Does the existence of a Fairphone 5 make any practical difference to an owner of an FP4? Or is it just the concern that some people will think, "Wah, this isn't the company's latest phone any more!" and upgrade sooner than they might otherwise?
Well obviously they can't back down on their promise to support FP4 for 5 years. But for example back in the FP2 era they went above and beyond and released Android 10 6 years after the release of the FP2. With more and more product lines to support, it seems less likely that such a thing would be feasible in future (limited resources and all that).
> Does the existence of a Fairphone 5 make any practical difference to an owner of an FP4? Or is it just the concern that some people will think, "Wah, this isn't the company's latest phone any more!" and upgrade sooner than they might otherwise?
A bit of both, I think.
The reality is a lot of consumers are still in the mindset that there's no problem with their individual behavior ("it's the fault of Exxon that our planet is doomed, not little ol' me buying a new phone every year!"). So Fairphone is enabling that bad behaviour, here.
Also, by matching the release cadence of the other companies, they're sending a signal that such a thing is okay (I think it isn't). Releasing "upgrade kits" that encourage consumers to extend the life of their handset by another couple of years, is a very different signal.
https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047776791...
Also a different form factor, but look at what Framework laptops are doing. You can upgrade every part, including the mainboare, individually. If it's possible for an ultrabook form factor, it should be possible for a slate handset form factor (IMO)
So it is the individual's fault, except it's not the individual's fault?