Fairphone 4 owner here. IMO Fairphone has a bit of a mixed record.
On the one hand, they have proven themselves in the past with things like working with the community to get Android 10 ported to the Fairphone 2 [1].
On the other hand, they always seem to be pretty behind on security updates. They got particularly eviscerated by the GrapheneOS project lead [2].
My hot take is Fairphone is a pretty small company that is trying to fill too many niches at once. It's great that they're working on making the supply chain for gold less awful ([3]). It's also great that they're continuing to prove that repairable / user-upgradeable flagship(-ish) phones are possible. I originally chose Fairphone for those reasons, because they align with my values.
Ultimately, though, I want a phone that I can rely on to be rock solid, secure, and highly usable. It's the thing I carry with me everywhere and rely on in emergencies, etc. To that end I recently ordered a used Pixel 6 Pro and plan to switch to that + GrapheneOS in the near future. I hope that Fairphone continues to succeed and help reform the (completely awful, IMO) mobile handset industry.
On the one hand, they have proven themselves in the past with things like working with the community to get Android 10 ported to the Fairphone 2 [1].
On the other hand, they always seem to be pretty behind on security updates. They got particularly eviscerated by the GrapheneOS project lead [2].
My hot take is Fairphone is a pretty small company that is trying to fill too many niches at once. It's great that they're working on making the supply chain for gold less awful ([3]). It's also great that they're continuing to prove that repairable / user-upgradeable flagship(-ish) phones are possible. I originally chose Fairphone for those reasons, because they align with my values.
Ultimately, though, I want a phone that I can rely on to be rock solid, secure, and highly usable. It's the thing I carry with me everywhere and rely on in emergencies, etc. To that end I recently ordered a used Pixel 6 Pro and plan to switch to that + GrapheneOS in the near future. I hope that Fairphone continues to succeed and help reform the (completely awful, IMO) mobile handset industry.
[1]: https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/23/22798512/fairphone-2-and... [2]: https://www.reddit.com/r/GrapheneOS/comments/10b5x4n/has_any... [3]: https://www.fairphone.com/en/2021/11/30/fairtrade-hirose/