Amsterdam-based technologists Fairphone has announced a new modular smartphone.
The company aims to produce a smartphone designed with minimal harm to the planet and with a longer lifespan than most phones.
The idea behind this phone is that its battery, circuitry, screen, cameras and microphone modules can all be switched out with relative ease, whether to replace broken components or to upgrade to more powerful versions in the future.
“We need to build products that last much longer than the next upgrade cycle”, the company says. Is this a (slight) return to the concept of quality before profit? To the ethos of building the best product, within reason, instead of building to a low price point defined by the market?
It’s a sound idea and one in keeping with the theme behind the current issue of E&T magazine: the new DIY, rise of the maker culture.
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Engineering & Technology magazine 