Fairphone
Together we’re creating demand for fair products.
In 2013, Fairphone launched a movement for fairer electronics. By making a phone, we’re opening up the supply chain and creating new relationships between people and their products. We’re making a positive impact across the value chain in mining, design, manufacturing and life cycle, while expanding the market for products that put ethical values first. Together with our community, we’re changing the way products are made.
We’re not doing it for the prizes, but we don’t mind a bit of praise. Here are a few of our favorite achievements from the past few years. Together we can change the way products are made.
Facts at a glance
- 2010 - Started as an awareness campaign about conflict minerals
- Amsterdam-based on the river IJ
- 70+ employees from 20 countries
- 100,000+ Fairphone owners
- 2013 - Became an independent company
- 250,000 community members on Facebook, Twitter and the Fairphone forum combined
A new milestone in fairer electronics: Introducing Fairphone 3+
There are days that make me especially proud and excited to be part of the Fairphone movement. Today is one of them. Our entire team has been working hard to create a revolutionary development that I’m super pleased to announce….but first let me give you a bit of the background.
Today marks a giant leap forward, but it’s a journey that’s not going to be quick. Seven years after the launch of our first phone, many of the issues in our industry are the same – or even more urgent – than when we first started.
The phone industry is driven by innovation. But these days, innovation is increasingly incremental. That means there’s only the tiniest difference between one model and the next, and in fact, most new smartphones are very similar.
The industry has created a habit of hunger for the latest improvements, and consumers have embraced the fashionability of owning the latest model, even if their old phones are still working. Even if some of the attractive new features that seem like siren calls at the time of purchase never actually get used.
This behavior is having a massive impact, and it’s not a positive one. Most people replace their phones after a little over 2 years, and only 20% of their old phones are properly recycled. This means 1.4 billion new phones are sold every year… It’s no surprise that electronic waste is now the world’s fastest-growing waste stream.