These days even the electronics industry is trying to use fair trade products. The challenge here is not only to manufacture them under truly fair conditions, but also for the raw materials for electronic circuits and batteries, such as tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold, to be purchased without indirectly financing conflict areas.

Currently there are no such initiatives in the industry overall, but the Fairphone company [1], which is based in the Netherlands, is leading the way with their second-generation smartphone, the Fairphone 2, available from their online store [2]. The first model Fairphone FP1U (as well as a slightly revised version of the same) sold out with more than 60,000 units purchased; the Fairphone Company hopes to beat this success with their second model [3].

Fairphone

The first-generation Fairphone was produced under license, but the new model was developed independently. Fairphone claims this gives them greater influence over production conditions, materials used, and the supply chain. In addition, the developers paid particular attention to durability when designing the phone. Many components can be swapped out.

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