How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

Fairphone 是如何打造 Fairphone Gen 6+ 的

Smartphone longevity didn’t used to matter. In the past, before you could wear out or break a phone, there was always some shiny new thing to buy. Today, we expect our smartphones to go the distance, but they’ve also become less repairable and, in many cases, more fragile. Fairphone, a Dutch smartphone maker that has just entered the US market, thinks about phones differently. The new $650 Fairphone Gen 6+ is designed both for longevity and easy repairability. There are trade-offs to this approach if you’re used to the standard glass and aluminum sandwiches filled with glue, gaskets, and teeny-tiny screws. But the drawbacks could be worth it for the right buyer. Fairphone CTO Chandler Hatton told Ars that Fairphone’s goal is to provide a compelling mobile experience while also enabling the user to “fully own” their device. At the end of the day, this is what a lot of people say they want in a smartphone.

过去，智能手机的使用寿命并不重要。在过去，还没等你用坏或弄碎一部手机，总会有闪亮的新品等着你去购买。如今，我们期望智能手机能用得更久，但它们却变得越来越难维修，且在许多情况下变得更加脆弱。刚刚进入美国市场的荷兰智能手机制造商 Fairphone 对手机有着不同的思考。售价 650 美元的全新 Fairphone Gen 6+ 在设计上兼顾了耐用性和易维修性。如果你习惯了那种充满胶水、密封垫和微小螺丝的玻璃与铝合金“三明治”结构，这种设计方法确实存在一些权衡。但对于合适的买家来说，这些缺点或许是值得的。Fairphone 首席技术官 Chandler Hatton 告诉 Ars，Fairphone 的目标是在提供出色的移动体验的同时，让用户能够“完全拥有”他们的设备。归根结底，这正是许多人对智能手机的诉求。

Take it apart, put it back together

拆解与重组

These days, Google, Samsung, and Apple support phones with software updates for the better part of a decade, but will the hardware last that long? And what happens when it needs a repair? You may be out of luck or out a lot of money, but Fairphone prioritizes the self-repair experience. “We’re doing something that was long thought to be nearly impossible,” said Hatton. “Which is delivering high-performing modular smartphones that can last for a very long time.”

如今，谷歌、三星和苹果为手机提供长达近十年的软件更新支持，但硬件能撑那么久吗？当需要维修时又该怎么办？你可能会因为找不到配件而束手无策，或者花费高昂的维修费用，但 Fairphone 将自助维修体验放在了首位。“我们正在做一件长期以来被认为几乎不可能的事情，”Hatton 说，“那就是提供能够长期使用的高性能模块化智能手机。”

Fairphone designs devices to be sustainable, focusing on avoiding conflict minerals, using recycled materials, and paying workers a living wage. Fairphone says it doesn’t want to sell you a bunch of phones, just one that you can keep using even if something breaks. “Our goal is that every single person that purchases a Fairphone uses it for at least five years, and we track that as a KPI [Key Performance Indicator],” said Hatton.

Fairphone 在设计设备时注重可持续性，专注于避免使用冲突矿产、使用回收材料，并为工人支付生活工资。Fairphone 表示，他们不想向你推销一堆手机，只想提供一部即使损坏也能继续使用的手机。“我们的目标是让每一位购买 Fairphone 的用户至少使用五年，并将此作为我们的关键绩效指标（KPI）进行追踪，”Hatton 说道。

The standard way to design a modern smartphone is to cram as much as you can into an aluminum and glass sandwich, with the expectation that it will be assembled once in a factory and never opened by the buyer. Devices rely on glue and awkwardly placed screws to accomplish this, making the internals a little like metal spaghetti. The Gen 6+ is designed so that anyone can replace parts, reducing e-waste and potentially saving consumers a lot of money. If you’ve had, say, a Samsung Galaxy phone for a couple of years and need to replace the screen or USB port, the cost might be higher than just buying a new phone. “There is an incentive in terms of planned obsolescence to replace your device,” said Hatton. “On the one hand, it’s a good way to keep selling devices, but that’s simply not the proposition that we have.”

现代智能手机的标准设计方式是将尽可能多的组件塞进铝合金和玻璃的“三明治”结构中，并预设它在工厂组装一次后，买家永远不会将其拆开。设备依靠胶水和位置尴尬的螺丝来实现这一点，使得内部结构看起来像是一团金属“意大利面”。Gen 6+ 的设计初衷是让任何人都能更换零件，从而减少电子垃圾，并可能为消费者节省大量资金。如果你使用三星 Galaxy 手机几年后需要更换屏幕或 USB 接口，维修成本可能比直接买一部新手机还要高。“从计划报废的角度来看，厂商有动力让你更换设备，”Hatton 说，“一方面，这是持续销售设备的好方法，但这绝不是我们的主张。”

That means designing the phone differently—it’s not just a matter of skipping the glue. Inside, the Fairphone Gen 6+ is clean and orderly. It starts with a pair of T5 Torx screws exposed on the back of the phone. After removing those, the back cover slides off. With the same driver, you can extract the battery, camera modules, USB-C port, display, and more. In all, the phone supports user replacement of 12 different parts with just that one (included) screwdriver. One drawback is that the modular approach makes the phone a millimeter or two thicker than most glued-together phones.

这意味着手机的设计必须与众不同——这不仅仅是不使用胶水那么简单。Fairphone Gen 6+ 的内部结构整洁有序。拆解从手机背面的两颗 T5 梅花螺丝开始。卸下它们后，后盖即可滑出。使用同一把螺丝刀，你可以拆卸电池、摄像头模块、USB-C 接口、显示屏等。总而言之，该手机支持用户仅用这一把（随附的）螺丝刀更换 12 个不同的部件。一个缺点是，这种模块化设计使手机比大多数使用胶水粘合的手机厚了一两毫米。

The battery stares you in the face once the back panel is opened. You’ll have to remove a few more screws to get it out, but quick swapping isn’t the goal here—this is about longevity. “We know that after about three years, it will be wise to replace your battery with a new one,” said Hatton. “Batteries aren’t meant to last forever, but your phone on the whole can last a lot longer than a battery.”

打开后盖，电池便映入眼帘。你需要再拆下几颗螺丝才能将其取出，但这里的目标并非“快速更换”，而是为了延长使用寿命。“我们知道，大约三年后，更换新电池是明智之举，”Hatton 说，“电池注定无法永久使用，但你的手机整体寿命可以比电池长得多。”

While the Fairphone is designed to be disassembled, what about the long haul? The Fairphone 6+ is mostly plastic rather than metal like a Pixel or iPhone. The phone still manages to feel solid, though, thanks to its internal metal frame, and the company has worked to ensure the device doesn’t become progressively less sturdy as you tinker with it. “When we’re in our product development cycle, we introduce tests that are specifically dedicated to disassembly and reassembly,” said Hatton. “So we’re looking in part at the robustness.”

虽然 Fairphone 的设计初衷是可拆卸，但长期使用表现如何呢？Fairphone 6+ 主要采用塑料材质，而非像 Pixel 或 iPhone 那样的金属材质。不过，得益于内部的金属框架，手机手感依然扎实。公司也致力于确保设备不会因为你的拆装而变得越来越松散。“在产品开发周期中，我们引入了专门针对拆卸和重组的测试，”Hatton 说，“所以我们在一定程度上也在关注其稳固性。”

Hatton pointed to tests that examine, for example, what happens when someone over-tightens screws while servicing their device. Does it warp the casing? Damage any nearby components? Hatton said it takes her 15 minutes to fully disassemble a Fairphone Gen 6+, but she did have a hand in designing it. That said, it shouldn’t take a novice much longer. After a couple of minutes perusing Fairphone’s documentation, I was able to take the phone apart and remove all of the user-serviceable components in about 20 minutes. Everything went back together without issue and still works perfectly, with no new gaps or wobble. The process is pretty intuitive, with most of the parts held in with flat board-to-board cable connectors. Just pop them off with a spudger or your fingernail, and the component lifts right out. There are a good number of screws to remove to get all the way down to the metal frame and screen, but again, they all use the same T5 Torx bit.

Hatton 指出了一些测试，例如检查当用户在维修设备时过度拧紧螺丝会发生什么。外壳会变形吗？会损坏附近的组件吗？Hatton 表示，她可以在 15 分钟内完全拆解一部 Fairphone Gen 6+，但毕竟她参与了设计。话虽如此，新手也不会花太长时间。在浏览了几分钟 Fairphone 的文档后，我大约用了 20 分钟就拆开了手机并取出了所有用户可维修的组件。一切重新组装后没有任何问题，依然运行完美，没有出现新的缝隙或晃动。整个过程非常直观，大多数部件通过扁平的板对板电缆连接器固定。只需用撬棒或指甲轻轻一拨，组件就能直接取下。虽然要拆到金属框架和屏幕需要卸下不少螺丝，但它们都使用相同的 T5 梅花螺丝刀头。

Specs at a glance: Fairphone Gen 6+ ($650)

规格一览：Fairphone Gen 6+（650 美元）

• SoC: Snapdragon 7s Gen 4

• Memory: 12GB

• Storage: 256GB plus microSD

• Display: 6.31-inch 1116×2484 LTPO OLED, 10–120 Hz, 1400 nits

• Cameras: 50 MP f/1.88 primary, 13 MP f/2.2 ultrawide, 32 MP f/2.0

• SoC（处理器）： 骁龙 7s Gen 4

• 内存： 12GB

• 存储： 256GB 加 microSD 卡扩展

• 显示屏： 6.31 英寸 1116×2484 LTPO OLED，10–120 Hz，1400 尼特

• 摄像头： 5000 万像素 f/1.88 主摄，1300 万像素 f/2.2 超广角，3200 万像素 f/2.0 前摄