Smartphones are kind of the elephant in the room when it comes to sustainable tech. Almost everyone has one, most people upgrade every two or three years, and the environmental cost of that cycle (like mining rare earth metals, manufacturing emissions, e-waste) is pretty darn significant.
The honest truth is that there’s no perfect sustainable smartphone. The materials involved are complex, the supply chains are global, and repairability has historically been almost nonexistent. But some brands are doing meaningfully better than others, and the gap between the best and worst options is actually getting wider.
For me, it’s less about finding a phone with zero impact and more about choosing a brand that’s actually trying, buying something that’ll last, and not replacing it every time a new model comes out.
These are the things I look for in a better smartphone:
🌲 Repairability: can you actually fix it yourself, or swap the battery, without shipping it somewhere?
🌲 Recycled materials: is the brand actively moving away from virgin-mined resources?
🌲 Software support: longer update windows mean you can keep the phone longer without security risks
🌲 Ethical sourcing: are the minerals in the phone (cobalt, gold, lithium) sourced responsibly?
🌲 Transparency: does the brand actually publish data about their impact, or do they just use vague green language?
Here are some of the most sustainable smartphone options worth knowing about:
1. Fairphone
If you want the most thoughtfully made smartphone on the market, Fairphone is in a category of its own. Actually, I love this brand so much I have a whole post about it, in case you want to learn more.
The Amsterdam-based brand designs their phones to be modular and self-repairable. You can swap the battery, screen, and other components yourself with basic tools. The Fairphone 5 offers eight years of software support (an industry first), uses Fairtrade gold and recycled materials across 14 key components, and is manufactured with fair labor conditions baked into the supply chain. The Fairphone 6 was announced in 2025 and the brand is showing record growth, which is great news for the whole industry.
The main caveat: availability is still limited outside Europe, and the specs lean mid-range rather than flagship. But if you’re in Europe and due for an upgrade, this is the most meaningful choice you can make.
Price range: ~€400–700 EUR
🌍 Europe-focused, limited availability elsewhere
2. Shiftphone
Shiftphone is a smaller German brand that operates with a very similar philosophy to Fairphone – it’s modular, repairable, and designed to last. You can modify your Shiftphone without voiding the warranty, and they provide tutorial videos and spare parts directly so you can fix things yourself. They also contribute 5% of revenue to social and sustainability projects.
They’re even more niche than Fairphone and the hardware specs are modest, but if you want to support a small company genuinely built around these values rather than a slightly bigger one, they’re worth looking into.
Price range: ~€300–500 EUR
🌍 Germany-based, ships within Europe
3. HMD (Nokia)
HMD, the company that makes Nokia phones, has built a surprisingly strong sustainability reputation without much fanfare. The HMD Skyline was rated the most repairable smartphone of 2024 by iFixit with a 9/10 score, and they’ve partnered with iFixit to make spare parts and repair guides truly accessible. They’ve also been EcoVadis Platinum-rated for five consecutive years, which is a legitimate third-party sustainability certification rather than just self-reported numbers.
Software support is shorter than Fairphone (around two to three years depending on the model), which is a real limitation. But if you’re outside Europe and want a repairable, affordable phone from a brand that’s actually trying, HMD is worth considering.
Price range: ~$150–500 USD
🌍 Available globally
4. Samsung
Samsung has been incorporating recycled ocean-bound plastics and recycled aluminum into some Galaxy models, and their packaging has improved. They’ve also extended software support on Galaxy S and A series phones to four years of OS updates and five years of security patches.
The repairability picture is mixed – Samsung has expanded self-repair programs in some markets, but it’s still not straightforward. And their sheer scale makes it harder to verify the full supply chain.
Still, if you need to buy a mainstream Android phone, a newer Galaxy is a step forward from where most consumer electronics were even five years ago.
Price range: ~$299–1299 USD
🌍 Available globally
5. Apple
Apple is not a perfect sustainability story, but they are one of the largest companies in the world making consistent, measurable progress. In 2025, 30% of all materials across Apple products came from recycled content – including 100% recycled cobalt in all batteries and 100% recycled rare earth elements in all magnets. They’ve removed plastic from packaging entirely and are targeting full carbon neutrality across their supply chain by 2030.
Repairability has historically been Apple’s biggest weak point, but they’ve been quietly improving self-repair options in recent years. And their long software support windows (typically 5-6 years of iOS updates) mean you can actually keep an iPhone for a long time.
If you’re already in the Apple ecosystem and know you’ll keep the phone for four or five years, it can be a reasonable choice. The iPhone SE in particular is a lower-impact option given its smaller size and more modest materials footprint.
Price range: ~$429–1199 USD
🌍 Available globally
6. Google
Google has committed to seven years of Android OS and security updates for Pixel 8 and newer models, which is a pretty impressive commitment to device longevity. Longer software support is one of the most underrated sustainability factors in smartphones – it means you can keep using your phone safely without being forced to upgrade.
Pixel phones also use some recycled materials and Google has been expanding its sustainability reporting. They’re not at Fairphone’s level for repairability or ethical sourcing, but the software longevity argument is real and worth considering.
Price range: ~$499–1099 USD
🌍 Available globally
7. Refurbished
This is honestly probably your best option. Before buying anything new, it’s worth considering a refurbished phone. A refurbished iPhone or Samsung through a reputable seller (Back Market and Refurbed are well-known options) has significantly lower impact than any new phone, regardless of how many recycled materials it contains. The most sustainable phone is always the one that already exists!
The smartphone industry has a long way to go. But repairability is finally being taken seriously, recycled materials are becoming standard rather than a marketing add-on, and software support windows are getting longer. Choosing a phone with those things in mind, and keeping it as long as possible, genuinely makes a difference.
