• Question: What materials do you need to make a phone

    Asked by anon-267421 to James on 5 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: James Lees

      James Lees answered on 5 Nov 2020:

      Lots of things.

      Phones are made of hundreds of different materials from the plastic of the casing to the glass of the screens and the electronics are made of tiny slices of all kinds of materials like Silicon, Gold and Cobalt.

Comments

  • Photo: Jesse

    Jesse commented on :

    I’m no expert, but I understand there’s a lot of Rare Earth metals that go into making a phone. Which is a bit of a silly name because they’re not that rare at all, but that’s just what they’re called.

  • Photo: Adrien

    Adrien commented on :

    The fact that you need so many different materials (metals mostly) is the main issue when it comes to recycle old phones…
    This is a real problem that concerns ask electronic components. We call it e-waste. And so far, the only solution we have is to send most of our e-waste to “developing countries”!
    Hence, think twice before discarding your phone. Try to fix it first.