The United States is the undisputed leader when it comes to AI development, but there is still a lot of smartphone innovation outside of Silicon Valley.
Some of the world’s most advanced phones (the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, Oppo Find X8 Pro, and Honor Magic 7 Pro, for example) are not officially sold in the US, while the world’s most sustainable phone, the Fairphone 6, is currently only available in European markets.
Scratch that: you can buy the Fairphone 6 in the US, but only in a /e/OS configuration without Google, as sold exclusively by Murena for a cool $899. For reference, the European version of the Android device costs £499/€599, so it’s perhaps no surprise that Fairphones aren’t flying off the shelves across the pond at the moment.
Could that situation change in the future? I put the question to Fairphone CEO Raymond van Eck, who explained the unique challenges of the US market and the likelihood of Fairphone expanding its operations outside Western Europe.
“I’m not saying we’re not looking into other geographies,” van Eck told me at the Exertis tech conference in London, where he also talked about the “myth” behind the cost of sustainability. “Of course, if you look outside of Europe, in countries like India, the United States or any other large country that has some [mobile] operators, may be of interest to us. In fact, if you look at our social media, we have a lot of followers from India and the United States. So those are things that, in due time, we will be able to look at, but there is still a lot of potential that we can harness in Europe.”
“Our resources are also scarce,” van Eck continued, “so we want to double them in the markets where we are very successful at the moment: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and France, and we supply 14 other European countries.
“And yes, of course, we are also looking into other markets, but as you know, if you go to the US, there is a little side.” [situation] where you have to look for antenna systems that are suitable for the bandwidth. You can roam perfectly with the Fairphone 6 [in the US]. That’s no problem. And we also see Murena selling the [de-Googled] Gen 6 in the US too. But to be certified on the networks you have to create a different antenna system and our phones are modular. That means we have to figure it all out, and [doing so] requires resources and time.
To be certified on the networks you have to create a different antenna system and our phones are modular.
Raymond van Eck, CEO of Fairphone
“All of these are aspects that we weigh if we want to enter another market. […] To sell in the United States, there have to be aspects of the phone that are different from European ones, or you have to design a phone for both markets.”
It’s clear, then, that Fairphone is, for now, focused on growing its core European markets, and we’re not likely to see an Android-powered Fairphone in the US anytime soon.
I asked van Eck if the current tariff situation in the US might have delayed Fairphone’s plans to expand abroad, to which the CEO responded: “The way I see it, from a strategic point of view, the tariff situation is like the weather: it can change over time. You have to make the decision.” [business] strategy based on the geopolitical climate. If I look specifically at the tariff situation, well, first of all, we are not selling in the United States. So for us, for now, that’s not a big influencing factor.
“But we have a pretty close and intimate relationship with our suppliers, because they need to comply with all the sustainability frameworks and measures that we have. So we are in [a good position of] Contact them if, for example, resources such as memory chips are in short supply. And that is, of course, what is influenced by tariffs, right? If suddenly other suppliers buy additional chips to ensure they have enough stock, we also know this in advance, because we have close relationships with our suppliers. And that helps us a lot in this situation.”
The Fairphone 6 is now available in the UK for £499while an open source version (i.e. without Google) is available in the US for $899 / £549. For our full verdict on the phone’s quality, check out our Fairphone 6 review.
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