The Fairphone 4 to finally receive Android 12 update on February 1

(Image credit: Fairphone)

What you need to know

• Fairphone 4, the company's first 5G phone, is getting a new big update.
• It will get the much-anticipated Android 12 update this week.
• The Fairphone 4 launched with Android 11 two years ago.

Two-year-old Fairphone 4 is about to get its next big Android 12 update on February 1, the company announced.

In a community blog post, an employee from Fairphone company shared when to expect the much-anticipated update on Fairphone 4. The device was initially expected to get the update sometime in December; however, it was postponed due to critical emergency calling issues raised in certain regions.

Starting this Wednesday, the Fairphone 4 in some regions is said to receive the Android 12 update as part of a staggered rollout. Fairphone says that in some regions, in countries like Switzerland and France, the update still needs to meet the company's quality standards. Henceforth, there could be some delay for Fariphone users on certain carriers in those regions, but they are assured of getting the update in the near future.

It still needs to be determined what features we can expect with the new Android 12 update, which is already a year old. But, Fairphone is one such company we don't expect to roll out new Android devices every year or push out the latest updates every quarter. The company's mission has always been about promoting sustainability and producing phones that have an enormous impact in terms of limiting e-waste.

That said, the regular security patches are indeed necessary, and Fairphone also shared plans to extend the support to not leave its users out in the cold. Fairphone users running Android 11 will shortly have a maintenance release with a new security patch with up-to-date security.

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Other Fairphone news this month includes the company's announcement that the seven-year-old Fairphone 2 will get its final major update in March. However, if any users are interested, a Lineage OS user named /e/OS has promised to prolong the support for at least another year.