Fairphone devices have a pretty beautiful concept behind them — they're designed to be "fairer" than the competition. This means a lower environmental impact than your average smartphone and decent working conditions for the people making them throughout the supply chain. The Fairphone company is also a heavy proponent of right-to-repair and the phones feature a modular design to make it easier and less costly to fix. The follow-up to 2019's Fairphone 3 has now leaked, showing off several improvements over its predecessor.

New renders come from the German site WinFuture and show the Fairphone 4 in all its glory. First of all, the build quality is getting a marked improvement. A metal frame is being incorporated into the design instead of the all-plastic construction we're used to, and this should help it look and feel like a more premium, sturdier device. Fairphones are often more expensive than comparable mid-range phones because sustainable practices make them more expensive to produce. So it's definitely appreciated if it feels like it's actually worth its weight.

The back is still plastic, but that does make it more durable. It's also a necessary trade-off since the battery is removable. You read that right: a removable battery in 2021. We're expecting a 3905 mAh component, which is pretty respectable for being removable and should be able to provide decent, but probably not amazing, battery life.

Unfortunately, there's some bad news, too: there's no sign of a headphone jack this time — bummer. The screen features thick bezels and a teardrop notch, which doesn't exactly make for a cutting-edge look. The fingerprint sensor is side-mounted, too — the screen is a Full HD+ LCD panel with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, so an in-display sensor like on some other smartphones wouldn't work.

The latest leaks point to the presence Snapdragon 750G, meaning that 5G support might be expected. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G features the same processor, so we likely have ourselves a competent mid-range phone here. The new Fairphone is also tipped to feature two 48MP back cameras: one Sony IMX582 sensor with optical image stabilization, which will act as the main sensor, and one Sony IMX576 sensor for the ultra-wide camera with a 120-degree field of view. Despite the fact that it looks like a triple camera setup, it's reportedly not — we have two sensors and laser autofocus. Look for a 25MP selfie cam up front.

The Fairphone 4 is due to be announced this Thursday and should be available in 128 and 256GB storage options (with the option to expand using a microSD card) with 6 GB and 8 GB of RAM, respectively. As for the price, Fairphones are usually a little on the expensive side, and we're expecting this one to come in at just under €600.

UPDATE: 2021/09/28 12:57pm PDT BY AROL WRIGHT

New spes leak

This story has been updated with info from a new report by WinFuture, covering RAM capacity, the battery, cameras, and more.