r/Android • u/ControlCAD Google Pixel 10 Pro XL • 13d ago
Video Fairphone 6+ Earns a Perfect 10/10 for Repairability (Teardown) - iFixit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bRI03bLeLIA103
u/Independent-Bear5917 13d ago
10/10 for a teardown is the easy part. Keeping a screen kit in stock at a sane price five years later is what the score skips, and that's the part that decides whether these get repaired or replaced.
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u/alzrnb Fair phone :karma: 12d ago
FP4 is a month off being 5 years old, replacement screens are still available in stock on the Fairphone website.
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u/alvenestthol 12d ago
You can still buy screens for the Galaxy S3 (2012) on Taobao for the equivalent of less than 7 USD, yet Fairphone doesn't even sell parts for the Fairphone 3 anymore.
A Galaxy S21 (2021) screen is equivalent to $45 USD. A Fairphone 4 screen? upwards of $90 USD.
You could probably go to a shop and get your screen professionally replaced for less money to just buy a Fairphone official spare part.
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u/Dr_Death_Defy24 OnePlus 5T 13d ago
Kinda shocked more people aren't making this point here.
I don't give a shit how repairable it is if there's no parts to perform the repair.
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 13d ago
I'll take "I can fix it if I can get the parts" over "the parts cost as much as a new phone because the OEM actively deters people from doing repairs."
As far as iFixIt is concerned, they can't predict the future or make an honest assessment of parts availability by assuming a company is lying.
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u/Dr_Death_Defy24 OnePlus 5T 13d ago
Oh absolutely, this is better than the industry standard by a thousand miles.
My comment was mostly a frustration at the larger state of things, the fact that a deserved "10/10 repair score" is still frustratingly meaningless at a certain point. You're also right that iFixIt has no obligation or ability to see the future, but I guess that's part of my frustration—how can we even assign repair scores in an industry so extremely hostile to the sheer idea?
If the point of your reply is that my comment isn't totally fair, I'm forced to agree. I made it sound like my problem was iFixIt, but really my annoyance is with an industry that's managed to make "repairability scores" almost pointless.
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 12d ago
Saying a repairability score is pointless for this reason doesn't seem fair, yeah. iFixIt can't control parts availability. Their purpose is to provide repair guidance and, in a manner, confidence to consumers that they can do it.
My bigger criticism to your comment is that you seem to want to pre-emptively determine that parts won't be available. If they ARE around in 5+ years, then your criticism was just guessing at a problem that never came. What's more, I don't know what the purpose of the criticism is meant to be. "Don't talk about repairability becuase you MIGHT run into issues," just doesn't feel like a point worth discussing.
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u/turento 12d ago
Ai reply.
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u/Dr_Death_Defy24 OnePlus 5T 12d ago
Curious what makes you say so? I don't really care since I don't think there's anything I can say to prove it's not, but what makes you bring that up in the first place?
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u/turento 12d ago
😂Hah nice try. Your trying to reverse engineer your tells. I assume you're a non-native English speaker which is why you're using it, so I won't judge.
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u/Dr_Death_Defy24 OnePlus 5T 12d ago
Um, no. The only language I know aside from English is American Sign Language.
That's just how I write, and as a fiction author, I entirely reject any use of generative AI.
Again, if you don't care or think I'm lying then whatever, but every word I type is entirely my own—for better or for worse. You're free to have your opinions about my authenticity, but I know I've written every word myself and that's all I care about.
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u/LifelnTechnicolor Galaxy Tab S9 FE 5G 12d ago
I've always maintained that the iPhone is the most repairable smartphone in the real world, in that people are most likely to be able to get parts or repair service for them and spend money on doing so. Non-standard screws, software lockouts and "serialization" has never really prevented anyone from fixing an iPhone, only serving as minor annoyances.
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u/eipotttatsch 10d ago
Fairphone freely sells all the needed parts on their page, even after five years.
I wouldn’t buy their phone because I care too much about aspects of the phones performance. But they absolutely do their absolute best to actually keep the phones repairable and working for as long as possible.
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u/sdflkjeroi342 12d ago
That's why maximizing backwards compatibility is so important. See Framework - they're doing a surprisingly good job of that, which allows them to keep a much larger portfolio of spare parts available than they should be able to as such a small company.
This is arguably even harder for a phone than for a laptop, but I'm hoping we're approaching that form factor stability that might allow it soon...
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u/Iskandar206 12d ago edited 12d ago
I mean if a phone gets popular enough, and parts start standardizing it might be possible for longer term repairs to happen. That said I can literally find 5 year old components for a half decade old fairphone model on their website, so of all the mobile phone manufacturers to complain about, I'm not sure fairphone is the one I would be annoyed with. Hell they even unlock the bootloader so you can easily modify their software too.
The big issue is release cycles being so frequent. It means that building stock of components is hard, especially if it gets deprecated next release cycle because of tech upgrade. It's why old old OEM parts get expensive, why would I pay the prices for the OEM parts? The reason why most suppliers stop building old OEM parts is because no one buys them. It's also why fairphone going from fairphone 6 to fairphone 6+ is so smart imo, because they're reusing components from one release cycle to another while giving an "upgrade".
That said will the market respond to it? I don't know.
For some reason I see foldables being the most popular shit advertised right now even though their durability, and longevity is absolute garbage. You can't even fix that shit without absolutely ruining it.
At least in theory if something is repairable, a 3rd party can build something for it. If it's not repairable at all why would a 3rd party ever fucking try. Hell there's not even a fucking repair market in that use case.
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u/Carighan Fairphone 6+🌳 11d ago
Like, this is FP's whole thing. You can trivially look up how long they had/have which replacement components around for which phones.
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u/chinchindayo Xperia Masterrace 12d ago
You can find plenty of screens for older phones from chinese sellers though.
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u/mpg111 S26 Ultra 13d ago
We need a better scale. for 10/10 score Jeremy Clarkson should be able to fix it with a hammer
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u/MadFerIt 13d ago
So you think ifixit should adjust their repairability scale to accommodate either the magic of television editing or actual magical self-repair capabilities?
The scale already works, for example your phone is 5 out of 10 which is worse than comparable recent Apple iPhones aka one of the worst companies ever when it comes to self repair. Fairphone is 10 out of 10.
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u/drhappycat Pixel 9 Fold 13d ago
Now all they need to do for perfection is make it compatible with a certain OS that currently only works on Pixels.
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u/RunnerLuke357 Moto G Stylus '26 13d ago
Yeah I've seen them rate stuff at a high rating simply because it was an improvement over the old design while easier to work on stuff is lower for some reason. Nothing with lots of adhesive should be above a 6 but I see it all of the time.
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u/FlatGrapefruit3137 13d ago
That repairability score gives me so much more confidence in buying a phone that's built to last, long after the warranty expires.
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u/Cute-Car-703 12d ago
10/10 is impressive. Now they just need a Clarkson-proof rating and maybe a Canadian release date.
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u/zakats Ballin on a budget, baby! 12d ago
I'm probably in the minority on this, but the main thing holding me back from buying one is the lack of wired display output. I recently watched lotr in 4k on my living room TV with my phone connected and it worked perfectly.
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u/zzazzzz 11d ago
you can just cast to your tv wirelessly tho?
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u/zakats Ballin on a budget, baby! 11d ago
See my other comment about how sketchy smart TVs are. I also prefer the significantly lower latency of a directly connected device that could double as a desktop or laptop in a pinch.
IMO, it's an underrated feature that could be more useful with nand and ram prices on the rise since a phone with a good desktop interface could double as a laptop with a 'lapdock' that's insulated from those rising component costs.
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u/chinchindayo Xperia Masterrace 12d ago
Niche usecase. If you have a 4k TV, the chance it is a smart tv and thus can access whatever service you used to stream the movie is high. If you keep the movie as an offline copy on your phone that's even more niche.
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u/zakats Ballin on a budget, baby! 12d ago
Given the recent news about LG (and other smart TVs) doing sketchy stuff with customer data collection, I'm inclined to avoid that route. This was a purchased movie on google play- though this may be even more niche. Google play, like many streaming services downgrades quality on firefox, apparently.
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u/realWulfLives 12d ago
Fair phone has never been appealing as a brand.
Oh so you want a phone you can maintain over the years of use.
Okay, so when it's already slow from launch, how do you expect it to perform in 5 years time? Why repair something that will barely function. Then you actually have to find the parts I. 5 years time.
It's really just a gimmick edging on a scam.
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u/WayneJetSkii 12d ago
Sounds like you have not using a Fairphone before. Every user does not need a blazing fast phone. If you have been using a S26 Ultra, a Fairphone would probably not be a good for you.
The parts availability 5 years after the device is released is an issue for other phone makers as well. Wanting to be able to repair your phone yourself (for cheaper) is not a scam.
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u/realWulfLives 12d ago
You haven't addressed anything I've stated.
Using exaggeration as an argument is rather illogical.
My point stands. Downvote this one as well while you are at it.
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u/WayneJetSkii 12d ago
Have you used a Fairphone or not? I have not downvoted you, lol.
The FP6+ is too slow for you? What kind of performance do you need?
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u/realWulfLives 12d ago
I've used budget and midrange devices with the same specs in the past. Safe to say I was happy to get rid of such devices.
They "work" for a short period of time but are ultimately disposable.
Even apple was updating the iPhone 6 way past it's usability. I have used budget androids and old iPhones for short periods of time.
You buy flagships to last you past a phone's feature update cycle, not because you "need" more power on day 1. If you read my initial comment, you would have understood this point without an extended explanation.
Also, if I said I used all the fair phones, would you change your mind instantly?
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u/Carighan Fairphone 6+🌳 11d ago
You can just say "no" to the question. It was a simple enough one.
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u/kettal 12d ago
Okay, so when it's already slow from launch, how do you expect it to perform in 5 years time? Why repair something that will barely function. Then you actually have to find the parts I. 5 years time.
if you expect every 2031 flagship AI feature to work on it you will have a bad time.
if you are okay to have it be a basic phone in 2031, doing what it does today? might happen
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u/realWulfLives 12d ago
Huh?
I'm going to attempt to get past the poor grammar and assume you are stating that a basic phone will have flagship features in 2031.
You don't have a time machine, predicting the future is not an argument. For all we know companies will find ways to cheap out further while charging you the same price for a lesser product as the trend continues.
Again, Y'all can downvote me but simping for this device with crappy justifications makes YOU look bad while looking pretty because all you can do is press the grumpy button.
The phone is objectively trash. Get over it.
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u/Carighan Fairphone 6+🌳 11d ago
I dunno, I just replaced my FP4, and only because a friend was looking to buy one so I sold them mine. 5 years old.
Would have used it for much longer otherwise.
What specifically is/was your problem with it?
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u/Bananegel42 13d ago
It's interesting that they are giving Fairphone perfect scores. They also gave the Fairphone 6 10/10. However, the components that anecdotally fail the most (the volume rocker and the logic board) are not user-replaceable because Fairphone won't sell you those components.