It seems that Fairphone will finally end the Fairphone 3 (and 3+) support in August after 7 years.
I am still using my FP3+ daily - the only thing that has gone wrong with it was that I wore out the USB connector with cheap charging cables… so a new bottom connector (and a spare battery, just in case) and I’m all good again…
… which means, I might not be buying another phone for another couple of years yet, let’s see if it’ll make 10 years with LineageOS, etc!
I’m sure there’s other phones still chugging along…
USB has very tight tolerance standards for USB-C. It means that there is just the right amount of clamp that it stays in while maximizing the lifespans before the clamping mechanism wears out.
If you use cheap cables, they are often made out of spec which can wear out the clamping and make the port either not charge or even fall out. HMD (Nokia) phones had terrible connectors for at least their first 3 generations that wore out, even with certified cables, after 6 months and my cables would literally not charge and just practically fall out.
The safest bet is to choose a USB-IF member as they are certified with the standard.