It is insanely expensive. Remember that the median household income in the US is less than $70k before taxes. That means half the people are making less than that, sometimes very significantly less than that. I assume your household makes more than double that, correct?
And that’s just the United States, which is very high income compared to most of the world.
Yes. I can see that having inexpensive, repairable devices could be good for people who can't afford iPhones or AppleCare, whether in the US or elsewhere.
What I'm wondering about is the enthusiasm for them among the HN crowd. Maybe many in the HN crowd are still students, or "Ramen-profitable"...?
I need a phone to be able to perform every day things like 2fa for my banking, just like I need other things like a fridge for my food
I want to the keep the cost per year for these things as low as possible while fulfilling my base requirements. For the phone that's no vendor lock-in, cheap repairs, and ability to play YouTube, browse emails, and check the news
The Fairphone is the best option for me. It does what it needs to and is reasonably cheap per year, so I can spend that money on things I actually care about
Not arguing with you, but asking: have you compared the price of the cheapest iPhone + AppleCare with the price of a corresponding Fairphone plus the cost of parts for likely repairs?
Yes. The Fairphone wins hands down. The cheapest iPhone has six years of remaining software updates and cost approximately $590 where I live. Thats a little more than $98 per year
Apple care+ is approximately $40 per year plus another $80 for each repair due to "accidents" (unless it's the screen or case in which case it's $30)
That's a minimum cost of $138 per year if I don't suffer any malfunctions or accidents
The Fairphone is approximately $750 with at least 8 years of support. That's a minimum cost of $93.75 per year. That means that I'd have to crack my screen every 18 months or so for the iPhone to be more price competitive. Given that I've never cracked a screen that seems highly unlikely
For the battery I can replace it every 11 months and still spend less money with the Fairphone (plus I get to keep the old battery as a backup)
Any other part breaking is a massive expense on the iPhone. Not including the screen, every spare part for the Fairphone is less than the service fee with apple care
If Fairphone ends up providing 10 years of support for the device, that just pushes the math even more in its favour
And all that is not even considering that the Fairphone comes with a 5 year warranty which would already cover any non-accident/wear+tear malfunctions
I’m going to butt in and say that yes, I agree with you that Fairphone hasn’t completely succeeded in the goals they have set out. The price is definitely still a problem, but at least they are trying.
I just had a discussion with an Apple fanatic on HN where I tried to explain that to him, in response to him claiming people in the US make more money than most other countries which is why everyone buys luxury iphones.
And that’s just the United States, which is very high income compared to most of the world.