- Among the most repairable headphones you can buy
- Headphones will be followed by a US smartphone launch
- US pricing TBC, but the £219 UK price is about $285
Fairphone, one of the most interesting smartphone manufacturers around, is coming to the US – but its first US product won't be a phone. It'll be a set of noise-canceling headphones.
These aren't ordinary headphones, however. The Fairbuds XL are made with longevity, repairability and environmental responsibility in mind, and according to iFixit they're among the most repairable headphones you can buy.
That's Fairphone's deal: it makes products that enable you to enjoy your tech for longer without feeling quite so guilty about what you're doing to the planet. So these headphones are 100% e-waste neutral, made from 92% recycled aluminum, are modular for easy repair and have easily replaceable batteries.
We've used the Fairbuds XL and like them a lot, calling them "very talented" – and in Europe, they've been around for a few years, so sometimes get up to 30% discounts, making them even more tempting.
Why Fairphone's US launch is important
Fairphone fits neatly with the growing "right to repair" movement that's asking manufacturers to do better: many people want tech that isn't impossible to fix or that has to be thrown away because limited-life components such as earbud batteries aren't replaceable.
The firm's flagship phone, the Fairphone 6, promises to give you eight years of total support including a five-year warranty and spare parts availability until 2033. And that'll be coming to the US too, once the headphone launch has helped establish the brand.
Fairphone still uses Chinese manufacturing, but as Reuters reports the firm focuses on sustainability through the whole supply chain from the mining of materials to the manufacturing of devices. And its devices are made to be repaired, with key components easily replaced.
That strategy appears to be working: Fairphone's revenues are up 61% year-on-year, and it has bold plans for the US: it wants to sell as many headphones in the US as it does in Europe.
We don't yet know what the headphones will cost in the US, but the UK price translates to around $285 – however, the UK price includes av20% sales tax, so the pre-tax US price will probably be lower than that.
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