In a bid to reduce global electronic waste, Fairphone has created a smartphone that owners can repair themselves. What makes its technology so sustainable?
“This is my phone’s camera,” says Bas van Abel, co-founder of the Fairphone, holding a small, square component aloft. He has just removed it from his smartphone, using a tiny screwdriver.
“There are eight components in total which can be removed and replaced,” he says, as he carefully disassembles his entire smartphone, placing the camera alongside his phone battery, USB port, screen and loudspeaker.
Founded in 2013 in Amsterdam, Fairphone makes Android smartphones which can easily be exchanged, customized and repaired by their owners. By enabling and encouraging people to fix their phones, rather than throwing them away as soon as a component breaks, Fairphone hopes to help reduce electronic waste.
In 2022, 5.3 billion mobile phones were thrown away, the Belgian non-profit The WEEE Forum, which analyses electronic waste, estimates. In the US, people replace their phones every 18 months on average as new models with upgraded features are released. Most devices now come as sealed units that are extremely difficult and expensive to repair, or even produce error messages if damaged components are fixed.
Fairphone wants to break this trend by selling phones that have a longer working life.
Despite its ambition, Fairphone is still only a minor player in the mobile phone market ——since launching, it has sold around 550,000 devices. To put this into context, more than 232 million iPhones were sold worldwide in 2022. But van Abel says Fairphone is trying to prove that it is possible for companies to turn a profit selling sustainable smartphones.
Sustainability, however, comes with a high price tag. The latest Fairphone model costs £649. This is partly because Fairphone has to build everything in-house, according to van Abel. “We do all the software updates ourselves as there’s not one company in the world that supports long-lasting phones,” he says. “There’s a lot of investment needed for us to be able to do what we want to.”
12. What do we know about van Abel?
A.He was quite skillful in repairing mobile phones. |
B.He created a smartphone that can repair itself. |
C.He was satisfied with this sustainable smartphone. |
D.He advocated recycling electronic products. |
13. Why did Americans always change their phones?
A.Because the functions of the phones needed to be upgraded. |
B.Because old phones were not environmentally friendly. |
C.Because they didn’t like using second-hand phones. |
D.Because the data in the phones showed errors. |
14. What can we infer about Fairphone?
A.Its various products were deeply loved by consumers. |
B.Its sales profit was higher than that of iPhone. |
C.It required financial and technical support. |
D.It encouraged people to purchase high-capacity smartphones. |
15. What can be concluded from Fairphone’s development?
A.Everything’s hard in the beginning. |
B.No pains, no gains. |
C.Love me, love my dog. |
D.Kill two birds with one stone. |