Repairable, Sustainable Fairphone 4 Is Finally Making Its Way To The US

It's been 10 years since Dutch smartphone maker Fairphone declared a bold mission to create sustainable and ethical smartphones. The company distinguished itself from other players in the smartphone industry by focusing on factors like the reparability and longevity of its products, fair sourcing of materials, and improving working conditions throughout the supply chain. 

Fairphone never intended to be a mass-market player, and initially chose to restrict itself to the European market. That, however, is set to change after the company confirmed the launch of its latest smartphone offering — the Fairphone 4 — in the United States, making it the first Fairphone device to officially be sold to the U.S.

📢 BIG NEWS! We just arrived in the US 🇺🇸 and couldn't be more excited! Yeah, you read that right. If you live in the States, you can find Fairphone 4 through Murena's website.
➡️ Available here: https://t.co/uChtzXQ9Ac pic.twitter.com/JfDik834Kr

— Fairphone (@Fairphone) July 5, 2023

For its U.S. operations, Fairphone has tied up with Murena — another company with European origins — known for its "deGoogled" Android fork dubbed "/e/OS." This tie-up also means that the U.S.-bound Fairphones will run Murena's version of Android on the device instead of Fairphone's own Android build. According to ArsTechnica, Fairphone is treating this collaboration as a way of testing the U.S. market before it makes a full-fledged entry into the country.

U.S. consumers interested in getting themselves this /e/OS-powered device can buy it from Murena's U.S. website starting today. Prices for the device start at $629.90.

The Fairphone 4 sold in the U.S. has identical hardware specs compared to its European siblings, meaning the device gets the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G chip. The phone comes in two configurations (6GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB) and also features a dedicated microSD card slot. 

The 6.3-inch IPS LCD panel on the device has a resolution of 2340x1080 pixels, ending up with a PPI density of 410. The display also gets Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The camera setup on the phone includes twin 48MP rear-facing cameras, as well as a 25MP selfie camera. Interestingly, while the phone supports dual SIM cards, it only has a single SIM slot, because the other supported SIM is an eSIM. The 3,905 mAh battery on the device is a removable unit, and comes with support for 20W fast charging as well. 

The "de-Googled" version of Android running on the device is based on Android 11, which could be a tad concerning for some, given that most modern phones have moved to Android 13. While the phone comes without pre-installed Google Apps, users can download the apps they need from Murena's own store called the "App Lounge." The company has also promised five-year software updates, which should be reassuring for potential buyers.

In the U.S. this iteration of the Fairphone 4 will be sold unlocked. However, the company recommends the device be used with T-Mobile, or carriers that use T-Mobile's network.