FairPhone 4 with 5 year guarantee goes up for pre-order

Fairphone has unveiled the Fairphone 4, retaining all the great aspects of its predecessors, but packages them in a more modern design with more powerful components.

According to Fairphone, the Fairphone 4 has a 100% recycled plastic back panel and a Fairtrade-certified aluminium frame, along with cobalt and lithium that the company promises will be sustainably sourced in the future.

The smartphone industry is considered one of the significant contributors to environmental and human rights issues. The industry is criticised for generating electronic waste, massive CO2 emissions, devastating sourcing practices, and harsh working conditions.

To resolve these issues with a scalable solution, Bas van Abel founded Fairphone in 2013.

The key Fairphone feature is the modular components, which make repairs easy with just a screwdriver. Inside the phone, you’ll find eight easily replaceable parts: the display, the USB-C port, selfie camera, ear speaker, main camera array, loudspeaker, battery, and the rubberized back.

If you break anything, all of these parts will be available for sale on Fairphone.com. The only “non-commercial spare part” is the core module, which features the SoC, storage, RAM, device frame, and fingerprint reader.

“No part of Fairphone 4 is glued shut, so you can choose to easily repair it yourself with a standard screwdriver,” says the company.

The Fairphone 4 no longer comes with a 3.5mm audio jack. Fairphone says it made this decision to be able to offer an official IP rating for dust and water resistance, which was absent in the previous models.

At the heart of the Fairphone is the Snapdragon 750G, which Fairphone complements with 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM. It is worth noting that Fairphone sells two configurations; 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage or 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. Additionally, the device has a 3,905 mAh battery, a 6.3-inch display that resolves at 1080p and IP54 certification.

Fairphone has included a 48 MP primary camera, a 48 MP ultra-wide, and a 25 MP selfie camera. Only the primary camera support OIS but both rear-facing cameras are aided by a ToF sensor. Fairphone has not disclosed what sensors it has sourced though, apart from a Sony IMX576 for the selfie camera.

Fairphone 4 has a nanoSIM slot but also eSIM support to be able to have two lines on the same phone. The pre-installed operating system is Android 11, and in Fairphone they ensure the update to Android 12 and Android 13 but they also hope to support Android 14 and Android 15 in the future.

The Fairphone 4 is available in Grey, Green and Speckled Green. All configurations come with Android 11, at least two OS updates and five years of warranty. The Fairphone 4 is available to pre-order now and starts at £499 in the UK. Fairphone sells the 8 GB RAM/256 GB of storage variant for £569.

Fairphone 4 Specifications

Design

Type Bar
Dimensions162 x 75.5 x 10.5 mm
Weight 225 Grams
Waterproof IP54, dust and splash protection

Display

Display Type IPS LCD
Size 6.3 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels
Display Colours 16M Colours
Pixel Density 409 ppi (pixels per inch)
Touch Screen Capacitive touchscreen
Display Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5

Hardware

CPU Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G
GPU Adreno 619
RAM (Memory) 6 GB, 8 GB
Internal Storage 128 GB, 256 GB
Memory Card Slot microSDXC
Sensors Fingerprint (side-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

Software

Operating System Android 11
User Interface Yes

Camera

Rear Camera 48 MP (wide) + 48 MP (ultrawide) + TOF 3D (depth)
Image 2160p
Video 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS
Flash Dual-LED dual-tone flash, HDR, panorama
Front Camera 25 MP (wide)

Network

SIM Nano SIM
Dual SIM Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)

Connectivity

Wi-fi WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou, A-GPS, 5G, NFC, Bluetooth 5.1 + LE
USB USB Type-C 3.0, USB On-The-Go, DisplayPort
GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS
NFC Yes
Wireless Charging No
Headphone Jack No