Fairphone 2, the return of the ethical smartphone

Dutch company Fairphone has presented its new partially modular ethical smartphone, guaranteeing the traceability of all of its components. It will be available for €525 starting this summer.

This new 4G, double-SIM compatible smartphone offers numerous upgrades compared to the first Fairphone. Operating under Android Lollipop (5.1), the phone is equipped with a 5-inch full HD display, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 platform, an 8MP camera, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. A key difference with other high-end smartphones is its modular composition, which allows for easier repairs, especially for the screen, camera, speaker and microphone, thus enabling a longer lifespan.

For its newest smartphone, Fairphone has mostly used conflict-free minerals, like tin and tantalum from the Democratic Republic of Congo, all the while improving its e-waste collection program in Ghana.

Fairphone is a Dutch cooperative that champions fair trade and goes to great lengths to not use materials from whose sale armed groups could profit.

Pre-orders for the Fairphone 2, which will at first only be available in Europe for €525, will begin over the summer.

Launched in 2013, the Fairphone was created on the principle that manufacturing must be done with minimal harm to the planet, from a sustainable supply chain to commercializing a fair product, a concept which has already won over more than 60,000 people.