When I try to pre-order a fairphone 4 united states is not an option for shipping location
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Unfortunately Fairphone only sells to Europe.
You might try with one of the #resellers. Some ship worldwide. But keep in mind that itās not guaranteed to work in US with all providers because of possible different used frequencies.
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Official reference:
https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/202005103
It might also be helpful for you to get in touch with other Fairphone-interested people in the USA:
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Thatās unfortunate why not cut out the middle man and make it available to ship to the states with the disclaimer that the warranty wonāt apply and its not gaurenteed to work with every carrier its only an inconvenience but still you could make a little extra money, I could save some and get my phone faster and likely with better shipping and handling than usps, thanks anyway though
This forum is a user forum and also the moderators are not part of the company. To address the company itself please contactsupport .
There are more reasons for currently not selling to US (see the official statement above), but itās planned for the future (without an ETA given).
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Donāt know if this is the right place, so feel free to move it if there is a better place.
I absolutely refuse to use a phone with a battery glued into it. Iām buying New Old Stock of the LG V20s because itās the most powerful phone that has a removable battery.
I would already have Fairphone if there was US distributor, or I could be sure it would work on T-Mobile 4G/5G in the States.
Any plans on a legit US Roll out?
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Hi Joe and welcome to the forum. There are other topics on this so this may get moved to one of those.
Faiphone do not have resellers outside the EU/Uk etc but there are resekkers in the UK, for example that will post to the USA and cover the warranty.
See the following for those that sell internationally, noted by the
Clove may be a good place to start.
Other topics to read
Yes, Fairphone does not currently ship to the U.S. for a number of reasons.
Sorry and best wishes,
Thomas
Pretty sure to sell to the US the device then has to go through FCC certification which costs money.
I live in the USA and think the idea of your phone is absolutely awesome. I want to be a supporter and join ship. You guys got to enter the American market so we can also aim to be sustainable.
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Hi and welcome to the forum.
You can for example buy from an authorised reseller in the EU or UK and be covered by a 5 year warranty if you buy before 31st Dec 2022.
See three posts above for links.
All the best
I have wanted a modular phone forever now. Iām no longer interested in buying a new phone every year. Do you plan to sell in the US market anytime in the future?
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Hi Dennis, welcome to the community. I moved your post to one of the many US related. You will find further links above or via search function
https://forum.fairphone.com/search?q=US%20market%20tags:unitedstates%20order:latest
Just note, this us a user forum only for official FP statment you would need to contact support #contactsupport
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Keep in mind that the most sustainable phone is the one you already own. I assume that your current phone is less than a year old, so keeping it for anothter three years is much more sustainanble than buying a new Fairphone now.
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Hi Dennis and welcome.
You may, by now, have gathered this is a community forum and so not the people that can officially answer your query. However there appears to be no imminent plan of Fairphone to sell to customers directly outside of āEuropeā as they define it.
However there are resellers, in the Uk for example, that will sell to anyone internationally. They can then benefit from the warranty vis the reseller.
Still this every year thing.
I imagine people who buy a new phone every year do so to have the latest hardware, hence the notion that having a modular phone will allow you to āupdateā the phone each year. This is not the case.
Modular in the sense that parts that malfunction can be repaired by the owner, important once the warranty has expired 5 years for the FP4)
In the case of the FP3 after a year there was/were camera upgrades which were no ābigā deal, but thatās it. I doubt there will any other upgrades to the FP3.
So modular yes. Upgradable often thatās more than unlikely.
Bit off topic but I had shower thought (litterally thought about it under my shower) this morning: how does making sustainable phones become a viable business model for Fairphone company ?
I mean, obviously if the plan is to offer durability, it means people buying stuff once and eventually spare parts from time to time but thatās not enough to ensure stable incomes. Plus Fairphone is still little to not known in a lot of countries, so counting on massive adoption is a bit out of question.
Donāt get me wrong, Iām in love with the concept and proud owner of an FP4 but whatās the catch ? Is there a catch ?
- Will Fairphone purposedly sell devices with outdated specs (ie snadragron 750G in november 2021) so that people feel the need to upgrade more quickly than expected ? (Ok that sounds bitter but I have to admit that was one of the things that made my choice to buy the FP4 very hesitant)
- Are modular spare parts āmadeā to break easily so that you need to repair your device more often than usual ?
Again, no hostility here, just genuine thoughts. /end_of_off_topic
To answer your questions:
- No, they donāt. The reason why the specs are not super up-to-date is that they are a (comparatively) very small company and donāt have the resources to develop a new phone within a few months. At some point, the need to fix the hardware specs to work on other things (e.g. getting certifications, setting up a production line, etc.). It has improved a lot though: the Snapdragon 750 was released on the 29.9.2020, so about one year before the phone was released. The Snapdragon 801, which was in the FP2, was released in July of 2013 with the first FP2ās shipping in December 2015, so they actually managed to cut down the time in half over the past six years.
- You may get the impression of that, considering the many Forum reports of broken bottom modules, especially for the FP2 (I myself went through four modules I think). I am sure this is not because of a bad intention, but simply because of āincompetenceā. The FP2 and the following models are by far the most modular phones in the world right now, so FP went into completely unchartered territory. Considering that the company was founded only 8 years ago by a guy who is a designer and had absolutely no background in management or electronics, I would consider the fact that they even exist now as already fairly impressive.
But of course, there are some downsides, the company was much more transparent during the development of the first two phones than it is now, with much more accurate cost breakdowns, exact preorder and sales numbers etc. I also donāt like the direction theyāre going concerning some aspects, but overall, I believe theyāre doing the best they reasonably can.
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Fair enough, though Iād still would love to know what is their business model then !
I donāt really get your point. They sell phones for profit. What else do they need?
If you want to look at it from a more capitalist perspective: There are billions of non sustainable phones sold each year, so they have a huge market to ācaptureā. They have a plan, a product and a market. Isnāt that enough?
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