QCM6490 is their long term support chip (8 years), the product was released in 2021. That means we have until 2028 for security updates.
UPDATE: 2028 is the official support timeline from Qualcomm.
The fairphone five releases in 2023, claims 10 years of updates until 2033.
There is a 6 year gap in Qualcomms QCM6490 support window and FairPhones support window. Baseband security will get abandoned with 6 years left on the clock. Rough.
I think this is exactly the problem that caused GrapheneOS to initially reject the earlier fair phones.
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/internet-of-things/industrial/building-enterprise/qcm6490
“Long term support for Android OS upgrades, Linux, Ubuntu, Windows 11 IoT Enterprise, security updates and enterprise grade hardware.”
Updated Reference: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/fairphone-5-sets-a-new-standard-with-8-10-years-of-android-support/
Yeah that’s not really great. But what could they do about it?
Just be upfront about it.
We have hardware security updates until 2029, and software updates until 2033. We will do everything in our power to keep the phone safe and useful as long as we can.
Hiding away in ambiguous language and lying by omission isn’t fair.
I would like to see a well rounded phone that makes sense for anyone. And I really hope they stick to a from factor at some point over multiple generations, so parts are interchangable/upgradable between them.
They just showed a model tear apart breakaway on the stream, doesn’t look modular at all.
I see, they say “modular” but they mean “user replaceable”…
In general when I hear modular I think you could put in a variety of modules, not a single module. (like different cameras, different screens, different SOC, etc…)
So these modules will most likely NOT be compatible across phones.