Our planet is beautiful, but we only have one to go around. As such, making smart choices about how we live our lives and the products we buy is key to ensuring they stick around for generations to come.
Some smartphones are created to be more sustainable and repairable than others. If these are important factors to you when buying a new phone, the Fairphone 5 is the one to buy. There are also a few other options worth discussing when it comes to the best modular phone, which we'll dive into in this article.
At a glance
Best overall
The Fairphone 5 has hardware that looks more like a mid-range phone, but with replaceable parts, an OLED dispaly, and software updates planned until 2031, it's a capable sustainable phone.
Best value
If you're on a budget, Fairphone 5 feels a little less fair when looking at the price. Fairphone 4 is still available with plenty of parts for repairs, and most importantly, software support until 2026, and maybe beyond.
Flagship repairability
While it's not the easiest phone to take apart, the Pixel 8 makes up for it with strong part availability, and guides available from iFixit. The Pixel 8 even gets seven years of OS updates.
Best for modding
European phones like the SHIFT6mq are highly moddable and repairable, making them easy to recommend.
Best budget phone
While its software support leaves a lot to be desired, the Nokia G310 has a lot of parts available for a budget phone, including batteries and displays.
Best budget alternative
Apart from niche European phones and the Galaxy A54, Nokia's X30 5G is a very eco-friendly device that non-U.S. residents can consider.
Best overall
In the world of sustainable smartphones, the Fairphone 5 is perhaps the most popular. Why? It's arguably the most repairable on the planet, with the very similar last-gen model receiving a perfect 10/10 repairability score in iFixit's teardown. Most of the Fairphone 5 is made out of user-replaceable modules, meaning you can swap parts in and out as you need to. There are modules for the display, battery, rear camera, selfie camera, headphone jack, USB-C port, speaker, and more. If something here breaks, chances are you can replace it in the blink of an eye.
For repairs or upgrades, all you need is a Philips screwdriver, which Fairphone thoughtfully provides along with the phone. And, just for some extra peace of mind, Fairphone 5 comes with a generous five-year warranty. Even better, easy repairability isn't where Fairphone stopped with the Fairphone 5. The handset is created with responsibly sourced materials, with more than 70 percent fair or recycled-focused materials. Not to mention that Fairphone is a massive advocate for better working conditions in the mobile tech industry.
On the specs front, the Fairphone 5 delivers a Snapdragon Qualcomm QCM6490 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of expandable storage, a 6.46-inch 90Hz OLED display, and a 4,200mAh battery. The phone is reasonably waterproof, sporting an IP55 water resistance rating. On the software side, updates are guaranteed through 2031 (at least five Android OS versions following Android 13) and it ships with a five-year warranty like its predecessor. Users can also install alternative operating systems like /e/os on their Fairphone devices.
The Fairphone 5 even comes with two 50MP dual lenses, including a wide-angle and ultra-wide angle lens, along with a 50MP selfie front camera for taking stunning self-portraits and social media-worthy videos. It has pro photo modes, too, like Super Night Mode, Portrait Mode, and Pro Mode as well as fast auto-focus with advanced face recognition. Additionally, you can shoot videos at up to 4K resolution and slow-motion videos at up to 240 frames per second.
As much as we love the Fairphone 5, it does come with a big caveat. It's only available in Europe and the U.K., meaning you're out of luck if you live in the U.S.
Best value
One of the best things about owning a Fairphone is how long the device gets software updates. While the Fairphone 5 is the latest and greatest from the brand, the Fairphone 4 is still set to get software updates until 2026 and maybe beyond. The Fairphone 4 ships with Android 13 running on a Snapdragon 750G SoC with up to 8GB of RAM. The 3905mAh battery the 6.3-inch IPS display, and dual 48MP rear cameras are all replaceable. Ever blown the speaker on your phone or ended up with a hit-or-miss charge port? Those can also be swapped out with parts available right on Fairphone’s website.
In our Fairphone 4 review, we weren’t terribly impressed with the cameras or the aging SoC but were happy to see a five-year warranty, long-term software support, and how readily available the parts were. The phone even comes with a screwdriver and doesn’t need any specialty bits to get inside. If you’re the type that’s comfortable replacing a few components in your phone, you can make the Fairphone 4 last for years.
With the phone coming apart so easily, it’s also impressive that it comes with an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance. The phone supports a wide range of LTE and 5G bands, but may not get great support on some US carriers. For example, it lacks band n66 used by T-Mobile, and band n2 used by Verizon. Even so, mid-band 5G is supported with Cat 18 LTE, so you should still get usable speeds on most carriers.
Flagship repairability
The Pixel 8 is an unlikely addition to this list with its glass back and stuck-down display, but for a skilled repair technician, the real challenge comes from finding parts. If you’ve got a cracked screen, for example, you not only need a replacement OLED screen, but the adhesives needed to stick it, and the back glass down. You can pick of a wide range of replacement parts from iFixit including displays, back glass, and even the front and rear cameras. You can also get a kit with all of the parts, tools, and an image-based guide on iFixit’s website.
The Google Pixel 8 is one of our favorite Android phones overall, so it is great to see that it and the larger Pixel 8 Pro both have parts available. The Pixel 8 is powered by the snappy Tensor G3 SoC from Google with 8GB of RAM. It has plenty of power for Android 14, and with seven years of OS updates promised, you’ll be able to keep it for a long time. The battery is a 4575mAh pack with 27W wired charging supported and can also be replaced with a new one if needed.
While it remains to be seen just how long genuine parts will be available for this phone, the fact that iFixit has genuine parts going back to the Pixel 2 gives me a lot of hope that this phone can be repaired for years to come. And since Google is promising seven years of OS updates, you’ll also be in good shape on the software side.
Best for modding
Sticking with phones sold in Europe, the SHIFT6mq stands out as another easy recommendation. Like Fairphone, SHIFT aims to create devices that are simple to repair and open to modification.
We're specifically looking at the SHIFT6mq, which is astonishingly easy to repair. The last-gen SHIFT6m earned a 9/10 repairability score from iFixit, with some of its highlights being easy access to the battery and screen, only one type of screw head being used to hold the phone together, and a screwdriver being included in the box, so nothing is holding you back from making repairs as needed. With the SHIFT6mq, you get all of the same advantages.
The SHIFT6mq does have some overlapping components and short connection cables, meaning that it's not quite as easy to repair as the Fairphone 5. That said, it's still light years ahead of what most other companies are selling these days.
Unfortunately, this is another phone that you cannot buy if you live in the U.S.
Best budget phone
If you’re looking for something cheaper, the Nokia G310 is made to be repaired with parts that are easy to replace, and most importantly, easy access to genuine parts. Once again, iFixit saves the day with displays, batteries, charge ports, rear covers, and the necessary adhesives in stock. The parts also work for the Nokia G42 5G, which looks identical on paper. Nokia even states that if you use the genuine parts from iFixit, it will be considered an authorized repair and won’t affect your warranty.
The G310 looks like a lot of budget phones from the spec sheet with a 6.56-inch IPS display running at 90Hz, a Snapdragon 480+ SoC, and a 5000mAh battery. It only has 4GB of RAM, so you may find multi-tasking to be a bit sluggish. It’s also only got 128GB of storage, but thanks to a microSD card slot, you can easily expand that with one of the best microSD cards. It also has a headphone jack, which is another win for sustainability because wired headphones can last for decades whereas the batteries in Bluetooth headphones will eventually die.
One downside is software support. The G310 comes with Android 13 installed, but it’s not known if it will be updated to Android 14, and if it is, how long that will take. That’s not a huge problem if you stick to apps on the Play Store, but for a phone being held up as an example of sustainability, HMD, the company that makes Nokia phones, should really be more open about the kind of software support that can be expected.
Best budget alternative
Another sustainable phone we'd like to bring your attention to is the Nokia X30 5G. The Nokia X30 5G is designed to be a mid-range phone, meaning it's not as powerful or interesting as more mainstream Android phones like the Galaxy A54. It's not as repairable as Fairphone either, but it does have a leg up in terms of sustainability and endurance.
The Nokia X30 5G sports a hardy IP67 water and dustproof rating so it can survive rough use. This is obviously going to help it stay alive much longer than your average phone. HMD Global promises a three-year warranty, three years of OS and security updates, and the phone comes with Android 12 out of the box. That means you'll be good until Android 15 sees the light of day.
On the eco-friendly side of things, HMD Global claims that the Nokia X30 5G is the most sustainable Nokia phone yet. A whopping 60% of all the materials used to build Nokia X30 handsets are recycled, including plastic and aluminum. In an effort to reduce e-waste, there's no power brick in the box and the phone features eSIM support.
Sadly, the robust Nokia X30 5G is not available in the U.S. just yet and we don't know if it ever will. Making matters worse, Nokia phones are famously slow to receive new updates.
The best eco-friendly phone for your needs
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Sustainable/repairable smartphones aren't as prominent as we wish they were among the best Android phones. Still, as long as you're willing to do a bit of digging, it's possible to find plenty of hidden gems that excel in these regards. Overall, we think the Fairphone 5 is the best of the best, with powerful enough specs to please your average user.
One look at Fairphone's five-year warranty is enough to make it a compelling purchase — regardless of whether or not you're concerned about your impact on the planet. If you drop the Fairphone while plugged in, accidentally shatter its screen on the sidewalk, or for virtually any other reason, you can get a replacement battery or screen and easily replace any part yourself.
The sustainable and modular build is the big selling point of the Fairphone 5, but the phone itself is also designed to be enjoyable to use. Between its powerful specs and years' worth of OS updates, the Fairphone 5 almost has it all. It offers a stellar package that comes at a steep cost, but we feel that responsibly sourced materials are worth it.
If you can't get your hands on a Fairphone, you can still get a phone with good access to spare parts with the Pixel 8. Google has promised seven years of OS updates for this phone, so it will remain current on the software side as well. Whether you need a new display or just want your day-one battery life back, the Pixel 8 is a surprisingly repairable smartphone.
How to choose
There's no mystery as to why phones have gotten harder to repair with designs that favor thinness, sleek designs, and water resistance. Some older phones even had separate layers on the screen so if you needed a new glass, you didn't necessarily need to replace the LCD panel. Those days are gone, and really the best we can hope for is reasonable availability of parts and long-term software support.
One of the first things you should check is how long the phone will be supported with software updates. This information is often provided by the manufacturer, such as Fairphone and Google. HMD Nokia and Motorola, for example, aren't exactly known for timely updates and long-term support.
Phones are made of glass and plastic for the most part, which aren't exactly clean and green to produce, so the best thing you can realistically do is make your phone last as long as possible. Before clicking that buy button, see what replacement parts are available for your model, and how many are available. If you don't want to start digging around inside your phone, no problem, you can take it to a skilled repair technician, but they'll still need parts.
If you're a bit handier, there's a lot of satisfaction to be gained from repairing your phone on your own. And you're not totally on your own with excellent guides available from many users online and on sites like iFixit, which also offers tools and parts.
Finally, make sure you're getting a phone with enough power for your needs. While your needs may not change that much, the apps you use could get heavier with new updates and features.
