Fairphone was founded in 2013 as a more sustainable smartphone manufacturer, with the goal of producing long-lasting smartphones without conflict materials. The Fairphone 4 was just released, but the company hasn't forgotten about its earlier models, and now the Fairphone 2 from 2015 is receiving another major Android update.

Fairphone announced today on its Twitter account that three of its older phones are receiving new major Android updates this week, though they're labeled as beta releases. The Fairphone 2 now has a beta available for Android 10, and beta testing for Android 11 on the Fairphone 3 and 3+ starts later this week.

Rolling out old Android updates might not sound too impressive, but it still makes the Fairphone 2 and 3 some of the longest (officially) supported Android devices of all time. These aren't custom ROMs either — the updates are still certified by Google for running the Play Store and other components. That's an impressive feat for a smaller company like Fairphone, and it makes you wonder why larger companies like Samsung and Google can't do the same (spoiler: they would sell fewer new phones).

The Fairphone 2 was first released in 2015 with a Snapdragon 801 chipset, 2GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, a microSD card slot, a 5-inch 1080p IPS screen, and Android 5.1 Lollipop. The phone was updated to Android 6.0 in 2017, Android 7.1 in 2018, Android 9 in March 2021, and now it's jumping to Android 10. The Fairphone 3 and 3+ were released in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and both use a Snapdragon 632 chipset with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The Fairphone 3 series shipped with Android 10, so the upcoming Android 11 update will be the first major upgrade.

Fairphone 2 owners can learn more about the beta program on the company's forum.