Fairphone remains one of the very few companies that continues to sell repairable and sustainable smartphones while other brands have come and gone. Despite its staying power, the Dutch company only ships its handsets in limited quantities, so its modular phones are only available in a few markets. That said, the fact that Fairphone has come this far should be lauded, having held its own on a different battleground than many of the mainstream Android phones, championing sustainability at the expense of staying current. With the Fairphone 5, however, the company is trying to catch up with the latest design trends, as per a new leak.
According to Android Authority, the next-generation Fairphone model is likely to pack in some stylish design improvements, making it a definite step up from the Fairphone 4. The outlet gathered a bunch of supposed Fairphone 5 renders, which it claims to be official, showing off a centered punch hole for the selfie camera. This replaces the current model's waterdrop notch, which is a bit outdated by today's standards.
The renders also reveal a triangular camera module on the back that houses two sensors for the main and ultrawide shooters, an LED flash, and a third time-of-flight sensor. This looks similar to the Fairphone 4, except that the LED flash is circular instead of oval like on the legacy model.
Fairphone is also said to be adding two new colorways to the next-gen model. As shown in the renders (pictured below), the Fairphone 5 will be available in black, as before, as well as a new light blue and transparent variant. The Fairphone 4, meanwhile, shipped in green and Speckled Green colorways.
Source: Android Authority
In addition, the microSD card slot and the SIM card tray have found a new home at the upper portion of the phone's back side, right underneath the battery like before. These components are located on the bottom-right side of the battery on the Fairphone 4.
However, the latest leak gives us no clue about the Fairphone 5's specs. Fairphone models' modularity and repairability did not come cheap. Due to the level of customization required to match the phone's module design, Fairphone typically sticks with older processors. Therefore, it's highly likely that the Fairphone 5's chipset could be one of the older and cheaper variants available on the market. Of course, Fairphone fans don't buy these phones for their latest and top-of-the-line SoCs, so they may be more forgiving in this regard.
