Fairphone has long stood out in the smartphone world – not for chasing the fastest processors or pushing the flashiest designs, but for building phones that challenge the wasteful, disposable culture of mainstream tech. With the launch of the Fairphone 6, the Dutch company once again reinforces its mission: to create a phone that’s designed to last, easy to repair, and modular enough to evolve with your needs.
The Fairphone 6 represents a visual step forward for the brand, with a cleaner, more premium design. Available in black, white, and a soft green, the phone embraces simplicity. A small Fairphone logo sits toward the bottom of the back panel, which also features exposed screws and a modest dual-camera bump – reminding users that this device is built with transparency and functionality in mind.
But the back cover is now modular. Users can swap it out for add-ons like a wallet attachment or a hand strap – turning the phone into a more personalized, lifestyle-friendly device. Fairphone has hinted at additional accessories in development, laying the groundwork for a truly expandable ecosystem.
Inside, the Fairphone 6 strikes a smart balance between performance and efficiency. Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor and paired with up to 8GB of RAM, it’s more than capable of handling everyday tasks, social media, video streaming, and moderate multitasking. It won’t compete with flagship phones on benchmarks, but that’s not the goal here. What it offers is enough – and more importantly, it does so with a longer usable life.
The 6.3-inch LTPO OLED display brings vibrant colors and deep blacks, comparable to premium handsets, with the added benefit of improved energy efficiency thanks to LTPO technology. A tiny pinhole cutout at the top center makes room for the selfie camera without disrupting the sleek aesthetic.
Perhaps one of the most appealing features of the Fairphone 6 is its removable 4,200mAh battery. Unlike most modern phones that are glued shut, the Fairphone 6 invites users to open it up. With just seven screws, you can remove the back panel and pop in a new battery when the old one starts to degrade – no trip to a repair shop needed.
Better still, Fairphone claims the battery will last up to 53 hours on a single charge, offering well over two days of typical use. It supports 30W fast charging via USB-C, and if you ever damage the charging port, it too can be swapped out with a standard screwdriver.
The Fairphone 6 makes it easy for users to replace not just the battery, but also the display, USB-C port, speakers, and cameras. Fairphone sells these components directly, and the company’s website features detailed repair guides. This means that if your screen cracks, you don’t have to buy a new phone – or even take it to a specialist. You just order a replacement and fix it yourself.
This approach extends the lifespan of the device significantly. Fairphone promises at least five years of software updates, and has a strong track record of extending support even further than that. For context, the Fairphone 2, released in 2015, continued receiving software updates for over seven years.
It’s a cool take on smartphone design, and better repairability is always a good thing. Over the years of the Fairphone’s existence, we haven’t yet seen a massive push towards modularity from the larger smartphone manufacturers, but hopefully that will shift at some point soon.
In the meantime, you can get the Fairphone 6 for yourself for €599 at fairphone.com.
Photography courtesy of Fairphone.
