So, I just joined the FP3+ waitlist in the e-shop … then did some looking around, and I see now that FP3 has been discontinued, and FP3+ appears to be out-of-stock worldwide.
Is there any kind of timeline or estimation for when (or even whether) this phone will be available again? Am I actually just waiting for FP4?
My primary phone is an /e/ Samsung S7 edge, bought thru the e-shop back when they first started selling phones. It’s still fine, so it’s not an emergency, but I don’t want to be waiting 6+ months for a new phone.
Side-note: I am in The Netherlands, and (for me at least, in my browser) the e-shop indicates that they do not sell FP3+ in my country (nor most other countries in the EU). That sounds like it might be a browser-bug; @Manoj … do you (or anyone) know if there is an actual reason why FPs might not be for sale in The Neth?
FP3+ is currently not available for purchase anywhere.
On the one hand it will have to do with the global chip shortage, on the other hand with the upcoming relaese of the FP4.
It’s probably not updated for availability but here is a community assembled list of resellers that sell Fairphones (or sold in the past)
At the beginning of the week e.g. vireo.de still had the FP3+ in stock, but now they mention an estimated delivery of many week.
AFAIK it has to do with the general chip shortage.
And there is no confirmed date for the FP4 yet. Fairphone are running a contest to “win something new” that is open until September 30th, so I assume they announce a new device on October 1st or later.
Not sure if /e/ will be available for it right from the start, though.
It’s probably a wild guess, but as teasers by the company said something about a device that is going to change the industry, having the choice of OS right from initial release would be something I haven’t heard of before. But really, this is a guess, nothing more. I’m not sure what to expect to “change the industry”. An even wilder guess would be that they’ll be the next manufacturer of the Google Pixel phone. Or that they managed a design where later the CPU or RAM or internal storage can be upgraded instead of just the camera modules (but I guess those two things are only likely when pigs fly).
Edit: it seems the FP4 gets announced on Sept. 30th at 12:30 CET
