more choice when buying the first device rather than just one preset build of Fairphone company could offer three or four variants. Since phone is modular anyway that should not be too hard.

It would also reduce waste. Now we have a situation that if you buy a new Fairphone but want a different module (i.e. better camera or sound) you have to buy that one also what leaves you with an extra module that you won’t use (more electronic waste).

I am familiar with Google’s Project Ara however that one was too megalomaniacal in my opinion. They should have started small instead they played with concepts like night vision modules, thermal cameras etc which had a narrow niche user target group.

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