Strictly speaking about repairability, yes. But in terms of performance, specs, camera, etc. Samsung / iPhone of 5 years ago is still ahead of the Fairphone and co
That's correct but misleading. First because we don't need all this raw power, and as much power as we give our devices, all of it will be (ab)used according to Wirth's law [0].
Second, because this is primarily due to economies of scale and predatory behavior from economic giants: if consumer/environmental protections don't outlaw ethical abuses from the few corporations who capture the market (see also planned obsolescence [1]), the "ethical" alternatives are always going to be more expensive and less attractive.
Third, because there are simple ways to have a strong impact immediately. For example, by forcing all hardware manufacturers to publish the entirety of their data sheets / schematics / research, you'd find a much better OS support for older devices (and new devices too), which would bring a practical incentive (cost) to use older hardware which currently has to be thrown away (for example if the OS does not support newer TLS standards [2]).
The situation is only bad because we let it be. Going with big tech for short-sighted, individualized gains, fails to address the elephant in the room that we as humanity can do so much better and everyone would be better off.
