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You can now buy a de-Googled, ethically sourced, and private smartphone for $599
- The Fairphone 4 will be the first Fairphone handset available in the US.
- The phone will ship with Murena’s open-source software.
- It starts at a selling price of $599.
Fairphone has been around for a while now, but the Dutch firm has remained within its European market for the most part. But now the company best known for its environmentally sustainable approach to smartphone manufacturing is finally stepping outside of that market to launch the Fairphone 4 in the US.
Fairphone has partnered with Murena to bring the Fairphone 4 to US shores, according to Android Police. If you’re not familiar with Murena, it’s best known for its open-source software that is free from digital surveillance. Think of Android but without all the data collection and ad targeting.
This sustainability-focused phone will run on /e/OS — a de-Googled version of Android. As such, it will launch without any of Google’s first-party apps like Gmail, Chrome, or even the Play Store. Instead, it will come with its own default apps for email, messages, the calendar, and more. And replacing the Play Store is Murena’s “App Lounge,” which directly sources its apps from the Play Store but does not hand your data over to Google.
The Murena Fairphone 4 will start at a price point of $599, which will give you 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. But if you want a little more memory and storage, the 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage variant will cost $679. The device comes with five years of security and feature updates, as well as a five-year warranty.
This launch is reportedly serving as a pilot to test the waters in the US. It appears Fairphone is also considering launching its next phone in the US as well.