Fairphone 5 review: Eight years of guaranteed support, ten user-replaceable modules — the ethical-electronics flagship.
The 8-year ethical phone.
Fairphone 5 is the only phone with 8 guaranteed years of OS + security updates — beating Samsung's 7-year window by a generation. The chip and benchmarks trail mid-rangers half its price, but for buyers prioritising repairability, ethical sourcing, or maximum useful lifespan, no rival comes close.
01Display
80/10080/100 trails the 84-point cohort average for premium phones of 2023.
02Camera
72/10072/100 trails the 78-point cohort average for premium phones of 2023.
03Performance
62/10062/100 is one of the weaker performance results among premium phones of 2023 — 18 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
04Battery
76/10076/100 trails the 82-point cohort average for premium phones of 2023.
05Build
80/10080/100 — right at the average for premium phones of 2023.
06Repairability
100/100100/100 — right at the average for premium phones of 2023.
07Value
64/10064/100 is one of the weaker value results among premium phones of 2023 — 17 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
- 8 years of guaranteed software updates — industry-leading.
- 10 user-replaceable modules (battery, screen, USB-C, camera).
- Fairtrade gold + recycled materials throughout.
- Qi wireless + microSD + 5G.
- IoT-grade QCM6490 chip is slow for the price.
- Only IP55.
- Mono speaker.
- No 3.5 mm jack.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 47-phone cohort of premium devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .