Hello
I was looking at your goals for next year and you want to sell 30% more phones, do you think that’s possible with all the uncertainty around Covid?
Wrong address to ask this question. This is the user forum. The forum directly has no insight into Fairphone’s business behaviour. This is the address for your question.
6 Likes
Hi and welcome to the user forum 
As @UweER said you ‘should’ ask support@fairphone.com, however I don’t see why this pandemic would reduce sales.
On the contrary with more people using media I would have thought mobile phones would be more in demand and as media is more social then the Fairtrade aspect could be an attractive selling point.
3 Likes
Will not happen, and not due to Covid. FP3 is aging by the minute. The sales will only drop. I hope I’m wrong.
While I totally agree, there is the other point, that many people might think twice about spending more than 400 Euro on a new phone, when the future is uncertain. And - unfortunately - not everyones’ job is save in this pandemic.
This might even make people consider going for a cheaper phone, in case they need a new one.
That’s what makes me spend what I have now, there’s just not much quality stuff around, so I’m waiting for the next FairTrade item that isn’t coffee.
You forgot that people who buy Fairphones tend to not give a flip about how recent the phone came out.
Not all of them of course, but a lot more than with “normal” brands
2 Likes
The limiting factor at the moment is production capacity, not the age of the device. You can see this when you look at the delivery time, which is 3-4 weeks at the moment for the FP3+ and unknown for the FP3.
And production is of course influenced by the pandemic.
Every phone, computer, tablet, tv etc. does.
So what?
If that’s the deciding point, you will never ever buy such a device, because there is a newer/better one to be available tomorrow.
And other brands, that throw new devices to the market permanently, are more or less trying to tell users, that the yesterday model is outdated already. Fairphoners usually decide against that kind of marketing/argument deliberately.
2 Likes
I did not forgot, fairphone is the most reasonable ethical phone, no other phone in its niche ticks as many boxes, yet.
But getting a used phone like iphone or pixel — which are much better specced as well as cheaper (at least in the short term) and a more ethical choice than buying a new phone — is a smarter option.
Unless, those buying a new fairphone want to support the company or also want a brand new phone with a warranty, as I did. But me personally I’m not a fan of overseas warranty, I dread the idea of sending my phone to another country just to get it looked at and waiting weeks or months for it to return. There are also candidates who are allergic to google, the irony is that… oh never mind.
There’s many those who sold their phones because the hype and the ‘feeling good about being good’ waned, it’s just how the brain works. I felt tempted more than once, being a geek that I am.
A good thing is FP3 has been for a while in production and most flaws have been ironed out, so one does not have to feel like a beta tester anymore, and yet few people would consider this factor. Another good thing is that more people now know of the company and the word spreads.
A not a good thing is FP3 has been for a while in production. For its price it has aged, and technology is aging like milk.
Now it all depends how many people will turn ethically and eco minded and how far geographically can fairphone distribute. If they will open to US market then there are people who will welcome it.
Conventionally you just go and buy a new one. A brave new world!
Why not? You will just not buy it after it will age. By getting a new and ethical eco device you satisfy both your consumerist and moral needs. That’s the easiest part, the hardest will be to live with the limitations, considering how far the technology will come. There is a reason you do not use a ‘dumbphone’, you don’t want to be dumb.
Yes, hastening obsolescence was always the consumerist model, it works because human animal is selfish.
Depends upon your ethics priority.
- Improving the wages and living conditions of the miners and factory workers or
- Improving the environment.
The first can be resolved the second cannot.
People with money will spend it, buying second hand is only for those who feel the need to stretch their finances over a larger consumption ~ ??
People usually lock themselves into monthly contracts, I don’t know about the statistics, but I gather most people go that way.
I would say mostly depends on your budget.
People like to feel smart, buying used is relatively cheap, relatively ethical and, in this particular case you get better specs. Whether they actually are smart they will find out in the future.
That just about sums it up. If my relatives were lacking in such ethics I would have something to say to them.
There’s nothing ethical about spending money it’s about whom is paid to do what.
You’re not wrong, but that’s how the brain works. If it looks good enough it IS good enough.
And there’s a bias factor after the purchase was made, where you have to rationalise your decision, if you’re not brutally honest with yourself and most people are not and there was a flaw in your decision making you will try to convince yourself of the opposite.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.