The smartphone created to respect the environment and workers arrives at its fourth edition: it is now more powerful and equipped with some premium features
The new Fairphone 4 has just been presented, the fourth incarnation of the smartphone built following ethical and ecological principles: no underpaid labor, the lowest possible environmental impact, high rate of recyclability of materials and many replaceable components.
In its fourth version, however, the Fairphone is also 5G and much more powerful: it finally has good hardware, from mid-range 2021 to all intents and purposes. Fairphone defines it as “A quality smartphone focused on sustainability” and no one is wrong: it is certainly the smartphone with the highest durability on the market and one of the few with replaceable battery. The b side of the coin, of course, is a very poor waterproofing: being able to be opened with bare hands, this smartphone does not go beyond the IP54 certification. On the other hand, however, gets a “repairability index” very high: 9.3 points out of 10.
Fairphone 4: technical characteristics
The Fairphone 4 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G chip, certainly not the latest arrival but more than sufficient for a large part of the tasks to which a smartphone is intended today. RAM and storage configurations are 6/128 or 8/256 GB.
The screen is a 6.3-inch LCD display, with Full HD+ resolution. There is the fingerprint sensor, but it is mounted on the side and not under the screen.
Not bad photo compartment: a 25 MP front sensor with HDR and two rear both 48 MP, one of which is ultra wide-angle 120 degrees.
The connectivity is very good: we find in fact the 5G (dual SIM), Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 5 dual band, NFC and USB-C connector for charging. The battery is 3,900 mAh, abundant.
Then there are all the features in favor of the environment: the body of the phone is made of aluminum from certified manufacturers, the gold of the electronic components is certified Fairtrade, the cover is 100% recycled plastic, the battery can be replaced, as well as the rear cameras and the screen.
Fairphone 4: how much it costs
Fairphone 4 does not cost little, indeed: it has a price above the average of competitors of similar characteristics. Price justified by higher production costs resulting from the use of raw materials and certified suppliers.
Fairphone 4 in version 6/128 GB costs 579 euros, the version 8/258 costs 648 euros. It is not yet available, but it is also pre-orderable in Italy on the Fairphone website.