“This phone will last forever”, I used to tell people who asked about the FP2. I’d casually lay it on the table, transparent logoside upwards. The modular idea behind Fairphone 2 really appealed to me, but as the years went by, I grew a bit anxious: the upgraded parts I was expecting in the shop never showed up. Yes, a camera. Nice, but not essential.
Today I have several issues with my phone, including pixel screens, and several parts of the screen are ‘dead’ or react weird. The phone also reboots and freezes more than once a day. Apparently my core module is very ill and needs to be replaced. The phone is 3 years old, so I don’t find this very surprising.
What does surprise me though, is that Fairphone offers me a €225,- replacement core module (which is not for sale in the store) that is 5 years old. It is the same module that was already in the first FP2!
I’ve supported FP since the beginning, I had the first FP1 with inscription. Now they have me stranded. Am I going to spend that much money to send my phone back to 2014? The FP2 has been around for 4 years now, and it wasn’t already very up-to-date to start with. Okay, we knew that, no problem. However, the oldest ones will start to have troubles like mine now; this doesn’t come as a surpise. Why aren’t there any upgraded parts available?
If new parts or complete new models are on their way, I’d like to know about it before I’ll have to buy a BadPhone - which is very soon I’m afraid… But it is awfully quiet on the other side. I know FP has collected a big investment from (Dutch) insurance company ASR recently. Please let us know what the plans are in terms of updated parts. New initiatives on leasing a phone and circular economy are great ideas, but which companies would want to lease those elderly models?
Seriously out of date phones that cannot be upgraded despite the promise, the brand promise, they would. I am disappointed…