Member Article

The new Fairphone 2 - now even fairer

Ethical smart phone company, Fairphone, are launching the Fairphone 2, made with responsibly sourced materials and designed to last longer with easily replaceable parts.

Established in 2013, Fairphone has already produced and sold 60,000 first edition Fairphones to buyers who believe that their purchases can contribute to a more ethical economy.

They aim to clean up the supply chain from mining to design, manufacturing and life cycle.

The company says the Fairphone 2 will incorporate and expand upon the initiatives that were started with the first Fairphone, including sourcing conflict-free tin and tantalum from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, investing in a second worker-controlled welfare fund with its new production partner in China and improving the e-waste recycling program it started in Ghana.

Daria Koreniushkina from Fairphone said they have been working on integrating conflict-free tungsten and responsibly sourced gold into the new phone.

She said: “There are still some challenges that we need to overcome but we aim to make it possible before the production of the new Fairphones starts.”

They also aim to encourage users to have a deeper relationship with their phones and take more responsibility for keeping them in working condition.

Daria said: “We’ve designed the Fairphone 2 to last from three to five years but in the end it depends on the user - how careful they are with the phone, their willingness to repair their phone etc.”

To help with this the new handset can be easily disassembled allowing owners to repair the most commonly broken parts themselves, including the screen, camera, speaker and receiver. Fairphone have tutorials on their website showing how to do this.

The Fairphone 2 will be available to order later in the summer. UK customers will be able to buy direct from Fairphone’s website or from the Phone Co-op.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Natalie Leal .