https://www.ghacks.net/2025/05/27/fairphone-4-will-skip-android-14-update-to-focus-on-android-15/
One of the many reasons why Privacy Guides does not recommend Fairphone would be its frequency of updates. Despite promising to support their devices for around 10 years, they have faced issues fixing bugs, releasing timely security updates, and implementing newer versions of Android.
For example, Fairphone has just announced that Fairphone 4 is skipping the Android 14 update in favor of Android 15. This means that the Fairphone 4 is still stuck on Android 13 despite Android 16 being near release.
Android fans are waiting for Google to release Android 16 in June 2025, but Fairphone 4 users had been patiently waiting for the Android 14 update for their smartphone. Fairphone’s open letter to its community says that the company had hoped to deliver Android 14 for Fairphone 4 users by the start of 2025, but decided to shift its focus directly to Android 15 to deliver a longer-lasting and more future-proof experience for users. However, Fairphone’s representatives have not revealed how long it would take for the Android 15 update for Fairphone 4 to arrive.
The company’s announcement to cancel the update in favor of Android 15 has not gone down well among the Fairphone community. Quite a few users have voiced their concerns against the decision, with some questioning the very future of Fairphone, and its commitment to support its devices. They pointed out that many old bugs remain unfixed in the now outdated version of the operating system.
Fair trade, right-to-repair, and ethical sourcing are important values. However, I think this situation proves that those with higher threat-models should avoid Fairphone for now.