CEO Bas van Abel (2013–) Founded 2013 | Founder Bas van Abel | |
Profiles | ||
Fairphone bringing ethics to western technology
Fairphone is a social enterprise company which aims to develop smartphones that are designed and produced with minimal harm to people and the planet. The company is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands and was supported in its startup phase by the Waag Society, a foundation which aims to foster experimentation with new technologies, art and culture. The main motivations for founding Fairphone were to develop a mobile device that does not contain conflict minerals (which in smartphones are typically gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten), has fair labor conditions for the workforce along the supply chain producing it and help people to use their phone longer. The second version of the company's handset is one of the first modular smartphones available for purchase, with the product being designed to be easily repaired and upgraded.
Contents
Fairphone changing the way products are made bas van abel at tedxamsterdam
History and mission
Fairphone was founded as a social enterprise company in January 2013, having existed as a campaign for two and a half years. The company's website states that its mission is to "bring a fair smartphone to the market – one designed and produced with minimal harm to people and planet". Fairphone, however, acknowledges that it will not be possible to produce a 100% fair phone yet, but with this aim it seeks to raise awareness among consumers and in the mobile phone industry.
"It's about the idea and not about the phone."
2013: first production batch
2014: second production batch and partnerships
2015: development of the Fairphone 2
In February 2015, Fairphone announce its new production partner, Hi-P, after a selection process detailed on its blog. In June 2015, specifications and prices were published on Fairphone's official website. The Fairphone 2 started shipping in December 2015 and continued to be sold in 2016. In 2016 Fairphone announced a delay in deliveries of new order due to high demand from businesses. In January 2017 the date for the delivery of new Fairphone 2's was set at end of May 2017.
Awards & Certifications
Fairphone won the award for fastest-growing European tech startup at The Next Web conference in April 2015. Other nominees included Freespee (Sweden), YPlan (UK), Uplike (France), PackLink (Spain), Blacklane (Germany), and Festicket (UK).
The Fairphone 2 was the first smartphone to be awarded with a 10/10 score at iFixit for repairability.
Fairphone's founder and CEO Bas van Abel was one of the three winners of the German Environmental Award in 2016.
Fairphone is a certified BCorp. The Fairphone 2 was the first mobile phone to receive the Blue Angel award.
Criticism
The choice of using Mediatek's hardware for the Fairphone 1 device was questioned by Replicant's maintainers. Replicant's maintainers suggested other hardware vendors like I.MX, OMAP, Rockchip and Allwinner.
On their website Fairphone states that they want to be transparent about their practices and how their phones are created. Still, on the company's forum there are discussions about lack of information concerning hardware failure rates, design issues, hard- and software modifications, quality control issues or their decision making processes. Therefore the transparency of the company is contested.