Fairphone is working on a cheap, widely available Android phone (Update: Company statement)

Update, April 5, 2024 (12:00 PM ET): Fairphone responded to our request for a comment on the news below. Here is the company’s statement in full:

Our CEO’s discussion with Handelsblatt at MWC was about his vision for Fairphone and where he sees us heading in the future. He wants everyone to be able to contribute to a fairer and more circular planet. Fairphone’s complete offering, from phones to audio products, has to be in reach for many more people with different needs and budgets. In this way, Fairphone will accelerate the delivery of its mission to create an ethical electronics industry.

The original, unedited article follows.

Original article, April 5, 2024 (07:16 AM ET): Fairphone has been around for roughly a decade now, offering ethically made, repairable smartphones with responsibly sourced materials. The company recently gained a new CEO and it turns out he has ambitious goals for the brand.

Fairphone CEO Reinier Hendriks told the German Handelsblatt outlet that he wanted the company to expand to 23 new markets. There’s no word on the new countries, but the company recently expanded to Austria and Switzerland and reportedly found a sales partner for the UK. So we’re guessing that European expansion will continue to be a major focus.

Hendriks also has an aggressive goal in mind for pricing down the line:

I want to reach the €400 market. Everyone can participate — that’s the message we need to convey.

That would be a huge drop from the company’s current pricing, with the most recent Fairphone 5 retailing for €699. The company is apparently working more closely with Google and Qualcomm as part of this pricing goal. It also looks like Fairphone’s CEO thinks they can achieve a lower price through economies of scale, as larger orders can yield discounts from suppliers.

Either way, we hope a €400 Fairphone doesn’t result in a phone that’s compromised in terms of the ethical philosophy and repairable approach. We’ve asked the company how it intends to balance an aggressive price with these key tenets, but the company didn’t get back to us by the time of publication.