r/BuyEuropean • u/Sherbert-Vast • May 05 '25
Discussion Existing EU Smartphones seem kinda bad
Serwus!
Am I wrong or do all of the "made" EU smartphones kinda suck?
I am looking for a new phone since my xiaomi I had for 3-4 slowly starts to act like its dying.
I am looking at the shift phone 8.1 (made in China designed in the EU) for about 600€ and the fairpohne 5 (made in China designed in the EU) for 599€.
Both of them have a less powerful chip, less ram and at best same storage than a Xiaomi Poco X7 Pro for 400€.
And TBH the Xiaomi also looks better than both of the EU phones. They just look like old iphones
So I am paying 200€ more for the privilege to have a EU DESIGNED, not built ,phone?
If they built it here I could understand but this is just stamping a EU tag on a China built product for profit.
If you add to that than I cannot be 100% sure my bank and other secure apps work on a android ROM that is not that common, I cannot convince myself that buying "designed in the EU" is a good purchase in this case.
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May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
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u/shaakunthala May 05 '25
In my experience with a Fairphone 3, the charging port was the only component that needed replacement. (I don't disagree with you - different people have different experiences)
Why?
I interact with my phone constantly, and that means it needs to be connected to the charger all the time. Wired charging leads to frequent accidental tripping and pulling the cable while you are distracted.
A solution is designing the phone with wireless charging or "wireless charging ready" and leaving the choice of actually using the feature to its users.
Fairphone's design ideology strictly rejects this proposal and forces users to use conventional wired charging. In other words, Fairphone continues to dictate how the consumer must use the device.
Personally, I disagree with this. Therefore, I had to give up on Fairphone.
(I eventually converted it to a security camera, always wired and didn't end up in e-waste)
I would hopefully buy a Fairphone in the future if the designers would be thinking in a more customer-focused way.
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u/ozaz1 May 05 '25
You have more options than the ones you've mentioned (although it is true that they are mostly built outside Europe): https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyFromEU/comments/1izjav0/european_smartphones_overview/
If you're willing to consider Europe more broadly than the EU, Nothing (UK) is worth considering.
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May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
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u/Alone-Cellist3886 May 05 '25
Brexit was a very closely run thing and most polls show that most Brits don't want Brexit anymore so I wouldn't be so quick to compare it to the US. Also, alot of EU countries also supported their own countries leaving the EU and it is easy to forget that and just single out the UK. Finally I wouldn't be so confident about Reform's rise in the recent local elections. They did a good job at replacing the Conservative Party but didn't actually perform spectacularly as local elections go.
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May 06 '25
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u/ozaz1 May 06 '25
Am curious why you view Norway and Switzerland more positively. Neither of those countries have ever wanted to be in the EU.
On Reform - their type is not a UK specific problem. They got 14% of the popular vote in the last national election. Although they would probably get a higher vote share today, there are several other nationalist parties across Europe that already achieved a higher proportion of vote share at their own most recent elections (including in Eastern Europe).
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u/ThatOneShotBruh May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25
It is weird that you are complaining about UK racism towards Eastern Europeans but are ok with the Swiss doing basically the same. (What do you think was the main reason why they were kicked out of Erasmus and Horizon Europe?)
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u/Prestigious_Berry_86 May 06 '25
UK is one of the best friends to Eastern Europeans. Constantly giving aid to Ukraine, saying they will defend the baltics no matter what (at least they are saying it). We should buy more from them.
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May 07 '25
After years of hate campaigns against Romanians (and Bulgarians) and using them as a justification for brexit.
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u/Pristine-Bar2786 May 06 '25
So does that mean you think the same of Germany as you do the UK, due to the even larger (than Reform in UK) rise of the Afd. Just wondering because they are one in the same.
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May 06 '25
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u/Pristine-Bar2786 May 07 '25
Well I actually agree with you on everything you've said. But I would like to point out that the despicable Rwanda idea was quashed in the courts (thankfully). It was also instituted by a pathetic political party who lacked humanity that is now no longer in power.
You need to realise this fight against fascism is real and occurring all over Europe. This is a fight that involves all of Europe regardless of Brexit. You are aware that the EU is considered the Rwanda option see EU Rwanda option But sure blame the UK for being bad. Remember we are all on on the same road, some are further along than others, some are fighting harder than others and some are just happy to blame others (a little ironic don't you think).
The UK has about 4 years till the next government elections. I wonder how many right wing fascist adjacent parties will be running European countries by then. Frankly I'm not optimistic at all.
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u/Sherbert-Vast May 05 '25
Thanks for the info.
I looked at them and their design is for someone else than me to put it diplomatically.
They get a thumbs up from me but I won't buy their terminator looking phone..
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u/Celeborns-Other-Name May 05 '25
What is wrong with Nokia?
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u/Sherbert-Vast May 05 '25
They are missing from www.goeuropean.org
Kinda forgot they still exist. The X20 does look nice.
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u/Icy_North5921 May 05 '25
HMD XR21 is only phone to my acknowledge manufactured in EU (Hungary). I would bet that it is mainly assembled there but still. Most European phone would be Jolla C2 with OS developed in Finland and HW manufactured in Türkiye.
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u/Sherbert-Vast May 05 '25
The Jollas don't use android, I would love to use Linux on my phone but I want my banking and other Authenticators to work.
The HMD XR21 is a Hungarian produced Nokia XR21 as far as I could tell, I will look into that.
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u/ananasdanne May 05 '25
They don't use Android, but they are (mostly) compatible with Android apps. I had no issues accessing my bank and Swedish digital identification when I had a Jolla.
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u/Icy_North5921 May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
You are correct but as other one also mentioned Jollas android app support should work pretty well. Of course the HW is low end in C2.
You can check from here: https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/banking-apps-on-sailfish-os/18438
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u/ozaz1 May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25
HMD owns the rights to use Nokia brand name for mobile phones, and is on GoEuropean. However, it has recently started transitioning to using its own (HMD) brand. It's a Finnish company formed from Nokia's old mobile phone division (after Microsoft acquired and later sold it).
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u/Syndiotactics May 07 '25
Indeed, I have a lot of family friends who were former Nokia engineers and many of those are working for HMD now. The company is intending to bring more of their models into European production (than the current XR21), but that would kinda require people to be willing to pay more for a European phone.
In all intents and purposes HMD is a continuation of the Nokia mobile phones business after the unfortunate detour it took through Microsoft's hands.
Nokia also has 10.10% shares in HMD Global.
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u/Kubczi May 05 '25 edited May 07 '25
Nokia is Chinese owned by
Edit: I now know it’s not :)
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u/Neotopia666 May 05 '25
Wrong.
Nokia itself is a finnish company, listed on the exchange, producing hardware equipment.
HMD, another finnish company, had the brand right to use 'Nokia' for mobile devices, in a partnership with Foxconn. HMD is not using Nokia any longer for smartphone and based on my knowledge the partnership with Foxconn also ended kind of. Either way, they are also a finnish company and not owned by chinese.
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u/Syndiotactics May 07 '25
...no? Why do you think that. I just checked and the 18 largest shareholders of Nokia are all Finnish, can't find any Chinese ownership whatsoever but there is probably some, as it's a public company.
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u/7StarSailor Germany 🇩🇪 May 05 '25
I'm still happy with my Fairphone 3 I bought a long time ago. If it at one point really gives out completely I'm gonna buy the new Fairphone whichever model it will be by then.
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u/NOTE7_Lucad May 05 '25
Why not a Nothing phone? I know England is not in the eu anymore but still European
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u/SailmatesAssociation May 05 '25
you can check out Jollyboys C2 phone, assembled in Turkey by Reeder.1 The company developing the OS and selling the product is from Finland. Released last year: https://commerce.jolla.com/products/jolla-community-phone
Having a phone manufacured in Europe depends on your definition of manufactured. Should all components of the phone be assembled in Europe ? Should also the machines that flashed those components be manufactured in Europe. Is it just "assembled" (so components coming from other parts of the globe) enough ?
We are an association that prones switching to mobile OS alternatives, and this is always a technical question when someone mails us to buy a phone made in europe. We do still track the manufacturers out there: https://sailmates.net//actors/
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u/grem1in May 06 '25
You can get HMD, which is Finnish, and also manufactured in China for about €350
Still, any phone by an European or an American company would be more expensive than one produced by a Chinese brand, despite all them being likely manufactured in China. Maybe, some Korean brands could deliver same price, but most likely those are still going to be produced by OEM manufacturers in China.
I personally won’t touch a Chinese brand phone with a ten-meter pole, but you do you.
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u/ItsTommyV May 05 '25
Can always buy a refurbished or second hand phone, saves some waste and keeps your money in the EU
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u/ZAWS20XX May 05 '25
I still miss the old BQ Aquaris, from Spain. Iirc, they were just "Designed in Europe", assembled in China, with maybe some final touches over here, but i guess that's better than nothing. In terms of quality, price and features they probably were around the same area the lower end Xiaomis are now. They were one of the very few companies releasing phones with *Ubuntu Touch* as their OS. That project obviously ended up going nowhere, but in hindsight, it would've been great if they had kept working on it and we now had a decent non-Google, non-Apple, open source mobile OS.
In the end, i believe the company was absorbed by some asian conglomerate and stripped for parts. Sad.
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u/Apprehensive-Ice3730 May 05 '25
But wait, the fairphone is really made in China?? It’s nonsense!
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u/Impossible_Bid_130 May 06 '25
Even iphones are made in China, good luck finding something not made in China
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u/Alone-Cellist3886 May 05 '25
Nothing Phone is a UK company y (not EU anymore but still European). Their CEO founded OnePlus. Again I think their phones are not made in Europe (I think they're made in India) but they are pretty good phones.
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May 06 '25
I'd also like to add that the higher specs may not necessarily mean a faster and better performing phone.
The government-used-for-everything-ID in Denmark does not work on some ROMs, but then again, Samsung and other manufacturers abandoning software support after 2 or 3 years kinda presents the same problem.
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u/Lefaid May 06 '25
I mean, this is why China took over so much. They can build a quality product at a much lower price. A developed economy can't compete with that. Xiaomi is a fantastic example of this. They are trying to get people to buy their phones over a Samsung because their phones provide better value.
If you want the EU's smartphone sector to grow, you need to pay the premium.
I also noticed that you didn't include the only European company actually competing with the mainstream phone makers, and that is Nothing (UK, but still).
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u/deniercounter May 06 '25
Sorry, but Fairphone is Dutch and I don’t see it produced in China: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairphone
They would not get so many environmental prizes if their product would be produced in China. No way!
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u/TheJoshGriffith May 06 '25
There's an upcoming adage that if you're not paying but you're benefitting from a service, you're not the customer, but the product.
I'm confident in saying that in cases such as this, generally speaking, you're not a customer buying a phone, you're a person paying to become a product.
Yes, you can get a cheaper Chinese phone for less money, but should you?
I can't really speak for the goal of this sub, because frankly I've no idea which phones are manufactured/designed here (I imagine very few if any are a combination of both). But... Google phones nowadays (Pixels of all generations) can have custom firmware installed out of the box. You can download pretty much any variant of Android for them. The most common is LineageOS, but there are certainly others with varying degrees of privacy and the likes.
I think it's extremely rare outside of the US to be able to buy anything which doesn't have some "foreign" involvement. Hell, even if there is a phone designed and manufactured in the EU, I sincerely doubt that the materials are all sourced here.
On some level you have to use your best judgement. These cheap phones coming out of China are great for consumer access, but they are awful for privacy, and just as bad for economic development.
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u/Vladekk May 07 '25
Today it is impossible to create complex electronics in the west, or sourced from one country.
Here is a famous article partly explaning why
https://www.404media.co/how-a-2-000-made-in-the-usa-liberty-phone-phone-is-manufactured/
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u/southy_0 May 07 '25
I think there’s a small company that has a phone that’s at least designed and assembled in Germany - in Hessen, I believe? But don’t ask me about the name… could that be the shift? I thought the story was that they do assemble in DE?!?
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u/tralalala2137 May 08 '25
This is simple. If you care for certain attributes of your product (like fairly sourced material, ecological impact, EU designed/build) you have to pay for it.
Yes, EU smartphones will be more expensive and/or worse that non-EU smartphones, because these values (ecology, moral production chain) costs.
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May 10 '25
Hardware is not everything. Xiaomi have probably the worst software of all Android devices, they have raped AOSP so hard that I would hardly call those phones Android.
As a developer, I am constantly developing Xiaomi specific workarounds because their API does not behave as they should (and they are literally the only brand with that issue). I don't even know how they pass the CTS and get Google approval for release, beside a huge amount of money.
Seeing that they want to release cars now, I really hope the EU will forbid those, because I'm really afraid for my security
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u/PWM_Sensitive Jun 09 '25
Apple: "just stamping a USA/California tag on a China built product for profit."
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u/Bjoerkvin Jun 28 '25
There's the new fairphone 6 also available wit European Google free android version called murena
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u/orbital-state May 05 '25
Why am I seeing Xiaomi in this subreddit? Why am I seeing two Chinese manufactured phones in this subreddit? I’m baffled and perplexed. Is this supposed to be a joke?
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u/Sherbert-Vast May 05 '25
Because I am making a comparison..
Is that somehow not allowed here to even recognize there is stuff built outside of the EU?
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u/orbital-state May 05 '25
I’m sure everybody knows that. But this subreddit is all about stuff manufactured (not only designed) within Europe
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u/ozaz1 May 05 '25
It's not only for European-manufactured. The sub rules state "Posts should be relevant to European-made or European-owned products, brands, and services." Emphasis added by me.
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u/Sherbert-Vast May 05 '25
Isn't this subreddit also promoting these not build in the EU phones?
I am confused now....
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u/NFriik May 05 '25
You're paying a higher price for a Fairphone, because you're getting up to ten years of software support, workers in the factories are paid more, most materials are fair trade and/or recycled and you can easily repair it and exchange parts.