Fairphone 3 Receives A Perfect 10 from iFixit for Repairability

Here is something the hermetically sealed iPhone cannot do; secure a perfect 10 for repairability.

Social enterprise and Smartphone startup Fairphone’s current repairable-by-design smartphone has done just that.

They have achieved 10/10 in an iFixit Teardown vs scores of just 6/10 for latest iPhone models.

The iFixit Review

The Fairphone 3, was released last week in Europe with an RRP of €450, gets a thumbs up over the board in iFixit’s hardware Teardown. 

It discovered all the internal modules to be effortlessly accessible and replaceable.

 iFixit also praises visual ideas that help with disassembly and reassembly.

 They also commend that repair guides and spare parts are available on Fairphone’s website.

iFixit’s sole complaint is that most of the components inside the Fairphone 3’s modules are separately replaceable, some are soldered on. 

A small blip that does not derogate from the 10/10 repairability score.

It is safe to say; such a score is the smartphone exemption. 

The industry proceeds to encourage consumers to replace an entire device, via yearly upgrade.

More About Fairphone

Dutch startup Fairphone was established to respond to the woeful lack of sustainability in the electronics industry. 

The small company has been pioneering modularity for repairability for many years now.

The Fairphone 3 offers a detachable backplate for getting at the battery, though. 

The whole device has been designed in a way so that its parts are accessible and repairable.

In past years replacing batteries were the standard for smartphones before the slimming touchscreen parts arrived to glue phone innards together. 

Considerably a result of hardware business models equipped towards profiting from urging for regular yearly upgrades cycle.

So slimmer hardware is one approach to get buyers desiring your next device.

However, it is getting tougher and tougher to beat the same old hardware horse.

This is because smartphones have got similarly powerful and capable precious little room for substantial annual enhancements.

Therefore iPhone maker Apple’s growing focus on services.

A change that has sadly not been guided by a rethink of Cupertino’s baked in enmity towards hardware repairability. 

It still favours, for example, to encourage iPhone buyers to trade in their device for a full upgrade.

As for repairability, the newest and biggest iPhones clearly won’t hold a light to the Fairphone.

SEE ALSO: Procreate is creating a new graphics engine and the facility to import Photoshop brushes

For more updates and the latest tech news, keep reading iTMunch.