All smartphones, including the new iPhone 13, rely on gold to function. Due to its high conductivity, stainless steel and durability, the precious metal is indispensable in small components used in them. As smartphones, and all other smart devices, have more and more features, such as 5G connectivity, gold is increasingly being used in their manufacture.
Data from the World Gold Council support this information. Although there is still a shortage of chips, the amount of gold used in the electronics industry has returned to pre-pandemic levels. At the end of the second quarter, it stood at 66.3 tonnes, almost the same as in the first quarter of 2019.
Worth
How Much Gold Is In The Iphone 13?
We don’t know exactly how much, but we can make estimates using alternative calculation methods.
The main components for which gold is used in the manufacture of smartphones is the coating of the motherboard, camera, some connecting circuits and chips. The precious metal is usually applied as an extremely thin layer on the mentioned elements, due to its properties mentioned above.
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Calculate the Precious Metal
Generally, the more features and connectivity a smartphone offers, the more gold is required. This is especially true in the transition from 4G to 5G connectivity that will come with the new iPhone 13.
That’s why a Greenpeace report said that in 2007, the average smartphone used 3 milligrams of gold. By 2014, when the iPhone 6 was released, the amount of gold had increased to 25 milligrams. After another 2 years, the weight of gold used in each iPhone reached 30 milligrams, and in 2020 – to 34 milligrams.
Weight
Into The Motherboard
Based on this logic, the iPhone 13 should have around 35-37 milligrams of gold, as it comes with more functionality (although some components, such as RAM, will be the same ). However, this is not the case. According to the latest Environmental Progress Report , published earlier this year, Apple managed to reduce the gold used for the iPhone 12 motherboard by 50% compared to the previous generation.
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Price At The Time Of Launch
However, it is not the only component that requires the use of the precious metal. So we can assume that the new iPhone 13 has about 25 milligrams of gold or maybe a little more. In any case, we will use 25 milligrams as the basis for the calculations below. At a gold price (at the time of writing ) of $56.54 per gram, the amount of gold in the new iPhone 13 will be worth $1,413 per device.
Opinion
How Much Gold Should Apple Buy For The Iphone 13
Apple uses gold to make its products. As it turns out, it’s a vital part of how smart devices work. But in some cases, the Cupertino company has taken it a step further.
We refer to the case of the Apple Watch gold edition, of which the manufacturer emphasized in 2015 that it wants to make 1 million units. According to the company, for one copy, between 50 and 75 grams of 18-carat gold were used . On average this means exactly 2 ounces of gold (weighing 62.2 grams). By 2020, Apple is estimated to have sold around 100 million watches in 5 years, but it’s unclear how many of those have a gold case. However, if the company had produced the 1 million pieces in question, it would have needed 746 tons of gold. The amount equates to a quarter of total global gold production by 2015.
Let’s go back to the new iPhone 13. The amount of gold the company needs is not yet clear. This largely depends on the units produced and sold. The exact amount of gold required for a new iPhone will become public only after such devices begin to be recycled.
The analyst company, Wedbush , estimates that there are currently 250 million users globally using various iPhone models that are over 3 years old. Therefore, we can use this number as the number of potential sales of the new iPhone 13, although it is not clear in what time period.
So, Apple will need 6.2 million grams of gold to produce the iPhone 13, the equivalent of 200.9 thousand ounces. Therefore, for the production of the potential 250 million units of iPhone 13, the company will have to invest 353 million dollars in gold.
Going back to Apple’s report, it uses 100% recycled gold for the motherboard and some types of connections. The manufacturer also states that:
Recycled Metal On Technology
We are working to increase the use of recycled gold and reduce the amount of gold needed to manufacture components, while supporting greater transparency in the global gold supply chain.
But in addition to using recycled gold, the company also offers other interesting facts. They say they’ve recycled their own older phone models, using the metals found in the new iPhone 13. Apple estimates it’s extracted so much gold and copper from a ton of old devices that the amount is equivalent to digging up 150,000 tons of ground
Furthermore, 109 of the company’s suppliers in nearly 30 countries use renewable energy to manufacture devices. In addition, all suppliers with whose materials the iPhone 13 is assembled are certified as 0-waste producers. In the case of gold, this means they have reduced their waste by between 95 and 99%. The norm for silver is between 90 and 94%.
