Looking for an ethical smartphone? Fairphone 3 is on the horizon

Buying a smartphone almost always means that you're supporting some sort of unethical practice, whether it's conflict minerals, environmental destruction, or sketchy labor practices. Fairphone sought to buck this trend, as the company offered two ethical smartphones.

Now, a listing for the Fairphone 3 has popped up on the Bluetooth SIG website. Aside from confirming the name and Bluetooth 5 capabilities, the listing doesn't tell us anything else though.

It's been over three years since the Fairphone 2 hit the market, and it packed a Snapdragon 801 chipset, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, a 5-inch 1080p LCD screen, and a 2,420mAh removable battery. Other FairPhone 2 specs include a 12MP f/2.2 main camera, 5MP selfie shooter, and dual-SIM support.

What to expect from new phone?

The Fairphone 2 retailed for €525 (~$579) at launch, which is a pretty hefty amount for a chipset that was almost two years old at the time. It's also a rather large sum for a device with rather disappointing specs in other areas, such as the battery and cameras. But again, you're paying for an ethically produced device rather than a superphone like the Galaxy S10 or Huawei P30 Pro.

Read: Best MediaTek phones (July 2019) | Best high-end phones that won't break the bank

Another point in the Fairphone 2's favor was its ease of repair, as it scored a ten out of ten rating from iFixit. In fact, it's still the only phone to receive a perfect score from the repair website.

Don't be surprised if the Fairphone 3 takes a similar approach, using older and/or cheaper parts to achieve its goal. In other words, I wouldn't expect a Snapdragon 855 chipset or triple rear cameras here. But hopefully the new phone delivers in the repairability stakes.

Fairphone confirmed to Android Authority that it was working on a new device, without revealing more details. Would you buy a Fairphone 3 or an ethical smartphone in general? Let us know in the comments!

NEXT: 7 times Google was behind the curve with Pixel phones

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