Fairphone started with a mission to make a sustainable phone that you can use for a long time, and it succeeded. Now in its fifth generation, it also boasts a pair of headphones in its portfolio. Recently, this portfolio expanded to include a pair of TWS earbuds. You might think earbuds are small and wonder if you can really do anything if they stop working properly. Well, apparently you can with the new Fairbuds.
To be fair, Fairbuds aren’t competing to be the smallest TWS; they are reasonably sized which makes repair by everyday people possible. Also, repairs are limited to replacing the battery and, in the case of the charging case, the charging core, and the outer case. I guess it’s fair enough since most people ditch a pair of earbuds likely due to battery failure.
Aesthetically, the Fairbuds are quite sleek in a minimalistic way. Nothing over the top, just a good old, clean-looking gadget. I am actually glad that Fairphone has decided not to go with the ‘stick’ design (yes!).
Under the hood, each earbud boasts an 11-mm titanium-coated driver that delivers better, cleaner, richer sound for crystal-clear audio while keeping the weight down.
While the Fairbuds can be disassembled by users, they are still IP54 rated, thus allowing them to sustain a short downpour, or a longer drizzle, and to be used during workouts and other active lifestyle activities. However, it is worth noting that the case is NOT IP-rated.
The earbuds are each outfitted with a 45 mAh battery rated for 500 charge/discharge cycles and should provide up to 2,700 hours of listening time before the battery reaches 80% capacity and needs replacing.
The Fairbuds also stand out as the most sustainable earbuds on the market. Almost 70% of the weight of the earbuds is made from fair and recycled materials, which include plastics, gold, silver, cobalt, and recycled magnets—a first for Fairphone.
A few other notables include active noise canceling, seamless dual-point connectivity, a tri-mic setup on each earbud, Bluetooth 5.3, USB Type-C, up to 6 hours of listening per charge, an additional 20 hours with the charging case, and presets, customized EQ, and more through a dedicated app for iOS and Android.
The new Fairbuds by Fairphone are available now from shop.fairphone.com for €149 (about US$158).
Images: Fairphone.
