What it’s good to know
- Fairphone posted an enormous 116% year-over-year cargo enhance and its third straight quarter of development.
- Progress is strongest in Europe, led by the UK (+241% telephones), adopted by the Netherlands (+200%) and France (+121%), with Germany displaying regular beneficial properties.
- The momentum builds on a powerful 2025, the place gross sales jumped 42% and income hit €73.3 million (+35% YoY).
The 12 months 2026 has been a tough 12 months for smartphone gross sales. Counterpoint Analysis just lately reported that international shipments dropped 6% this quarter resulting from cautious spending and ongoing DRAM and NAND shortages. Most massive manufacturers are seeing decrease income and tough situations, however one smaller firm is doing properly. Fairphone had its third straight quarter of development, with smartphone shipments up 116% in comparison with Q1 2025.
In case you comply with cellphone specs and {hardware} tendencies, you already know that retaining a contemporary cellphone working for years often means coping with glued-in batteries and software program limits.
Fairphone does issues otherwise. Its telephones are constructed to be really repairable and final a very long time. This method is paying off, bringing the Amsterdam firm shut to 2 massive milestones: a million units bought and $500 million in whole income.
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Explosive European development
The expansion is very sturdy in sure markets. The UK noticed the most important enhance, with cellphone shipments up 241%, equipment up 166%, and audio merchandise rising 95%.
The Netherlands additionally noticed massive beneficial properties, with cellphone gross sales up 200%, equipment up 131%, and audio gear up 56%. France confirmed sturdy outcomes too, with a 121% enhance in telephones, 84% development in equipment, and a 28% rise in audio shipments.
Germany skilled regular development, with equipment main at 61%, telephones at 60%, and audio merchandise at 39%.
Fairphone is managing to develop at the same time as the broader electronics business faces challenges. Fairphone’s Chief Industrial Officer, Rutger Sneep, says the corporate is “rising whereas the market shrinks,” which he sees as “a powerful sign that customers are rethinking what good expertise appears to be like like”.
Sneep believes the sturdy demand in Europe exhibits that transparency, repairability, and accountable manufacturing make for a resilient enterprise mannequin.
This momentum comes after a really profitable 2025. Final 12 months, the sustainable tech model’s cellphone gross sales went up by 42%. That led to a complete income of €73.3 million, a powerful 35% enhance from the 12 months earlier than.
Android Central’s Take
I’m actually bored with seeing Samsung and Apple promote $1,000 telephones that develop into e-waste as quickly as you crack the again glass. Fairphone isn’t good. Its cameras can’t beat a Pixel, and the chips aren’t top-tier, however not less than you’ll be able to swap the battery with simply your fingernail in a minute. That’s not only a function. That’s an actual stand in opposition to deliberate obsolescence.
