Yes, but Here is Their Story
Yes. Since version two, Fairphone has been assembled in Suzhou, China, by Hi-P International Limited. That answer surprises some buyers who associate Fairphone with ethical sourcing and assume ethical means not made in China. The two are separate questions, and Fairphone’s answer to the second one might be worth hearing about.
*Find out more about other phones on our Phones and Electronics Not Made in China (2026) page*
What Fairphone Actually Is
Fairphone is a Dutch electronics company that designs smartphones and headphones, aiming to minimize the ethical and environmental impact of its devices through recycled, Fairtrade, and conflict-free materials, fair labor conditions, and modular design that allows users to repair their own devices. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam. It does not manufacture in the Netherlands.
The current model, the Fairphone 6, was announced in June 2025 and made available in the US in October 2025 at $899 through /e/OS creator Murena. It features a modular design with 12 user-replaceable parts, a 5-year warranty, and 7 years of Android OS updates — specifications that set it apart from most smartphones regardless of where they are assembled.
Why China, Deliberately
Most companies assemble in China to minimize cost. Fairphone’s stated reason is different. Fairphone deliberately chose to work in China to improve working conditions in a country and business environment that present several challenges, selecting partners based on shared values and willingness to offer transparency in the manufacturing supply chain.
In practice this means Fairphone pays living wage bonuses to factory workers, funds worker satisfaction surveys, and publishes detailed supply chain maps showing where individual components come from. Final assembly happens in a factory that supports living wages, prioritizes worker wellbeing, and uses renewable energy. Whether that approach constitutes meaningful reform or not, on a fundamentally exploitative system is a debate Fairphone itself acknowledges — the company’s own co-founder stated in 2017 that it was more accurate to call his phones “fairer” than “fair.”
What This Means for Country-of-Origin Buyers
If your goal is to avoid products assembled in China, Fairphone is not the phone for you. The phone is assembled in China. The components are sourced globally, including from China. The Fairtrade gold and conflict-free minerals sourcing is meaningful on ethical grounds but does not change the country of assembly.
If your goal is to reduce dependence on Chinese manufacturing broadly, Fairphone is a more complicated case. The company is European-owned, European-designed, and is actively working to change conditions in Chinese factories rather than simply extracting cheap labor from them. Whether that distinction matters to you depends on what your goal is.
We verify country-of-origin claims using manufacturer disclosures, product labels, and trade records. If something has changed, email us at webmaster@whybuyfromchina.com
Last verified March 2026.
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