5 Modular Telephones to Watch in 2026

You’ve in all probability obtained a cellphone in a drawer someplace with a swollen battery, a cracked again, or a display that lastly gave up. For years, the reply was to throw it out and purchase the following flagship. That reply’s getting more durable to defend in 2026. The European Union’s repairability scoring system is forcing each main model to rethink internals, and a brand new wave of repairable telephones is lastly transport at each value tier: the modular ones price shopping for this 12 months aren’t all the time the manufacturers with the largest advertising and marketing budgets.

A few of these telephones have been quietly constructing towards this second for half a decade. Others have solely lately dedicated to the repair-first design language now that EU guidelines demand it. Both method, the end result is similar: telephones you’ll be able to really open, repair, and hold utilizing.

Listed below are 5 modular telephones to look at in 2026.

01 Fairphone 6

Value: From €549.00 (About $640)
The place to Purchase: Fairphone (EU and international)

If there’s one cellphone that anchors this complete dialog, it’s the Fairphone 6. Search curiosity for the mannequin is up roughly 1,025% 12 months over 12 months, and the model’s case for being essentially the most repairable cellphone you should purchase in 2026 is easy: personal it as soon as, restore it for years, and belief the safety patches will hold touchdown via 2033.

The Fairphone 6 splits into 5 replaceable module teams: battery, show, high unit, cameras and earpiece, and the loudspeaker-and-USB-C-port meeting, all accessed with a single Torx T5 screwdriver. A five-year guarantee backs the {hardware}.

Fairphone commits to seven years of Android OS updates and eight years of safety patches from launch, alongside spare components for a minimum of 5 years. That’s not a advertising and marketing flourish. It’s the precise product spec.

What’s stunning in 2026 isn’t that the Fairphone 6 exists. It’s that the remainder of the business is lastly being measured towards it.

02 HMD Skyline

Value: $398
The place to Purchase: HMD (direct) | iFixit components | Amazon US

The HMD Skyline doesn’t attempt to reinvent the cellphone. It reinvents the screwdriver. HMD’s repair-it-yourself Android makes use of a single inside screw, connected to a camshaft mechanism, to pop the again cowl off in seconds. That one design alternative is why iFixit handed the Skyline a 9 out of 10 repairability rating, one of many highest any US-channel Android cellphone has earned in years.

The Skyline ships with real HMD components bought immediately via iFixit, with battery, display, charging port, and again cowl all accessible alongside full restore guides. Every half swaps with fundamental instruments. Wi-fi Qi2 charging comes baked in, which is uncommon within the repair-first class.

It isn’t a Fairphone-level dedication to a decade of help, nevertheless it’s the closest a model with US retail presence has come. If you would like a daily-driver cellphone with a 9 out of 10 restore rating and a price ticket that doesn’t learn like a sustainability tax, that is the decide.

03 Murena Teracube 2s

The Murena Teracube 2s is the finances decide that takes the restore promise significantly. Murena launched it in June 2025 because the deGoogled refresh of the long-running Teracube 2 {hardware} platform, and €389 in Europe or $339.90 via Murena’s America retailer will get you a swappable 4,000 mAh battery, a modular chassis, recycled-material development, and a biodegradable case within the field.

Murena’s pitch reaches previous the {hardware}. The Teracube 2s ships with a four-year guarantee and a flat price for unintentional restore, which is the type of post-sale dedication most flagship manufacturers gained’t put in writing.

It additionally runs /e/OS, Murena’s deGoogled Android, for readers who need a privateness footprint that matches the restore ethic.

The specs sit firmly entry-level. The chipset isn’t the purpose. The purpose is {that a} finances cellphone you’ll be able to nonetheless purchase in 2026 might be opened, mounted, and saved alive for years longer than the disposable telephones of 2018 to 2022. That’s the class shift, not only a product launch.

04 HMD Fusion

Value: $249.99
The place to Purchase: Amazon

HMD’s Fusion launched in September 2024 at IFA Berlin and remains to be on cabinets in 2026, which is a part of the story. As a substitute of making an attempt to make each inside half swappable, the Fusion bets on the again of the cellphone. Its “Good Outfits” system makes use of a six-pin pogo connector to connect purposeful again panels that add actual {hardware}: a Flashy Outfit with a hoop gentle, a Gaming Outfit with bodily buttons, and rugged-protection panels, with an open-source toolkit so third events can construct extra.

The execution issues right here. Modular equipment failed as soon as already with Motorola’s Moto Mods and LG’s G5, and each makes an attempt felt costly and lonely. The Fusion’s pitch is friendlier: a standard cellphone with a again you’ll be able to change for a use case, paired with an iFixit partnership for the internals you’ll be able to’t attain with a magnet.

It’s the primary modular cellphone in years that doesn’t ask you to rethink your whole each day carry. That’s why it really works.

05 SHIFTphone 8.1

Value:€ 759,00 (About $890)
The place to Purchase: Vireo 

The SHIFTphone 8.1 is essentially the most over-engineered cellphone on this listing, and that’s the praise. Shift’s eighth-generation cellphone is the German maker’s first IP-certified machine, carrying an IP66 mud and water resistance ranking, a primary for a completely modular cellphone. The 8.1 refresh launched in November 2025 via NovaCustom with iodéOS pre-installed, layering privacy-focused software program on high of the modular chassis.

The headline function isn’t the swappable battery, although that’s right here too. It’s the pair of {hardware} kill switches sitting beneath the battery cowl, one for the cameras and one for the microphones.

Flip them with a paperclip and your cellphone is bodily incapable of listening or watching, no software program toggle required.

It gained’t outsell something you’ve heard of. It issues as a result of it exhibits what’s doable when a small group designs round restore, privateness, and sustainability from day one, as an alternative of bolting any of these on after a regulatory deadline.

What this listing means for 2026

Three years in the past, an inventory like this might’ve been largely aspirational. Ideas. Crowdfunded one-offs. The Fairphone line, and that was it. In 2026, the listing is actual, the manufacturers are various, and the worth ladder runs from sub-$300 to flagship. The telephones you’ll be able to really repair are now not the telephones no person desires to make use of.

In case you’re upgrading this 12 months and also you need the following cellphone in your hand to outlast the guarantee, begin with these 5. The one that matches your finances in all probability additionally suits your restore tolerance, and that wasn’t true at any level within the final decade.