What you need to know
- Fairphone has announced an Android 13 beta update for the Fairphone 3 and 3+.
- The official update is expected to reach all users by June 2023.
- The company further promises software support till 2024 and plans to extend support until 2026.
Fairphone is a smartphone company that makes sustainable phones intending to reduce its environmental footprint. As part of the initiative, the company aims to provide extended software support to its phones. Now, models launched as many as several years ago are receiving a major software jump.
The Fairphone 3 and the Fairphone 3+ are now getting Android 13 via a beta update, Fairphone announced last week. Both phones were launched in 2019 and 2020 and shipped with Android 9 and Android 10, respectively.
Fairphone promises that all users will receive the Android 13 update by the end of June. This update is a significant upgrade to both phones, which were previously on Android 11. Fairphone says, "an example of Fairphone's policy of providing software support for its devices for as long as possible."
In a press release, Fairphone says that it is maintaining these devices despite the vendor of their chipsets ceasing support. In this case, the devices came with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 632 SoC. The Fairphone team is apparently in charge of providing software support for both phones as they "assessed the feasibility of updating the device to Android 13."
Android 13 brings the phones up to speed with some of the best Android phones in the market as the update continues gaining traction among Android devices. In addition, these phones will continue to receive support until August 2024, giving them a good four to five-year run. Additionally, the company is looking to extend support for these phones till 2026, which is a noteworthy move while maintaining the company's core principle.
"At Fairphone, we not only care about our new customers, but also about our existing users," says Agnes Crepet, Head of Software Longevity at Fairphone. "By providing Android updates for our older models, we are going against industry norms and want to ensure that owners of the Fairphone 3 can also enjoy using their phones for longer. As we always say, the most sustainable phone is the one you already own!"
The Fairphone 2, launched in 2015, recently received its last official update.
