>but standard enough that people by binned playstation 5 motherboards to use as computers

That doesn't mean that all the features are enabled right from the factory, or that the compatibility with already existing features is lost.

Modern chip's security features are pretty complicated and include hardware patches, hardware debug authentication, multiple provisioning states (and multi-key hierarchy for that), RMA states to clear all the private information, etc.

>Switch runs on basically the same Nvidia Tegra CPU/GPU as multiple android tablets.

Yes, and the one which got cracked with a bootrom vulnerability ;)

That's a pretty working motivation for a chip company to improve their chip security when the company as beefy as Nintendo tells them that their chip is vulnerable they're losing money because the customers can play for free ;). I'm pretty sure patchable bootroms started to be common only after Switch hack.

I think you should listen to bringup of Linux on Playstation talk from CCC to understand that those platforms are much more than just "somewhat customized".

There are whole sections of peripheral chips missing and they behave quite a bit differently with how they bootstrap and where things are mapped in memory.

iPhone is top-of-the-line as well, because they control the whole software and the whole hardware (starting from basically all the chips). That's very rare in the industry.

There are just a bunch of companies which afford to do the same. Maybe Xiaomi will be the next one.

> people think they will get better privacy/security with a /e/ fairphone when it's actually much worse than an iPhone

Does /e/OS illegally collect users' data for ads and sends a lot of telemetry to their servers like Apple? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34299433, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26639261

> I think it's deceptive because people think they will get better privacy/security with a /e/ fairphone when it's actually much worse than an iPhone.

That's just blatantly not true though - even iPhones collect way more telemetry and Ad data than /e/ OSes.

I'm not big on this general line on argument, but one point in particular:

> And of course, fairphone’s hardware and OS are nothing to write home about. For the freedom and security nerds they’re better off with GrapheneOS on Pixel or whatever upcoming Motorola phones will support it.

For the "freedom nerds", FP is one of the only (if not the only?) vendor to have official support for microG-based operating systems, seamless OTA updates and everything included. The Murena e/OS offering in particular is simple enough that the non-nerds that (perhaps less outspokenly) care about freedom can just pick it up with little change in habits.

> For the freedom and security nerds they’re better off with GrapheneOS on Pixel or whatever upcoming Motorola phones will support it.

Not quite. The people who care about security first are better off with GOS, yes. However, GOS's threat model very specifically treats the user as a thing to defend against; the freedom-first crowd should avoid them.

isn't the main point of Fairphone to not use conflict minerals?

by using FOSS only myself and hating monopolies like Apple etc., i still pretty much convinced that being "green" or "ethical" is more about participating/volunteering/doing-something towards a better world than off-loading your duty to other companies... one could easily make a point that Apple products despite locked down, are still green (Apple has a bunch of zero-emission and whatever policies) and much more if one uses their devices for a long while. i had a 2° hand iPhone SE 1° gen. till 2021? if stuff breaks despite your not being able to fix it's not like you can't hop into a specialized shop to change batteries or even pay the expensive service Apple offers... sure that allows exploitation and it's always nice to get rid of it, that's why somehow these emerging companies are important and/or policies like the right of repair will make them obsolete

The new Sennheiser earbuds have replaceable batteries too so the fairbuds are no longer unique in that regard. I haven't read comparisons on sound quality though

It depends who you are. If you're Edward Snowden, or even a high ranking politician, it's a sane precaution.

If you're just a rando like me yes, it's paranoia.

those who give up freedom for security will end up losing both

It's a reasonable extrapolation of the current state. They want up to date patches, Google is already winding down open support for that, and it'll release in what, a year or two? Basically guaranteed to have outdated security patches on launch or they'll have to start maintaining their own. Might happen, but it seems unlikely they can hack it, as it were.

> A quick search would basically disprove everything after your first sentence.

If this is so simple, you surely can demonstrate it and present the links. Meanwhile there are still no phones acceptable for GrapheneOS except from Google, and it's a known fact that Google is restricting Android step by step:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49364745

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47091419

Criticizing others while only using Google Pixels is such intense hypocrisy that I cannot possibly take them seriously or fairly. Like if someone rolled up in a Ford Raptor rolling coal while selling solar panels or something.