Carbon footprint of the production of Samsung and Apple smartphones

In an age where smartphones are indispensable, the environmental impact of their production, particularly CO₂ emissions, is a growing concern. A comparison between two industry giants, Apple and Samsung, reveals notable differences in their carbon footprints. This blog is the first of five.

Apple and Samsung have shared details about the carbon footprint of their phone models, including how much comes from making, shipping, using, and recycling them. On average, making a smartphone is the biggest part, making up 69% of Samsung's and 78% of Apple's total carbon footprint. Apple's numbers for how much carbon is emitted during usage and shipping are a bit lower than Samsung's.

Carbon footprint of production 

But let's dive deeper. What are the average CO₂ values for the production of a Samsung and Apple smartphone?

Looking into the CO₂e* emissions from Apple and Samsung smartphones sheds light on their environmental impact. On average, all Apple phones produce 73% more CO₂ than all Samsung phones do, with figures at 51.4 vs 29.7 kg CO₂2e respectively. This pattern is consistent across their products, hinting that Apple's manufacturing methods or the materials they choose might lead to more carbon emissions.

What does 40 kg of CO₂ mean?

On average, making an Apple or Samsung smartphone (which covers about 53% of all phones sold globally) pumps out almost 40 kg of CO₂. To get a feel for what 40 kg of CO₂ really looks like, let's compare it to the CO₂ emissions from stuff we do every day. This way, it's easier to grasp the impact of 40 kg of CO₂ through everyday activities and choices:

🚗 Driving a car approximately 159 kilometers.

✈️ Flying roughly 430 kilometers.

🍖 Eating around 1.48 kilograms of beef.

🚌 Traveling 643 kilometers by bus.

🔌 Equals 20,000 smartphone charges.

🚯 The production of 4,000 plastic bags.

☕ Drinking about 190 cups of coffee.

📝 The production of 8,000 sheets of A4 paper.

🌳🌳 CO₂ absorption of 2 adult trees per year.

In our next blog post, we'll dive deep into the carbon footprint of every Samsung and Apple smartphone and explore what these numbers reveal about the environmental impact of these gadgets.

* CO₂ vs CO₂e: CO₂e means “carbon dioxide equivalent”. In layman’s terms, CO₂e is a measurement of the total greenhouse gases emitted, expressed in terms of the equivalent measurement of carbon dioxide. On the other hand, CO₂ only measures carbon emissions and does not account for any other greenhouse gases.

Source: Life cycle reports from Samsung and Apple. The CO2 values ​​of all iPhones concern the models with the lowest possible internal memory (GB). The internal memory also affects CO2 emissions, but this aspect has been disregarded here.
We've gathered and analyzed all the source info ourselves. Just a heads up, you can't legally claim anything based on this.

Interested in full CO₂ datasheets of all mobile devices of Samsung, Apple and other brands? Please send a mail to info@2service.nl for options and tariffs.