We won’t do it to our phones, but you do you
Fairphone has an enviable reputation in the smartphone industry as one of most sustainable OEMs out there (The Fairphone 2 launched in 2015 with Android 5 and is still receiving updates). Its phones are designed to be dismantled and repaired by the end user, prolonging the useful life as long as possible. Its latest model, the Fairphone 4, has struck a remarkable balance between quality and modularity. But how does it hold up to abuse?
In his latest JerryRigEverything video, Zach puts the Fairphone 4 under the knife to see just how robust this phone really is. He takes care of the most important durability test first: taking it apart and putting it back together. After all, what good is a repairable phone if it breaks when you replace the battery, or the camera, or the speaker?
Next up are the more visceral tests. I have a hard time watching the scratch resistance tests but the Fairphone 4 holds up fine. The Gorilla Glass 5 screen rates at about a 5 on the Mohs scale of hardness which means it can endure a lot of abuse, more than you’re likely to throw at it. The aluminum chassis holds up admirably as well, only losing some anodized color to a scrape from a box cutter.
The final test is the bend test and the Fairphone passes that with flying colors: barely any flexing. Even though it has a plastic back cover (for easy access to the modular components) the internal frame of the phone is machined from a solid block of metal meaning you’ll have to apply some serious force to snap it.
Although the Fairphone 4 may have sacrificed a slim form factor for the sake of replaceable components, it hasn’t come at the cost of its durability. If you want one, and you live in Europe, you can pick one up for as little as €579.00.
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