European phones 🇪🇺

One minute the Chinese are the enemy, the next the Americans. It is therefore wise to buy mainly products from one's own continent. But where European phones used to be freely available, it is a bit more difficult these days. Especially with the rise of Chinese brands, and the influence of American companies.

No phone shown here is entirely European. That's because a phone is made up of hundreds of components and materials. There is simply no country which can make every component completely independently and mine every material itself. You can limit the influence as much as possible, though.

Fairphone

There are currently still a handful of European companies that design and make phones, albeit with foreign components, but at least the profits do not go to foreign companies or tech billionaires. Perhaps the best European example of this is the Dutch Fairphone. They develop the phones and have them made in China consisting of fair materials.

Degoogle

But even Fairphone phones run on Android, a product of US tech giant Google. Those who don't want to depend on that either can flash their Fairphone 5, 4, 3(+) and even 2 to /e/OS. This operating system created by Murena is based on Android but completely stripped of Google services.

Flashing is another name for installing an operating system. This is quite technical and only recommended when you know what you are doing. Bricken (rendering your phone completely unusable) is a realistic outcome. If you're not up for that, you can also buy ready-made phones with /e/OS on murena.com.

European phone brands

You used to have Nokia as the best European alternative, these days you have to look harder. Apart from Fairphone, however, there are still some companies operating on the European continent. Below is a list:

• Nothing: United Kingdom
• HMD: Finland
• Alcatel: France
• Emporia: Austria
• Gigaset: Germany
• Fairphone: Netherlands
• Senifone: Netherlands

European iPhone alternative

Apple is very good at creating an ecosystem from which it is difficult to escape. This is because they make and coordinate both hardware and software all by themselves. For instance, it is not possible to run iOS on a non-iPhone, and conversely, no other operating system can be installed on an iPhone. Switching is unfortunately the only alternative.

However, you can start small. For instance, use Signal instead of iMessage, cancel iCloud and store files at luckycloud or use Spotity instead of Apple Music. That way, you still reduce your foreign dependence.

European alternatives

Switching can be done all at once but also gradually. And in general, switching regularly is wise. It keeps you critical, makes you more aware of functionalities and reduces your dependence.