Hey there, lets talk about fair phones!
Earlier this year, Greenpeace released a cute little video with a big message. Smartphones got introduced only ten years ago and they already feel like a part of our body. Until now, more than 7 billion (!) smartphones have been sold worldwide.
The problem with Smartphones is, they are designed according to so called planned obsolescence.
"Planned obsolescence, or built-in obsolescence, in industrial design and economics is a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so it will become obsolete (that is, unfashionable or no longer functional) after a certain period of time." - Wikipedia
This can be due to planned hardware defects but I feel that nowadys, concerns push you to update your phone with new software which at one point makes your old phone so slow that you cannot use it anymore. I loved my Iphone 4 and I remember when I got it the first day I was like "wow this is so fast and perfect, I will never need another phone again". Two years later and the thing is so slow that I can barely use it anymore.
One of my favorite designers/engineers/change-agents is Dave Hekkens. The young dutch designer did not only invent precious plastic which I personally love a lot. He also came up with the idea of phonebloks, 4 years ago. With 22 million clicks on youtube, you could say there was a lot of interest
The idea of Phonebloks is to have a modular phone where certain hardware parts can be replaced and updated so if for example your RAM was broken, you could easily replace it instead of buying a new phone.
Dave was looking for big companys to support his vision of Phonebloks, he got in touch with Google and they started developing project ARA which should have been a poppy, modular cellphone.
Google - Project ARA
Sadly, the project got cancelled in September '16 with the following reason:
"The decision was reportedly made by Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh, who's been trying to streamline the company's seemingly disorganized product lineup." - the Verge
This might or might not be the real reason why we are not seeing any modular phones. In my personal opinion, I think modular phones are just not bringing in as much money as conventional smartphones and this is why it is not happening.
While researching how sustainable the production of smartphones of big companys really is, I came up with a greenpeace report which suprisingly states that Apple is one of the most sustainable manufactures.
Greenpeace, all rights reserved
Greenpeace, all rights reserved
On rank number one we see Fairphone which is not suprising since the companys credo is to produce sustainable, fair phones. Fairphones might be a little behind in the hardware and design but the optimization of recycling and production processes is impressive.
Fairphone
I am definately watching out for companys like Fairphone and I hope that big concerns are jumping on the sustainability train. I will buy my next phone with a lot more of mindfullness and I will try to use my old one as long as possible.
Hear you soon,
For this posts music I would like to introduce you to Rahim AlHaj, the Iraq-born musician and composer recently played this truely beautiful set for KEXP. In the end of the video Rahim AlHaj talks about personal experiences and communicates a strong message - lay back and try not to cry..
