Winner and loser of the week: Fairphone shows the way, Plan B for Huawei

Winner of the week: Fairphone

With the Fairphone 3, this week's headlines were dominated by a smartphone that doesn't shine with the best technical values and records, but with a completely underrepresented but important feature: sustainability. The Fairphone is manufactured with specially selected materials and has a modular design - repairing is not only permitted, but explicitly encouraged. That's better for the environment and your wallet, at least in the long run.

Of course, I know the two big arguments against the Fairphone: it looks like a brick and is not as well equipped as the competition in the price range. Yeah, maybe. But let's be honest: does your daily driver really need to be the fastest, the greatest, and the most extraordinary on the market? You would rather buy a Golf than a Porsche, and not only because the Porsche is much more expensive. If you can make a small contribution to sustainability with an everyday item like a smartphone, then why not do it?

Loser of the week: Huawei (again)

The still-second-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world had to accept another setback this week. Due to the continuing difficulties with the US government, the Huawei Mate 30 will come onto the market without Google apps and services, as the US embargo prohibits it.

On the domestic market in China, this may not be a huge problem for Huawei, but in Western countries, this is likely to be an enormous stumbling block for the new smartphone. An Android smartphone without the Google Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps or Google Photos is much more difficult to market than the competition, no matter how good the hardware may be. If this situation continues, the Huawei Mate 30 (in its probably three variants) will lie like lead on the shelves of traders. This puts Huawei's position on the market at extreme risk, as the flagships are the driving force for the manufacturers. Bad prospects for Huawei, then, I suspect.

What were your tops and flops of the week?