A User-Repairable Smartphone Finally Comes to the ‘States

For over a decade, Europeans have been able to buy a modular, self-repairable smartphone that allows them to avoid expensive repairs. Called the Fairphone, it’s made by a Dutch company of the same name. Now they’re finally exporting their latest model, the Fairphone Gen. 6+, to the ‘States. The Fairphone Gen. 6+ has a 6.3″ OLED display and three cameras: A 50MP main camera, a 13MP ultra-wide, and a 32MP front camera. It can shoot 4K video and has 256GB of storage, expandable to 2TB with a MicroSD card. The phone’s real appeal is that it comes with a T5 Torx screwdriver that allows you to replace a ton of components, should they break.Here’s what you can swap out, and what the replacements cost:- Battery: $46- Display: $104- Main camera: $81- Ultra-wide camera: $46- Front camera: $41- Top unit with flash and time-of-flight depth sensor: $46- USB-C charging port: $23- Earpiece: $23- Loudspeaker: $29- Upper back cover: $12- SIM/microSD-card tray: $9If you lose the screws, you can even order a set of those for $9.The 5G phone runs Android, works with T-Mobile and AT&T, and retails for $650.