Celebrating seven years of the Fairphone 3
Fairphone retires the Fairphone 3 and 3+ after seven years of support, two years beyond the original five-year plan, while highlighting the device’s role in advancing modular design and fair labor practices.
Fairphone announced the end of support for the Fairphone 3 and 3+ in August 2026, concluding a seven-year software lifecycle that exceeded the planned five-year target. The last update was released in June 2024. Carriers such as Orange, KPN, Deutsche Telekom, and Vodafone initially distributed the device across Europe, marking its transition to a more conventional yet modular design compared to earlier models.
The Fairphone 3 introduced incremental improvements over the Fairphone 2, including a separate speaker module and increased use of post-consumer recycled plastics, rising from 9% to 40% in the Fairphone 3+. The device also became the first to implement Fairphone’s living wage bonus program, which has since paid over $1.25 million USD to supply chain workers to bridge the gap between minimum wage and a livable salary.
Despite facing spare parts shortages, Fairphone maintained its longevity promise by recovering components from used devices for repairs and refurbishment. Over the past two years, the Reuse and Recycling program supplied hundreds of displays and motherboards, while nearly 800 speaker modules were refurbished and made available for purchase, demonstrating the feasibility of closing the loop in electronics.
Fairphone 3 owners are encouraged to switch to alternative operating systems like LineageOS, /e/OS, or postmarketOS to extend security and functionality beyond official support. Fairphone will publish its Android 14 development work to aid open-source communities. The company also promotes its latest model, the Fairphone (Gen. 6), which offers software support until 2033 and a five-year warranty, continuing the principles established by the Fairphone 3.