Worth noting buying a second hand phone is still better in every aspect and sadly 2nd hand Samsung from 3 years ago is still better and cheaper. Though Fairphone is getting closer with each release!
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
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2nd hand Samsung from 3 years ago is still better and cheaper.
Cheaper? Yes. Better? Hell no, unless you can root it and install a custom ROM.
You can - Samsung phones are really well supported for that.
I would never go with Samsung as a conscious choice for custom ROMs, mostly because all well-supported devices are pretty old, which means lower chance of getting something in a decent state for a reasonable price used, that wouldn't require immediately swapping the battery already. Not to mention the Knox eFuse which means losing functionality when flashing a custom ROM. I'd argue a used Pixel is a better option, the 7 Pro can be had for relatively little money and is still a good phone.
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Was really hoping to see a Fairphone 6a. Similar to the Google Pixel Series. Just a cheap version of it. I really don't need 120Hz, OLED or "No Bezels" all i want is big battery and a headphone jack that is all.
tbh 600$ is a series pricing.
For real, though, what is it?
A time of flight sensor for autofocus
Compared to the Fairphone 5 it has some improvements but also a few downsides:
Pro:
- It's a bit smaller (~4mm) and lighter (~20g)
- Slightly better camera (future tests will tell how much better)
- 120 Hz display
- More RAM and storage (although I feel that the previous 6GB/128GB option was also sufficient for most users)
- WiFi 6E Tri-Band (however you will likely never need this speed)
- Bluetooth 5.4
- Slightly larger battery
Con:
- Backpanel now requires a screwdriver
- Display has less resolution/PPI
- Performance of processor will likely be nearly identical to predecessor (however it's more efficient and modern)
- Downgrade to USB 2
- 600€
My conclusion: Overall the improvements are ok, however just releasing the Fairphone 5 with a newer SoC might have been the better/more cost effective choice. Sacrificing display resolution for 120 Hz feels also quite wrong. 600€ is very pricy for a phone like this. Cutting some premium features away like the 120 Hz display or a bit of RAM and storage (that you can extend anyway with an SD card) might have saved enough to get the launch price down to somewhere near 500€ which would make it accessible for a wider audience.
Downgrade to USB 2
What the fuck?
USB 2? What a stupid choice that appears to be. Did they have any reasoning behind that?
The transfer speed over USB on mine probably doesn't even pass USB 2 speeds anyway and I've had flagship phones in the past that were even slower over a cable. I guess if that's still the case then there's probably a good engineering argument to reduce complexity.
I just checked my phone and the up/down speed for files is roughly 40MB/s despite having a USB 3 connection.
USB 2 has a max. transfer rate (under optimal conditions) of 60MB/s, so I think when the phone storage improves a bit or the cable is a bit longer it will likely become a bottleneck.
Also note that there are other applications than transfering files which might need more bandwidth.
To be fair it really doesn't make much of a difference but USB 3 is now the standard for a century and has been around since 2008 so I somewhere expect a 600€ phone to also have it.
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Why does The Fairphone (Gen. 6) use USB-2?
In order to make the device more affordable, we explored how we could best balance our spec choices with the least possible impact on user experience. Going from USB-3 to USB-2 was one of them.
https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/24463093338898-The-Fairphone-Gen-6-FAQ
Thanks for the link. I can't necessarily agree that it's low impact, transferring files at 2.0 speeds is brutal.
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The extra RAM and storage probably increased the price much more than the screen upgrade.
Regarding resolution, I've been using my S21 Ultra at FHD quality (2400x1080) since I got it and it has a significantly large screen. I don't see a point in higher resolutions but I definitely appreciate higher refresh rates. Makes it feel smoother and more responsive.
I also found out a few other things that have changed:
- They now use Torx T5 screws
- The backcover and battery are now fixed with these screws
- The battery uses a dedicated connector
- Parts of the backcover now require a pick
- SIM/SD now sit at the bottom in a dedicated slot and don't require the removal of the backcover.
- The volume buttons got replaced by the "moments" button and are now on the left
IMHO this is kind of a downgrade in repairability as you now need custom tools (not everyone has a T5 screwdriver at home). Moving the volume buttons to the other side is also kind of weird and unexpected as most (non Apple) phones have them on the right...
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a few things i like:
- moments is an interesting concept
- it says you can toggle off gemini ai. this is good
- display goes from 10-120hz for battery
- ultrawide selfie camera
- microsd card slot!
- power button fingerprint scanner, way better than underscreen
love fairphone but i cant go bacl from graphene os. its so nice not having google attacjed to everything.
I wish I could ditch stock android but my business bank app refuses to run on e/os and I assume I'd have the same problem with graphene.
e/os was otherwise soo much better, and the increase in performance and battery life was huge.
I assume I'd have the same problem with graphene.
There's a list of bank apps that work in Grapheme. You can check for yours here
https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/
If you want something not Google, I used to have Ubuntu Touch on a Fairphone before Australia's 3G network was switched off. It would have to be an older Fairphone however.
No headphone jack means I won't even consider it, very sad to see it's still the case.
Honestly, this might be the first fairphone which I would classify as good enough for daily use.
OTG compatible is a rare feature, I have an endoscope camera that uses OTG, but not a compatible phone.
Also, no mention of a headphone jack.
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