I would love to see them make modular and repairable:
Phones
Tablets
2-in-1s
Televisions
Monitors
Cameras
WiFi routers
Printers (copier, scanner)
Those things so often end up in the dump just because one small part fails, or gets too outdated. Think about all the parts in a wifi router that work just fine, but get thrown away anyway, because the radio module doesn’t support the shiny new WiFi version.
Average people really don't care about newest wifi version, so I'd say routers are one of the longest living electronics in most households, unless they are rented out from your ISP who might be interested in updating it often to justify the rent.
ISPs buy the cheapest reasonable equipment they can. When I have had equipment killed by lightning, the ISP's VDSL router has always been among the dead
It especially sucks that the ISP isn't following whatever standards there are, so other VDSL modems can't connect
ISPs buy the cheapest reasonable equipment they can. When I have had equipment killed by lightning, the ISP's VDSL router has always been among the dead
It especially sucks that the ISP isn't following whatever standards there are, so other VDSL modems can't connect
ISPs buy the cheapest reasonable equipment they can. When I have had equipment killed by lightning, the ISP's VDSL router has always been among the dead
It especially sucks that the ISP isn't following whatever standards there are, so other VDSL modems can't connect
I hope not phones. Fairphone has the repairable market, and that would take away from Framework as well as Framework taking away from Fairphone, making both weaker.
Maybe tablets would make sense, if you could reuse components from the laptops.
When you have a small market niche, competition can kill both companies. I'm not worried about options, I'm worried that soon both companies won't exist.
That's a third party who installs their own version of android on Fairphones and then sells them.
I'm in Canada, and they don't ship here. If I place an order as an American, all versions and variants are on backorder and there's no mention of parts availability.
So, no. They don't officially sell or support the North American market.
I think the only way it makes sense for Framework to get into the phone market is to follow the footsteps of Pine64 trying to create Linux phones. There's no point making a phone at an inherently higher cost to make it more durable and repairable with a "closed SDK" SoC that has a fixed EoL date. I made a more detailed comment about this in the main thread.
I as far as I know the best OpenWRT AP's / Routers you can buy right now is the Banana Pi R64, R3, R4(Still in development). Open source firmware with a long support life of updates and security patches and a nice metal casing.
I say as far as I know because I have not bought one yet as I don't have the funds for that right now. It is my next AP replacement though.
Framework tackling phones is useless if they go the mainstream SoC route (Qualcomm, Mediatek) as they don't have the software team needed to make those work properly (I would argue alot of handset manufactures don't either). From what I hear you need a hell of software team to "fix" the garbage Android SDK released for those chips. Most importantly is if they go the closed mainstream SoC route which have EoL SDK support dates then what's the point of building a durable repairable phone at a higher price point when you have to throw it out at the same as everyone else?
I want to see Framework enter the Linux phone market using "open" chips like Rockchip alongside Pine64's Pinephone (Pro) and the Librem 5 as I think they would more likely have the funds, dev time and community support to help bring say PostmarketOS into a usable state then have to rework the SDK. This way the phone's EoL date would be determined be the local phone infrastructure shutdowns. A much longer amount of time.
I wish they would just ship big ass screen that you can connect to raspeberry pi. or something similar with a lot more io ports. I don:t care what the current trend is, i want those hdmi port. I want to have wii, ps3, laptop and amplifier in it
I've wanted to updated my TV's for a while, but hate most offerings. I would love that. Honestly same with cell phone. My Galaxy S9+ battery isn't what it used to be and there's no patches anymore
They already work with Cooler Master. I believe they designed the cooling for the laptops and this case.. And why would Cooler Master work on a tablet and not a phone, phones need cooling to lol?
Another line points out that Cooler Master, which designed the thermal solution inside the Framework Laptop 16 and is now a direct investor, might help Framework build new products, too. “
And why would Cooler Master work on a tablet and not a phone, phones need cooling to lol?
They wouldn't work on either because that's not the type of products they make.
No, it's not a phone. That's the "Cooler Master Cryo Phone Cooler". It's a phone cooler that attaches to the back of your phone to provide additional cooling while gaming and what not. So when you said
They wouldn't work on either(phone or tablet) because that's not the type of products they make.
Not really true, Cooler Master had already made a cooler for phones. It's not much of a stretch to say they might release another product in the phone category.
I mean I feel like that's pretty clearly what you were insinuating, but if not then I'm not sure what YOUR point is.
The point is not only that phones don't have cooling systems (outside of niche devices like RedMagic and ROG) but that CM has no experience with that sort of thing, so its unlikely to be a phone because they would not need CM's investment for that.
If Framework made a modular phone then CM could make a modular similar to the one I linked that could attach to the FW phone. Or the phone wouldn't involve CM at all and they're working on a different product altogether.
What do you think the next Framework/Cooler Master collaboration is?
It's very similar but with a different philosophy. Fairphone is about sustainability and being ethical. Framework is about repairability and upgradability(which the fairphone isn't).
Sustainability is a large part of Framework's mission as well. The CEO has explicitly said that one of their goals is that none of their laptops should end up in a landfill.
That's definitely true. There's definitely a lot of overlap but, my point was that Fairphone specialized in making "ethical" electronics beyond just being repairable in a way afaik Framework does not. And I'm assuming that a Framework phone would be upgradable and the Fairphone is not.
People looking to buy one would also look to at the other as an alternative though.
FairPhone is definitely about repairability. But yes, I keep waiting for a FairPhone that isn't a total redesign from the previous so we can finally get yearly upgrades without needing a new phone. But the truth is, before the FP4 the design was still catching up to the competition.
Please, do phones! Not only are far too many millions of phones being discarded every year, but it's such a large consumer base (literally everyone) and the current offerings really offer nothing sustainable. It's also a product category that's perfect for modularity!
Yes, ok, Fairphone. They don't sell them anywhere outside of Europe.
Other products like printers, tablets, monitors, TVs, etc. just have too long of a product life cycle to consider them as their next project. I can't see a huge customer base of people wanting to repair their monitor or printer (no real upgrade path for Framework to offer here).
You and me both, their 13in AMD model has been the best device I've bought in years, and their dedicated Linux support team has done a phenomenal job especially considering how small a team they are.
I know nothing lasts forever but I really hope they get close, if they keep selling previous gen hardware at lower prices I think they could end up in more average people's hands. I guess I'm just very hopeful for these guys.
Is the Framework company only staying afloat because of investors, or are they profitable selling laptops and their parts? I'm concerned about their longevity if they constantly need investor's cash injections.
4 years in can still be a bit early for a startup to have to prove profitability before deciding on its fate. I'm willing to give it up to 10 years but where it would ideally show an iterative improvement up to that point with regular loss reduction over time. 4 years should give some sense on whether profitability is reachable I think, though I'm not financial analyst so my words are just a stranger's two cents.
I hope they have lasting power. I'm totally committed to my Framework laptop and would be sad to see the company go away because their business model doesn't work for whatever reason.
They need to get into the phone game. There are no major players in North America who offer anything close to a Fairphone, and that could boost revenue, especially in a world where people are trying to find greener solutions.
The phone industry is very competitive and I don't know if there is enough for framework to compromise with to make modular/user repairable phones both viable as a business model and a distinguishing factor. I hope to be proven wrong by all means!
Fairphone doesn't appear to be struggling, and I'm certain that Framework could do 100% better than them. The laptop market was highly competitive before Framework, but they found a market that is forward-thinking, and I think we do need that in phones (which tend to be replaced more often than computers).
Just imagine if governments incentivized green manufacturing in this industry - they would be at the top of the list of desired brands!
Mh, I wouldn't be so sure about Fairphone not struggling (I do wish them the best, typing this on a FP5) I saw some numbers a while back and they were shockingly low ... Of course I can't remember now but it was something like 30k profit in a year?
But I do hope Framwork does last long likewise would love to purchase one of their laptops at some point.
They do post their financials, so I'm sure there's an explanation. But I don't think they are nearly as established as Framework, despite the company's age.
I think the problem with Fairphone is they are closed off to a very small market. You can't grow, or be a leader in any market, if you're restricting yourself to Europe only.
I would be more than happy to give my money to either Fairphone or Framework before spending more on another Samsung phone that has planned obsolescence built in as a feature. But, I can't unless I import it and be stuck with not being able to actually get parts like the product is intended.
id love to see them manage to turn their standard into an industry standard. like asus and gigabyte making motherboards and video cards for their products.
There's a difference between needing money to stay in business and needing money to expand. It tastes a lot of money to release new products or ramp up production of existing ones. I've seen way larger companies fail at doing so.
Needing more money from investors isn't inherently bad and it's normal for new companies. If you start a new company you won't have money to do everything at once, so you do everything in stages. Framework has completed the last stage of their plan and now needs more money to complete the next stage of their plan.
You can't even buy a Framework laptops in Sweden, China, Korea, and most countries really. Given how demand has consistently outpaced supply I wouldn't be to worried about it.
I was hearing the ECUs in the market were fineky to repair from a friend. I know there us a certain diy support for them, but more prosumer seeming then full right to repair.
After five years building laptops, what might Framework add to the portfolio? Patel won’t say — I only get the barest hints, no matter how many different ways I ask.
That’s one of the biggest reasons it just raised another $18 million in funding — it wants to expand beyond the laptop into “additional product categories.”
Framework CEO Nirav Patel tells me that has always been the plan and that the company originally had other viable ideas beyond laptops, too.
Framework might choose an “equally difficult” category or might instead try something “a bit smaller and simpler to execute, streamlined now that we have all this infrastructure.”
(Patel recently suggested to Jason Carman that Framework might adapt its marketing to reach more everyday audiences.)
The company’s $9 million seed round paid for the original 13-inch laptop design, which has carried on for three generations of components.
Today, Framework has about 50 employees, and it plans to expand to 60 before the end of the year, with “a bit of additional team growth” in 2025.
The original article contains 653 words, the summary contains 144 words. Saved 78%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
The AMD drivers come from the kernel. You might try the Debian backport kernel and see if updated drivers help (assuming the kernel parameter isn’t it). It’s currently version 6.6.13.
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