Dear all,
I am about to purchase a new phone. For work-related needs, I require a smartphone that can handle many files and have remarkable processing speed.
I would like to invest in a phone that can last me as long as possible, and beyond the durability given by the repairability of the phone parts, I would like to understand what kind of guarantee there is regarding the processor, software, etc.
Okay, are 8 years of updates guaranteed, operating system + security patches, or only security patches and is the operating system update guaranteed for less time?
Also, okay, updates are guaranteed, but what allows the processor to support them for so long? What kind of functionality should I expect in, for example, 4 years: smooth? able to support very elaborate and heavy files? Will the phone be able to support updates also regarding the use of Wi-Fi and the connection bandwidth?
Thank you sincerely for the help
hello and welcome
Please understand - before I continue - that this is a community forum run by volunteers so any feedback provided is not to be taken as a formal statement
So let me share what I have understood so far
- there is a commitment expressed by FP to provide eight years of security updates, with some reasonable hopes to have it extended up to ten years
- these security patches will not necessarily be provided on a monthly basis through the whole period mentioned above, there has been a short clip with FP representatives talking about a monthly updates in the beginning to be switched into an update every second month or so
- there is a commitment of providing FP5 users with 5 consecutive android versions, meaning Android 18. That would mean that for the last years of using the phone you will only be getting security patches updated
- FP has a good history of extending their promises and providing more than they had promised, you can check the forum for that, yet there are also some situations that didn’t go exactly as they would have wished for, example given would be FP3 fingerprint no longer recognised by Google (yet, this is also a good example of FP extending the support and providing Android 13 for the phone from 2019)
- there is a five year warranty for hardware
I did try to find more information on software warranty. In the easiest terms I think it is safest to asssume that warranty does not include software, Our Warranties for the Fairphone Devices and their accompanying accessories and spare parts - Fairphone, however there is also a statement in the legal hub that FP is aiming to provide software updates throughout the warranty period which might get tricky in terms especially of FP4,
For the Software embedded in the Product, we will provide You with software updates throughout the manufacturer warranty period. However, for Third Party Software, we depend on these third parties to make the updates available in a timely manner (e.g., Google or our chipset provider Qualcomm). Even with the provisions of these updates, we do not guarantee that the Software will be error free.
Finally trying to predict the processor behaviour in four years, I feel, is beyond any user’s powers at the moment, unless they have access to some magical crystal ball or alike
Just to add that the FP5 is equipped with Qualcomm QCM 6490 (extended life chipset) . Questions were asked about this choice of SoC and Fairphone stated that they had deliberately chosen the 6490 for its extended software support. See the specifications.
Actually, Fairphone explicitly doesn’t speak of “five consecutive Android versions” but mentioned somewhere, that some versions might be left out - just like FP3 jumped from Android 11 to 13.
So, Android 18 will be minimum, counting the five promised Android versions. FP5 might even get 19, 20… but there might be years in between without a new Android version at all.
We’ll see if the chipset is up to that.
The FP statement can be read here, and as mentioned anything else is pure speculation as we are user.
FUTUREPROOF PERFORMANCE UNTIL 2031
Your Fairphone 5 is fast - really fast. The unique Qualcomm® QCM6490 (Octa Core) extended life chipset and our industry leading support promise will make sure it outlives most other phones: It’s backed with OS*, software and security updates until 2031.
(*We plan at least 5 Android OS version updates after Android 13)
Well, it’s hard to predict the future, but I can tell you about my experience from the past. My Fairphone 2 felt fine for the first 5-6 years, only in the end in certain apps like Whatsapp the load times started to become annoying.
It seems like with laptops the advancements in speed have been slowing down a bit, so that might mean FP5 will last a while. On the other hand, some new application (like AI maybe) that consumes a lot of resources, or some new hardware feature, might become popular and make FP5 feel slow or incomplete.
Thank you so much for your help.
I had already read as much as I could on the official website and the various articles that came out, as well as watched a lot of review videos.
Beyond the possible speculation about the phone’s performance, your personal experience helped me make a decision.
Again, thank you