Shiftphone is a modular, easy-to-repair smartphone brand created by the company SHIFT in Germany. The company emphasizes fair trade and ecology, similar to Fairphone. Instead of tantalum capacitors made from coltan, ceramic capacitors are used for their manufacturing. So far, eleven model series have been released. The most recent release was the SHIFT6mq (successor of the Shift6m) in June 2020. The upcoming device will be the SHIFTphone 8, scheduled for release in 2024.
Following the same principles as the phones, a modular 13.3" tablet is also in the works, scheduled for release in 2022. It uses a Tiger Lake i5-processor, features a swappable battery and two M.2 slots, and will support Windows 10 and Linux.
Names
The official company name is SHIFT GmbH.
Model names
The names of models start with the string "SHIFT" in upper case letters.
Except for the SHIFTphone 8 this is followed by the length of the display diagonal rounded to full inches. After that the name ends - for the oldest models a dot follows, in turn followed by a number - some newer models until around 2017 an m follows - this is for the new modular line
Operating System
You can choose between two different operating systems. The SafetyNet based SHIFT-OS-G/ShiftOS-G with Google services or the AOSP-based SHIFT-OS-L or ShiftOS-L without Google services. Furthermore, flashing the device with a Custom ROM is allowed; ShiftOS developers are also partly involved in the development of certain Custom ROMs.
Devices
History
SHIFT has been developing smartphones since 2014. In the beginning Carsten and his brother Samuel Waldeck realized the project SHIFT7 through German crowdfunding platform . The brothers founded Shift GmbH, a company with limited liability regulated under German law. Further Shiftphones were launched with model series SHIFT4 and SHIFT5 in 2015. The project grew into a small company with 15 employees in Germany, which collaborated with the Chinese production coordinator company "Vstar and Weihuaxin" in Shenzhen. Since 2018 the company has employed 10 workers in their own manufacturing facility in Hangzhou.
Characteristics
Sustainability
Shiftphones are built modularly to allow customers to change parts and repair the device without voiding the warranty. Videos support the user in repairing their device, explaining how to open it and how to change certain modules.
Circular economy
Customers have the option, to upgrade their device to a different model.
Shiftphone partners with Closing the Loop.
Privacy aspects
The operating system can be replaced with a custom ROM based on GNU/Linux (Mobian) or a de-googled Android.
Different from the competitors PinePhone and Librem, the motherboard and peripherals are not open-source hardware. This makes hardware backdoors still possible.
The SHIFTphone 8 does include hardware kill switches, for example for the microphone and camera.
Workers' care
Shift employees in China do not work more than 50 hours a week, while it is common for people to work up to 90. Compared to the average Chinese worker in the manufacturing business, the staff is provided with insurances.
Criticism and controversies about conflict minerals
In 2016 c't described the Shift5 as a typical cheap smartphone. Besides, the journal argued that there was no evidence that coltan is not used in Shiftphones and thus criticized the transparency of SHIFT. SHIFT and further secondary sources claim that coltan is not in use for their manufacturing. However, according to c't, the SHIFT partner company "Vstar and Weihuaxin" did not provide information about conflict-free material used in Shiftphone. Unlike Shiftphone, Fairphone provides detailed audit reports about component suppliers through a Chinese agency, and also facilitates detailed information on problems and compromises in the supply chain.
Coltan is used to make components for mobile phones and other electronic devices. A huge part of the ore is from mines in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). "Much mining has been done in small artisanal mining operations, sometimes known as Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM). These small-scale mines are unregulated, with high levels of child labor and workplace injury." Some 50,000 children, some just seven years old, work in Congo's coltan mines. Workers often have little or no protection and often work underground in self-made shafts.
Recent reports paint a clear picture: articles by many magazines were able to capture the statements of Carsten Waldeck and prove their credibility accordingly.