- Fairphone has mocked the visible screws of the Nothing Phone (4b)
- The company highlighted in an Instagram story that they are only “for show” rather than being accessible.
- The Fairphone 6, on the other hand, has visible screws that users can access
The Nothing Phone (4b) was launched today and looks like a reasonable budget phone, with a 6.77-inch 120Hz display, a 5,200mAh battery with 33W charging, a 50MP wide camera, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM. But despite having visible screws on the back, it may not be very easy to repair or replace its components.
We won’t know for sure until someone has dismantled the (4b), but Fairphone has shared an Instagram story pointing out that while there are quite a few screws visible on the back of the device, you can’t actually access them without breaking the glued cover.
The Instagram story, an image of which can be seen below, shows the Fairphone 6, complete with its own visible screws, overlaid with text saying “every screw works on Fairphones. Nothing for show.” Then, at the bottom, directed at the Nothing Phone (4b), it says: “next time, maybe the screws can be… outside?”
A fair criticism
And it’s a fair point. The Fairphone 6 is a reasonably stylish phone in its own right, with visible screws helping it stand out, as is the Nothing Phone (4b).
But the difference is that the Fairphone’s screws are accessible, creating a modular design where you can easily swap components, rather than having to replace the entire phone.
So if you want a phone that’s built to last, you might want to consider a Fairphone instead of the Nothing Phone (4b), although Fairphone’s CEO recently teased that there are two new products on the way, so you might want to wait for them first, as one of them will likely be the Fairphone 7.
And of course, we’ll be testing the Nothing Phone (4b) ourselves in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for our real, experience-backed verdict on that device.
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