The Fairphone Gen 6+ is a modular gem, with a decent camera system and a bright, bold screen – this should be your go-to business phone

The Fairphone Gen 6+ is one of those handsets that should really appeal to businesses that are in the market for mobiles. A modular phone, with additional parts for fixes and upgrades that are affordable.

It helps with sustainability goals, and it's oh so simple to fix and replace parts thanks to its uncomplicated build and mini tools. Everything you need is either in the box or findable on the Fairphone website.

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The '+' is important, as this is not merely the Fairphone 6. It's an upgraded version of that model, which is available in the US for the first time. The initial cost is €649 in Europe and $649.99 in the US, and most of the accessories and replacement parts are between $25 and $50.

Admittedly, there is a lack of sparkle here, and it's underwhelming compared to other phones. But for a business phone, it's a super solution.

Fairphone Gen 6+: Design and display

The handset is quite thick at 9.6mm. It looks far bigger than most devices on the market. But it feels solid and well constructed. There are two screws to open the back and access the insides, and you have some options within the box to change your back cover. Our unit came with an option that has a card holder and a lanyard.

Another difference from the standard 6 is the new Cobalt Blue, which is bold and harks back to the company's origins. It includes a little vibrant yellow clicker on the side above the volume and power buttons.

You have two camera lenses and a sensor on the back – it's not a triple-lens setup despite its appearance. There's a USB Type-C port at the bottom with speaker holes on the left and a slight dip where you find a non-obtrusive 'Fairphone' logo along the bottom in black.

On the other side, there's a lot to like about the 6.31in P-OLED panel on the Gen 6+. It uses LTPO technology, which is good for saving power. It has an adaptive refresh rate that goes up to 120Hz. And it uses a 20:9 aspect ratio. The panel is also incredibly bright, peaking at 745.12 cd/m2 in our tests.

For color coverage, the Gen 6+ is very strong, showcasing 95.2% of the sRGB gamut color space and 95.6% for volume. Maybe not the level of an iPhone or Honor's 600 model, but a decent score nonetheless. In my experience, the Gen 6+ was bright and vibrant across all types of content.

Fairphone Gen 6+: Specs and Performance

You get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 in the 6+, as opposed to the Gen 3 in the standard 6. This is paired with a bigger slice of RAM, with the 6+ able to use 12GB of DDR5 compared to the minuscule 8GB in the 6.

Its Geekbench scores are true to its mid-range level, with just 1,284 for single-core and 3,661 multithreaded performance. This is slightly below the Honor 600 on both scores, which retails at a similar price.

In our looped video test, the Gen 6+ lasted 15hrs and 45mins which is a good score. You will, after all, be able to upgrade this battery, and while some devices can boast over 20hrs in our test, they arguably won't be able to keep that up over their lifetime and will end up being replaced entirely.

Fairphone Gen 6+: Features and cameras

The Gen 6+ has two rear cameras: a 50MP main lens and a 13MP wide one. There is also a 32MP front camera. The rear shoots video at 4K at 30fps with the main lens and 2K at 30fps with the selfie lens.

Images are crisp and full of detail, while video is nice and smooth with the 'anti-shake' feature. There are lots of options for slow-motion shots, time-lapse images, and also a very cool 'Super Night' setting, which works surprisingly well. There's hardly any blurriness, and you don't need to keep the phone still for long to capture images.

Feature-wise, the yellow toggle button on the side is the standout addition – not new to this version, but a great inclusion. With this, you can switch between normal and focus modes, and in a much quicker way than most other brands, like iPhone.

You can customize it and even give it a name. I set mine up to just receive work emails and Slack messages, and instantly felt more productive and less stressed.

Fairphone Gen 6+: Is it worth it?

The Fairphone Gen 6+ is a superb, modular smartphone that's both affordable upfront and cost-effective in the long-run. A lot of work has gone into making it more competitive; the screen is bigger and brighter, the camera setup is very high quality, and the overall experience is good

By and large, consumers might want more glitz on the outside, and the battery didn't last as long as other phones in this price bracket, but there is nothing else as modular as this. And that toggle to focus is simply superb.

Fairphone Gen 6+ specifications