Fairphone 4
Fairphone 4 is a smartphone designed and marketed by Fairphone. It succeeds the Fairphone 3+ and was succeeded by the Fairphone 5. It was announced on 30 September 2021, and was available for order from 25 October 2021 to December 2024.
Major upgrades from the predecessor include a larger display, better camera with optical image stabilization, improved selfie camera, 5G support, IP54 dust and splash protection and MIL810G certification, USB-C port, bigger battery, 20W fast charging among other changes.
It launched with Android 11 “Red Velvet Cake” and promised two major Android updates and up to 5 years of warranty.
Materials
The Fairphone 4 is made with Fairtrade-certified gold, aluminum from Aluminium Stewardship Initiative Performance Standard certified vendors, fair tungsten from Rwanda, recycled tin, rare earth minerals, and plastics.Modular design
The phone's modular design is constructed of seven modules, making it easier to repair than most smartphones. The rear of the phone can be removed without using tools. Having removed the rear, the battery can be lifted out and replaced. The display is easily removed using a regular Phillips #00 screwdriver, as well as the different modules.Operating systems
Fairphone 4 originally launched with Android 11. As of October 2025 it now supports Android 15. Fairphone has pledged software support until at least 2026 and may extend to 2028.Fairphone 4 is supported by LineageOS 23.0, CalyxOS 6.5.21, and /e/.
Reception
The Fairphone 4 received mostly positive reviews praising its guarantee of software support until 2025 and up to 5 years of warranty and improvements over its predecessor. However, the lack of a headphone jack was criticized, along with the occasional sluggish performance and the quality of the camera and fingerprint sensor.GrapheneOS criticized Fairphone 4 for being shipped with publicly available private keys for the firmware and stock operating system, causing security features such as verified boot and hardware keystore to break, and for not providing firmware updates on time.