A new Fairphone is on the horizon, it is coming to replace the Fairphone 4, which will be two years old in September. Images that were allegedly created by the company itself before being “borrowed” by someone who shared them with Android Authority.
The broad strokes are the same with rounded sides and a triangular camera island on the back. And while we don’t have anything in the way of specs yet, it’s clear that the display was the focal point of the upgrades.
Fairphone 5 (leaked images)
The first thing to notice is that the front camera is now inside a small punch hole rather than the old-fashioned notch of the mark 4. Even better, the bezels are slimmer, a badly needed change – despite having only a 6.3” display, the Fairphone 4 was the same size as the Galaxy S21+.
The fingerprint reader is still mounted on the side, which suggests that we’re looking at another LCD, though it’s dimensions and resolution are unknown.
The Fairphone 5 doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack either
Going around the back, the camera island is mostly the same, besides tweaks to the shape of the LED flash. There are still only two camera modules, plus a 3D TOF sensor. The more interesting part is what is behind the back panel.
Fairphone is ahead of EU’s 2027 target and has user-replaceable batteries right now. The Fairphone 5 will have one as well (capacity unknown) and though the company has repositioned the SIM and microSD slots, they are still blocked by the battery, so hot swapping isn’t possible.
Here’s an exploded view of the new model compared to the 2021. We’re not seeing a coil for wireless charging (the 4 didn’t have one either) and the headphone jack is not making a comeback by the looks of it.
Exploded view: Fairphone 5 • Fairphone 4
Notice something else? Fairphone will step on Nothing’s toes a bit with a transparent version of its phone. Even though there are no LEDs (none that we can see, anyway), this is a much cooler look than the Speckled Green of the mark 4 as far as we’re concerned.
The Fairphone 5 will have a transparent colorway
Fairphone has not set an official date for its next smartphone yet, but it should be soon if this is the final design.
