What are smartphones made of?
Smartphones take 8 things directly, among them printed circuit board, microchip, memory chip, camera sensor, OLED screen and smartphone cover glass. Trace them back and you pass 64 made things on the way to 30 raw materials.
How smartphones are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
- Printed circuit boardat Populate the main board
- Microchipat Populate the main board
- Memory chipat Populate the main board
- Camera sensorat Add the sensors and camera
- OLED screenat Bond the display stack
- Smartphone cover glassat Bond the display stack
- Lithium-ion cellat Seat the battery
- Aluminumat Close the frame
From the ground: 30 raw materials
- Silica sand through smartphone cover glass
- Potash through smartphone cover glass
- Crude oil through aluminum
- Coal through aluminum
- Copper ore through lithium-ion cell, copper
- Water through lithium-ion cell, copper
- Air through lithium-ion cell, copper
- Limestone through printed circuit board, fiberglass
- Quartz through camera sensor, silicon wafer
- Tin ore through microchip, tin
- Gold ore through microchip, gold
- Bauxite through aluminum, alumina
- Rock salt through smartphone cover glass, soda ash
- Trona through smartphone cover glass, soda ash
- Lithium brine through lithium-ion cell, lithium carbonate
- Spodumene through lithium-ion cell, lithium carbonate
- Cobalt ore through lithium-ion cell, cobalt
- Nickel ore through lithium-ion cell, nickel
- Manganese ore through lithium-ion cell, manganese
- Iron ore through lithium-ion cell, manganese
- Natural gas through lithium-ion cell, manganese
- Sulfur through lithium-ion cell, copper, sulfuric acid
- Lead ore through printed circuit board, solder, silver
- Silver ore through printed circuit board, solder, silver
- Zinc ore through OLED screen, indium tin oxide, indium
- Corn through smartphone cover glass, soda ash, carbon dioxide
- Dolomite through lithium-ion cell, steel, magnesium
- Timber through lithium-ion cell, steel, magnesium, metallurgical silicon
- Sugarcane through smartphone cover glass, soda ash, carbon dioxide, baker's yeast, molasses
- Sugar beet through smartphone cover glass, soda ash, carbon dioxide, baker's yeast, molasses
Made along the way: 56 things
Metals 16
Chemicals and fuels 25
Oxygen gasNitrogen gasSoda ashSynthetic graphitePetroleum cokeSulfuric acidPhenolPropyleneAcetoneChlorineCaustic sodaArgonQuicklimeAmmoniaCarbon dioxideEthyleneBenzeneNaphthaFormaldehydeHydrochloric acidHydrogenPropaneTolueneMethanolCharcoal
Plastics and fibers 4
Glass, stone and ceramics 1
Electronics 8
PhotoresistSilicon waferIndium tin oxideLithium carbonatePolysiliconIndiumMetallurgical siliconTrichlorosilane