Fairphone 3 and Fairphone 3+ get Android 13, support window might expand to 2026

Last week the Fairphone 4, originally launched in Europe back in 2021, finally made it to the US, although in an altered software form, 'de-Googled' as they say.

Today the sustainable smartphone company is in the news again, this time related to its previous models, the Fairphone 3, which was released in 2019, and the Fairphone 3+ from 2020 . Fairphone says it couldn't deliver Android 12 to these devices because the chipset manufacturer (Qualcomm) didn't support that for the Snapdragon 632 inside.

#Android13 is now available for Fairphone 3 and 3+ 🎉 pic.twitter.com/vmFxtXtHAE

— Fairphone (@Fairphone) July 10, 2023

So, Fairphone's "amazing internal team" has now taken over software support for the device and delivered Android 13 for both models, skipping Android 12 altogether. Fairphone's goal is to support each of its phones for at least five years after launch, which means the Fairphone 3's window expires next year.

We aim to support Fairphone 3 for at least 5 years after launch 📱, providing software updates until the end of August 2024. But since longevity is one of our core values, we aim for 2 extra years of support, taking us to 2026! 🌿

— Fairphone (@Fairphone) July 10, 2023

That said, the software team is now "aiming" to actually add two extra years of support to the Fairphone 3, thus taking the last update into 2026. That would be quite a feat for the modular device, and great news for its owners undoubtedly, provided they haven't already switched to something that isn't powered by the Snapdragon 632 SoC.