Fairphone’s newest repairable telephone is happening sale within the US

The Fairphone 6 Plus is a minor {hardware} refresh, however a significant launch for the corporate: It’s the primary telephone that Fairphone is promoting straight within the US. It’s on sale now for $649.99, accessible via Fairphone’s web site and Amazon, and is bought unlocked with help for each T-Mobile and AT&T. In Europe, it prices €649, a €50 improve on final yr’s telephone.

Fairphones from the 4 onwards have been that can be purchased within the US, however by no means from Fairphone itself. They had been solely bought via a partnership with Murena, the developer of /e/OS, a “de-Googled” model of Android. That meant consumers had been compelled to make use of Murena’s software program — which is succesful, however actually an acquired style — and paid a big premium for the telephone. Last yr’s Fairphone 6 bought for $899.

The 6 Plus is in the end a really related machine to the Fairphone 6, which is not any dangerous factor — I appreciated the 6 rather a lot, giving it 7/10 in my overview final yr, and would have scored it larger had been it not for the unfriendly US price ticket. The 6 Plus builds on it with a quicker chipset — Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 4, which is firmly midrange however a strong performer — and an industry-bucking soar as much as 12GB of RAM.

Other specs are equivalent. You get the identical 6.31-inch OLED show (the “Plus” within the title doesn’t point out any precise improve in dimension), fundamental double rear digital camera, and 4,415mAh battery. Storage stays at 256GB, with a microSD card slot for growth by one other 2TB. It launches working Android 16, and can obtain software program help till 2033.

The design is similar too, that means this telephone is more likely to match the ten/10 repairability rating that iFixit gave to the 6. Replacement elements can be bought within the US, starting from $7.99 for a SIM tray to $89.99 for a brand new show, and virtually your complete telephone will be disassembled with a single Torx T5 screwdriver, one thing I put to the check with final yr’s Fairphone 6.

There’s additionally a variety of modular equipment, together with a card holder and lanyard, which screw onto the telephone’s rear. These are additionally equivalent to final yr’s Fairphone 6 vary, aside from a brand new blue colour, additionally accessible for the telephone itself. It’s named Cobalt Blue, in a nod to the corporate’s ongoing efforts to help extra moral cobalt mining.

Fairphone has been constructing as much as the US launch of the 6 Plus, bringing audio merchandise to Amazon US beginning with the Fairbuds XL over-ear headphones final November. Alongside the announcement of the 6 Plus, the corporate has confirmed {that a} new pair of earbuds, the Fairbuds 2, will launch in This fall this yr, and “will set a new bar for repairability and performance.” The firm says it would reveal extra in October.