With the flagship smartphone market continuing to stagnate and more and more people making an effort to be more rational when buying tech, it seems like the timing is right for the release of the Fairphone 6. It’s been almost two years since the Fairphone 5 was first launched, and as expected, its successor is another modular smartphone that is easily repairable and designed to last.
The Fairphone 6 is smaller and lighter than its predecessor and comes with a 4415 mAh battery, which Fairphone says will last for almost two days. With the 30W charger, you can restore 50% of the charge in 25 minutes. When the battery inevitably deteriorates after a few years, it is one of the 12 components of the phone that can be replaced by unscrewing a few screws. Nothing in the phone is glued, so tinkering is fully encouraged. However, like the previous Fairphone 5, its water and dust resistance is only rated at IP55, which means it won’t survive a swim.
The Fairphone 6 has a 6.31-inch OLED display with a resolution of 1116 x 2484 pixels and a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, which is significantly higher than the previous model, which operated at 90 Hz. You get 256 GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 2 TB via microSD, and the phone is powered by a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3.
In terms of cameras, you have a 50-megapixel primary rear camera with 10x digital zoom, which is complemented by a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. The front panel has a 32-megapixel selfie camera. On paper, the Fairphone’s photographic arsenal is actually quite a significant step down from its predecessor, which used 50-megapixel lenses for all three cameras.
The Fairphone 6 runs Android 15, and its manufacturer guarantees updates until 2033 (in addition to the five-year phone warranty). There is also a special software called Fairphone Moments. Activated by pressing the lime green switch on the side of the device, it’s actually a minimalist focus mode that allows you to optimize your phone to show only five apps of your choice. You can have several collections of Moments, from the essentials to apps focused on relaxation.
In addition to the modular design of the phone, you can also replace its back panel with customized alternatives with built-in features such as a card holder, finger loop, or strap. And this remains the main appeal of the Fairphone brand. Rather average technical specifications are less important than its forward-thinking design aimed at protecting against losses.
