Thursday, August 20, 2026

Fairphone debuts its repairable phone in the US

PLUS: Google’s Pixel 11 goes on sale today.

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After more than a decade in Europe, the Fairphone has finally traversed the seas and landed on US shores. This Dutch company makes repairable Android phones with sustainable and fair-trade practices, ensuring folks in the supply chain get paid fair wages. (You can see all of its seals of approval here.) The Fairphone (Gen 6+) launching now in the US may not have the flashiest or most powerful hardware, but there are 12 modules you can easily replace with the included screwdriver—like the camera, display, or battery—and components won’t cost you an arm and a leg. What’s more, Fairphone even offers an unmatched 5-year warranty, and the device will get updates through 2033. If you want a phone you can repair yourself, it’s a no-brainer. It costs $650 and works on T-Mobile and AT&T.


Speaking of phones, Google’s latest Pixel 11 smartphones officially go on sale today. They’re more expensive than before, no thanks to the AI boom, and the hardware upgrades are small. Still, they still deliver the Pixel quality camera we’ve all come to know, and there are some breakout software features that might genuinely change how you use your phone. Chiefly, Rambler, which is an upgraded, AI-powered voice to text. I can’t stop rambling.

Julian Chokkattu

Senior Gear Editor

THIS WEEK'S PICKS

Fairphone Is Finally Selling Its Repairable Phone in the US

 

By Julian Chokkattu

 

More than a decade after launching in Europe, the Netherlands company is now selling its repairable phones in the US, starting with the Fairphone (Gen 6+).

I Can’t Stop Rambling to My Pixel 11 Pro

 

By Julian Chokkattu

 

Google’s new voice typing is pure magic, but subpar gaming performance and a useless rear LED keep these flagships from true greatness.

Someone Finally Fixed Installing Apps on a Mac

 

By Justin Pot

 

The installation utility EasyDMG makes it so you never drag and drop an icon again.

HOW TO

How to Disable the AI Features in Gmail and Google Docs

 

Just about every week, it seems, I learn about a new AI feature I’m supposed to learn to disable. Recently, Reece Rogers wrote an essay titled “Please Stop Making Me Opt Out of AI” that perfectly captures my feelings about being automatically opted in to features that feel, at best, totally unnecessary and, at worst, disruptive and distracting. Most of us, I assume, would prefer to be given some choice over whether and when we’d like to use AI. Even when it feels like we have no agency, as tech companies shove their new fancy updates in our faces, we are often given the power to say no after the fact. Gmail and Google Docs have recently integrated Gemini into their software. Personally, I’m perfectly happy to continue writing emails and documents without AI. If you feel the same way, here’s how to opt out.—writes Elana Klein.

I Wore an Electrical Muscle Stimulation Body Suit to Zap Myself Into Fitness

 

By Christopher Null

 

Can electrifying your workout offer a shortcut to a stronger, fitter you? I sweated in a skintight EMS suit for two months to find out.

We Bought a $500 Counterfeit Rolex So Good, Even Rolex Didn’t Spot It

 

By Alistair Charlton and Jeremy White

 

The replica watch industry is in its “super clone” era. Following tips from murky internet forums, we bought three budget fakes that were good enough to pass as real—but ultimately disposable.

Can the Upcoming ‘Expanse’ Game Avoid the Biggest Mistake of ‘Mass Effect’?

 

By Boone Ashworth

 

The universe may never tell you if your choices mattered. Owlcat’s Osiris Reborn might not either.

Amazon Can Use Your Twitch Content to Train Its AI—Unless You Opt Out

 

By Fernanda González

 

When Twitch announced that streamers could opt out, thousands of users questioned why their content was being used to train AI models in the first place.

I Tried a Window-Cleaning Robot and Hated It

 

By Simon Hill

 

I tested the top-of-the-line Ecovacs Winbot W2S Omni window-cleaning robot on my Victorian home, and it was an unmitigated disaster.

Google’s Pixel Watch 5 Pumps Up Its Fitness Smarts

 

By Boutayna Chokrane

 

With smarter gym tracking, new health alerts, and offline Gemini, the Pixel Watch 5 fine-tunes a winning formula—for a price.

All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.

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