Smartphone producers normally tout improved digicam options and different specs, however a brand new participant within the US market is banking on social accountability.
Murena’s Fairphone 4 is created from “pretty sourced and recycled supplies” by staff paid a dwelling wage, in response to the Dutch producer.
Obtainable in Europe since 2021, the system has now landed within the US, powered by Murena’s /e/ working system, a modified tackle the Android OS that Murena says is designed to guard consumer privateness.
In a press release, Fairphone CEO Eva Gouwens referred to as the launch “a terrific alternative for us to pilot promoting gadgets within the US … and be taught extra concerning the American market.”
The Fairphone 4’s modular design makes it straightforward to restore and customise, thereby suspending a full improve: The battery is detachable, and the digicam array, USB-C port, loudspeaker and physique are all particular person elements, with alternative elements out there to US clients on the Murena web site. The corporate says repairs might be made with a typical screwdriver.
The Fairphone 4’s elements are particular person and might be eliminated and changed by the consumer.
Murena
Even the Fairphone’s five-year guarantee outstrips the iPhone’s customary one-year assure.
The cellphone market has matured to the purpose the place corporations do not actually have something new to supply, Murena CEO Gaël Duval instructed CNET in an e-mail, “only a few extra megapixels on the digicam.” (For what it is price, the Murena Fairphone 4 incorporates a twin 48MP rear digicam and a 25MP front-facing digicam.)
“With sustainability and privateness mixed, we’re answering new and rising market wants,” Duval added. “Who actually wants extra megapixels whereas the planet is heating and the local weather is altering so quick?”
The Fairphone 4 is the one possibility within the US market that is TCO Licensed, a sustainability certification for IT merchandise that examines socially accountable manufacturing, environmental influence, consumer well being and security, product lifetime extension and different components. It additionally carries the German authorities’s Blue Angel label, awarded primarily based on sturdiness, power effectivity, recyclability and emissions.
The cellphone does not even include a USB twine, plug or headphones, as Murena says it desires to encourage clients to make use of equipment they have already got round the home.
Past sustainability, the Fairphone is a standout in consumer privateness. Whereas Google has paid hundreds of thousands to settle information privateness and location-tracking lawsuits, Murena says its /e/ OS is a DeGoogled model of Android.
“We do not scan your information in your cellphone or in your cloud area, and we do not observe your location hundred instances a day or acquire what you are doing together with your apps,” a press release on the corporate’s web site says.
You’ll be able to nonetheless obtain Google apps if you need, The Verge reported, however Murena claims it snags them straight from the Play Retailer with out giving Google your private particulars.
There are some tradeoffs, together with the selection of carriers: Utilizing a Fairphone 4 with anybody in addition to T-Cellular is “just isn’t beneficial,” in response to Murena.
There’s additionally the wait. Per the Murena web site, the cellphone is at the moment solely out there on backorder.
Pricing for the Fairphone 4 begins at $629 for 128GB of storage or $699 for a 256GB system.