[5] Fairphone was founded by Bas van Abel, Tessa Wernink and Miquel Ballester[6] as a social enterprise company in January 2013, having existed as a campaign for two and a half years.

In an interview with Will Georgi, Fairphone founder Tessa Vernink mentions:“There might be a misconception that as a social enterprise, we don’t operate like a ‘normal’ business, but that’s not true.

When other phone companies design a new phone, they research new technology — we research supply chain improvement.”[6]A survey conducted by Franziska Verna Haucke in the Journal of Cleaner Production found: A sustainable lifestyle represents the dominant factor explaining the involvement with the Fairphone.

Surprisingly, the findings show that alternative consumption seems to negatively influence the involvement with the Fairphone and social commitment seems to play a minor role in the model.

[18] However, the company had previously suggested its phones exceeded the TCO Certified criteria; indeed, a 2015 side-by-side comparison conducted by Südwind Association, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, and the GoodElectronics Network, found the Fairphone 1 to exceed industry standards on more sustainability and social criteria than even the TCO Certified label.

Fairphones can run several operating systems, including CalyxOS, DivestOS, /e/, iodeOS, LineageOS, Ubuntu Touch, and more.