It looks like loyal Fairphone 4 owners will be treated to a larger-than-anticipated update, with the 2021 handset bypassing Android 14 in favour of Android 15. The company announced the plan through its Community Forum, stating that rollout will take place in increments. For users, that translates to a significant jump up the platform scale, aligning it closer with more recent crops from the Fairphone farm and cutting months of waiting off the update roadmap.
Why the Android 14 upgrade skip happened for Fairphone 4
Last year’s delay was born of vendor-level obstacles, which typically set the cadence for Android updates. For a phone that is, in other words, a Fairphone 4 powered by Qualcomm silicon: device-specific bits like drivers and firmware (and the Board Support Package they depend upon) all need to be prepared before an OEM would do any work on polishing up its latest Android build. Fairphone says it has now cleared those dependencies, and development will happen fast enough to make it worthwhile to skip past Android 14.
Skipping a whole major version is odd, but sharp given the circumstances. It works toward mitigating double validation cycles, lessens fragmentation across Fairphone’s device portfolio, and brings all supported devices faster onto a level playing field. Google’s modularizations in the form of Project Treble and GKI make those bigger version jumps more doable for smaller manufacturers when vendor pieces are meant to fit together.
What Fairphone 4 owners should expect from Android 15
The release will be phased, so availability will differ by region and device batch. If you don’t see the update show up right away, it just means the time is not here yet for your serial number.
- Plan on a big download
- Back up your important data
- Make sure you have enough free storage
Fairphone usually includes new security patches when it issues an OS release, so expect a new patch level to accompany the upgrade.
That’s not all, though, as Android 15 itself introduces several important quality-of-life improvements. Look forward to better privacy and more fine-grained permission controls, further app sandboxing by default, and a more accurate screen-sharing feature, as well as some behind-the-scenes efficiency improvements that should benefit the Snapdragon 750G chip powering the Fairphone 4. There are also improvements to battery and thermal management that presumably will translate into steadier performance over longer stretches, and media support has been enhanced, as well.
Because this release jumps over Android 14, some users might be concerned about app compatibility. In reality, most apps are already targeting modern SDK levels, and Google Play services helps with the transition. The leap should feel inevitable in daily use, and developers get the newest APIs without a layover.
Longevity and sustainability in mind for Fairphone 4
“Our promise for the Fairphone 4 offering years of software support is rare when it comes to mid-range smartphones.” In a market where most devices only get two or three upgrades, surprise jumps like these help satisfy that extended promise. A track record also counts here, with the Fairphone 2 getting updates far beyond its normal life cycle and gaining accolades from sustainability campaigners and repairability specialists iFixit.
This mirrors a wider push toward long-lived electronics across Europe and globally, where regulators and consumer groups are increasingly looking at software longevity as key to product sustainability. By supporting older hardware, Fairphone is not only helping to keep its own devices usable for longer but also maintaining the brand’s positioning around repairability, modularity, and less e-waste.
Notes for US buyers and custom ROM users
The US version of the Fairphone 4 (sold via partner Murena with the privacy-focused /e/OS) follows its own software schedule. And when /e/OS maintainers are done integrating and testing it, the latter will also be based on Android 15 even if Fairphone OS becomes a thing for the fans only. Community-built projects such as LineageOS may also follow the release in their own repositories; users will need to refer to them directly for more specific information.
The bottom line for Fairphone 4’s Android 15 upgrade
Fairphone skipping the wait and jumping to Android 15 directly out of a two-year lull is a practical win for owners, and it’s a good signal of how smaller OEMs can keep modern software on tap if partners like Qualcomm step up in time.
Don’t expect everyone to get the staged rollout all at once, but that’s significant: a four-year-old, repairable phone made relevant again with the latest Android codebase and an upgrade process that’s clearer moving forward.
