These repairable phones still aren't built to last

There's a growing trend of smartphones being sold as more easily repairable, with screens, batteries, or other components that can be swapped out with simple tools. The improved hardware is supposed to extend the life of the device, but many repairable phones still have a problem: the software probably won't last as long as the hardware.

You may not have heard of HMD, but you've probably seen its phones. After Microsoft purchased Nokia's mobile business, and then promptly ran it into the ground, some former Nokia executives formed the new HMD company. HMD took over manufacturing of Nokia-branded feature phones, and started selling Nokia-branded Android smartphones in 2017. Every modern Nokia phone or tablet has been sold by (and usually designed by) HMD, and more recently, the company has started trying to making a name for itself and shedding the Nokia brand.

The smartphone market is crowded, and one of HMD's strategies for differentiating itself has been creating phones with more user-repairable designs. Most modern smartphones are difficult and time-consuming to repair, with iPhones being almost impossible for people to fix without a trip to an Apple-authorized repair shop, so bucking that trend seems like an easy win.

HMD has now released several Android phones with self-repairs as a main selling point, including the Nokia G310 5G, HMD Skyline, and most recently, the HMD Fusion. The back covers on those phones can be removed with a single screwdriver and a prying tool, with relatively easy access to the battery, charging board (in case the USB-C port needs to be replaced), screen, and other components. It's still not the easiest task in the world to do yourself, but HMD has partnered with iFixit to create repair manuals and sell replacement parts.

Hardware isn't everything

It's great that HMD is trying to make more repairable smartphones, especially when the only competition has been devices like the Fairphone 5, which starts at €549 (down from its original €699 price) and is only sold in Europe. However, there's a big piece still missing before I would feel comfortable calling them "sustainable" phones: the software support.

The specifications pages for the HMD Fusion and HMD Skyline explain the phones are only guaranteed to receive two major Android operating system updates and three years of Android OS security patches. There's no guarantee of a release schedule for security updates on the Skyline, while the Fusion will get two years of monthly updates and quarterly updates for the last year.

Those timelines started when the phones were released, so if you buy the Fusion on sale a year from now, you only get two years of security patches. HMD also doesn't provide any mechanism for unlocking the bootloader, like Google does for its Pixel phones, so you can't install a community-supported version of Android after official support ends.

The Nokia G310 5G has no guarantee at all for OS updates and security patches. HMD is bold enough to say on the product page, "The easier it is to repair a device, the longer you can keep it." Why would I want to keep a phone for years that's a security risk?

Much of the press coverage around HMD's repairable phones has not mentioned the lackluster software support, and it seems like a showstopper for keeping these phones in the long term. If I buy an HMD Skyline for the $499.99 retail price, and then in two years I accidentally drop it and crack the screen, does it really make sense to pay $95 for a replacement screen? By that point, it won't get any more major Android updates (unless HMD is late with that second OS update) and it will have a year left before it becomes a security risk. I might as well just save up and buy an entirely new phone, or trade it in to get a discount on a new phone.

I'm well aware most people don't think about security updates on their phones. It's clear that millions of people will keep using outdated and vulnerable Android phones as long as they are still functioning, because phones are expensive to replace. That doesn't mean the short-term software support should be ignored, though, and what's what many news outlets are doing when covering these phones.

This is a solved problem

Fairphone is still the gold standard when it comes to sustainable and repairable smartphones. The company's latest Fairphone 5 earned a 10/10 score from iFixit for its repairable design, and Fairphone has done a lot of work on improving its supply chain for materials.

Fairphone's long-term software support is incredible, even when compared to major phone manufacturers like Samsung and Apple. The Fairphone 2 was released in 2015, received Android 10 as its final major OS update in 2021, and continued receiving security updates until March 2023. That was eight years of software support, and Fairphone allows the bootloaders on its devices to be unlocked, so you can install community-supported operating systems. The Fairphone 4 has a port of Ubuntu Touch, for example.

Fairphone's products aren't cheap, and aren't available globally, but they show you can create truly repairable and long-lasting smartphones. The phones coming out of HMD and other companies are a step in the right direction, but they don't yet meet that threshold.