Fairphone vs. iPhone Repairability

The Fairphone 5 is designed so you can replace the screen, battery, camera. Speaker with a screwdriver and no adhesive, and the modular construction is a direct challenge to the sealed-unit design philosophy that Apple and Samsung have followed for over a decade. Fairphone publishes a repairability score of 10 out of 10 on iFixit. Replacement parts are sold directly through the company's website at prices that make repair cheaper than replacement, a $30 screen versus a $350 new phone decision that no other manufacturer offers. Over on iFixit, the iPhone 15 scored 4 out of 10 on the same scale, and Apple's parts pairing policy. It Triggers software warnings when identical components are swapped without an authorized technician, makes independent repair functionally difficult even when it is physically possible. I admire that Fairphone built a viable business around the argument that electronics should last longer. Proving the commercial case for sustainability is harder and more useful than just making the moral case. At about $700, comparable to a mid-range iPhone, the phone runs stock Android with 5 years of software updates guaranteed. The trade-off is camera quality, where the Fairphone's sensor cannot match the computational photography of an iPhone or Pixel, and for most buyers that trade-off is still too steep. Fairphone sources conflict-free minerals and pays a living wage premium at its factories. Supply chain transparency is documented in annual reports more detailed than any other electronics manufacturer publishes. Modularity extends the phone's useful life to about 7 years if you replace the battery at year 3 and the camera module at year 5. Total cost of ownership ends up lower than buying 2 sealed phones over the same period.