The internal construction of modern smartphones often requires considerable skills, additional tools, and strict adherence to the manufacturer's instructions, sometimes even to replace commonplace parts. There is no need to talk about complicated repair cases. That's why flagship devices, especially, often receive low scores for repairability in the iFixit scorecard. But not Fairphone.
This drew the attention of The Register.
Almost every new smartphone still has a closed case, which requires users to contact service centers in case of, say, battery replacement. As demonstrated on iFixit, the Fairphone 5 can be opened and a new (or replacement) battery installed by yourself. It's as easy as it was in classic cell phones.
At the same time, Fairphone 5 has IP55 water and dust protection. This will allow the device to be even under a stream of water, and not just protect it from drops, as it used to be.
Individual components, such as the USB-C port or camera modules, can be replaced almost as easily with a small screwdriver.
However, things have become a little more complicated with the boards. Their construction and placement now resemble those in standard smartphones, rather than being assembled as a separate module, as in its predecessor. The company emphasized that this is a necessary step that had to be taken to increase the battery. At the same time, the user was left with the necessary markings on the connectors, which will allow them not to get confused in case of self-replacement.
The fingerprint sensor, which is also sold separately, remained a difficult element to replace. However, taking into account the low number of failures and other advantages of the new Fairphone, iFixit decided not to lower the final rating of the gadget.
Thus, Fairphone 5 received 10 points of repairability out of 10 possible. Currently, this manufacturer has the highest scores among all the smartphones that have been tested in the iFixit rating.
Let me remind you that Fairphone 5 was launched at the end of summer this year. The Dutch manufacturer emphasizes the maintainability and environmental friendliness of its smartphones, and will provide new devices with five "major" Android updates, as well as send security patches for eight years.
On the product page, the company also emphasizes the ease of replacing individual elements of the device. To demonstrate, a girl from the HR department was asked to replace one of the camera modules herself, which (spoiler alert!) she successfully managed to do in a couple of minutes.
The price of Fairphone 5 in Europe is €699.