The first significant operating system upgrade for Fairphone’s most current smartphone, the Fairphone 4, has begun trickling out. In September 2021, just before Google released Android 12, Fairphone revealed the Fairphone 4. And thus, even in the year 2023, Android 11 is pre-installed on every Fairphone 4 sold.
The good news is that the Fairphone 4 may now be updated to Android 12 in most areas. Although Fairphone has installed the Android 12 upgrade in France and Switzerland, the ‘current performance’ of the software has fallen short of the company’s standards.
Fairphone 4 Gets Android 12
A firm employee provided the following explanation for why this update has not yet been made public in any country:
On February 1st, the update will become accessible to almost everyone. However, there are occasions when the alert doesn’t appear for a few days. If you’ve heard that some people have received the update but you haven’t, please be patient and give it a few days.
I am unable to provide an estimate for how long certain operators may experience a delay. Time will be measured not in minutes or days, but in weeks and months, is all I can say. Once I get more information, I will share it here.
Fairphone believes that the smaller changes between Android 11 and Android 12 will make Android 13 easier to work with and that this will lead to faster and more stable app releases. Although nothing has been released on the Fairphone community forums as of yet, an employee has said that after the release of Android 12, Fairphone would provide an Android 13 timeline. SP1Y.B.0041, part of Android’s December 2022 security update rollout, is now available for download. For further information, check out the company’s forum thread.
