Conflict Minerals: Making a Call: Why the Fairphone is Better Than Its Rival Smartphones

Jan 22, 2015 | Susanna Butter, London Evening Standard
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With a large screen and a silver back, the Fairphone does not look markedly different to any other mobile but it is better than its rivals for one reason — it has been designed to effect change.

Technology is fickle. Even as you unwrap your box-fresh new equipment you can guarantee that a new version is on its way to render it out of date. But alongside this thirst for the new a backlash is beginning, with phones that are lasting and ethical.

Fairphone tries to use conflict-free minerals and factories where it can work to improve conditions — and it is designed in defiance of disposable technology. It is going well. Using crowdfunding to build enthusiasm, the Netherlands-based company sold all 25,000 of its first batch of phones before they were made. Not bad for a social enterprise.