Can I make a smartphone last seven years?
Wednesday, March 26, 2025I got a Fairphone 5 today, having run my previous smartphone as far into the ground as I am willing to tolerate (multiple random freezes and restarts per day, a barely functioning charging port, and painful speeds across all apps). Having always gone for budget phones that don't last as long as I'd like (about four years, this time), I'm hopeful about Fairphone's promise of a device that endures, with a warranty lasting five years and software support for at least seven years.
Seven years feels like a long time, but I'm willing to give it a go. The Take The Jump campaign — advocating a more sustainable, less consumptive lifestyle — recommends trying to squeeze at least seven years out of your gadgets, though I'm not sure where they got that number.
The Fairphone 5 comes in 6gb and 8gb variant. I went for the 6gb variant — mostly because it was more affordable, but also because in the clearance sale where I bought the Fairphone they had the 6gb in a gorgeous green colour (which goes pretty nicely with the styling on this website!). While this memory limitation may add an additional challenge to the longevity of the device (as apps in the future will be developed wih more powerful devices in mind), I'm hoping it will also encourage me to take a more minimalist approach to the number of apps I install and run, and the amount I use the device, as I suspect both these factors will improve longevity, at least a bit.
While a major selling point of the Fairphone is the more ethical sourcing of materials and labour in production, I expect its reparability and durability (if it lives up to its claims) are even bigger factors in its environmental impact. I see advertisements such as Vodafone currently offering customers a new smartphone every year with their contract, and it's like the ecological crisis is not even happening.
Fairphone also supports the completely de-Googled Android fork /e/OS. This is a very interesting prospect. While I'd need to look at all the apps I consider essential and whether they would work acceptably on /e/OS, the biggest barrier at the moment is my banking app (Triodos, the more ethical bank) has dependencies on Google Play services to verify my identity when initially install the app. In turn, the mobile Triodos app acts as an authenticator for the web version, so it would be very difficult (impossible?) to use online banking if the mobile app didn't work. I will ask Triodos to consider removing the dependency (because Google is not an ethical company).
Anyway, let's see how this goes. For now I'm just enjoying having a phone that doesn't crash on me constantly. If I can keep that up for seven years, all the better.