Fairphone, a Dutch smartphone maker newly entered into the US market, has released the $650 Fairphone Gen 6+, a device engineered for longevity and easy self-repair rather than the sealed, glued-together designs typical of most modern handsets. CTO Chandler Hatton says the company's aim is to let owners "fully own" their device, countering an industry model in which repairs are often costly enough to make buying a new phone more appealing than fixing an old one. This matters because, while manufacturers like Apple, Google and Samsung now offer years of software support, hardware durability and repairability have lagged behind, leaving users with functioning software but failing components.

The Gen 6+ opens with just two T5 Torx screws and a single included screwdriver, allowing users to remove and replace 12 different components, including the battery, camera modules, USB-C port and display. Fairphone expects batteries to need replacing after around three years, but designs the rest of the phone to last considerably longer, and it tracks a five-year usage target as a company KPI. The trade-off is a slightly thicker chassis than glued rivals, and the phone uses a mostly plastic body reinforced with an internal metal frame rather than the glass-and-aluminium construction common on devices like the iPhone or Pixel. Fairphone also emphasises ethical sourcing, avoiding conflict minerals, using recycled materials and paying workers a living wage.