"The counterargument is that you have to pay for AppleCare. I don't pay for anything for my phone "

But you have to pay for the new parts, don't you? What I'm saying is that I don't know of a head-to-head comparison of long-term maintenance of a Fairphone, including buying parts to fix it, compared to buying the cheapest iPhone and Apple Care.

And when they give you a new iPhone, they refurbish the old, (and the "new" one they give you is actually refurbished), so I don't see how it adds to e-waste.

I bought a screen for $70 for an iPhone third-party screen and paid some guy in China $10 to fix it. You probably pay $199 for two years, yet they still charge you $29 for it