Help the environment by not buying a new iPhone

jlelse.blog

19 points·jlelse··5 comments

This post makes an unfounded statement that fair phone is more env friendly because it is repairable. This might be true, and the opposite may be true: maybe fairphone is less env friendly because it breaks more often and requires a lot of spare parts. Maybe they produce more toxic waste during production of fairphone.

To be fair the post also says, correctly, that what's better for the environment is also using the phone that you already have. IE keeping it longer.

But we should take into account there’s a market for used iPhones. When I last upgraded, I gave my old phone to someone who needed it and prevented them from buying another brand. If (theoretically) iPhones are better for the environment than competitors, that’s a net win.

The Fairphone doesn't even come close to the iPhone 11, or even the iPhone X. No OLED screen. No advanced cameras.

And the Fairphone has a tacky logo on the front of the device that screams, "I'm cheap!"

And I say this as a person that would otherwise prefer the Fairphone. I think it's cool that it's repairable, but without offering something competitive with the iPhone 11 Pro, I just don't have any incentive to give up my iPhone 6S. I had the battery replaced a few months ago for $50, and it'll work just fine for me for years to come.

The basic premise of the article is "help the environment". If that is no incentive to you, so be it.

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