Is your phone diaposable?
In the onset of the 21st century, mobile phones were a fad and rare commodities. Back then, a basic mobile phone was engineered to perform a core function which was to facilitate communication between people in different geographic locations conveniently. Fast forward 20 years later, the phone has evolved into a "smart" gadget with a myriad of applications. Smartphones as we call them today, are sophisticated gadgets designed under new engineering principles that aim for different goals including profit, durability and life quality improvement.
There were a handful of mobile phone manufacturers in the year 2000. Today the mobile phone industry is awash with dozens of manufacturers. The surge in manufacturers has led to the production of cost-friendly smartphones that aim to dent competitors' market shares. The effort to have competitive advantage has often led to poor engineering practices where phones are no longer designed with the end-user in mind but to meet sales targets and increase profit.
While a mobile phone bought in early 2000's easily survived 5-8 years in their owner's hands, a smartphone today will hardly cross the three year mark. Researchers have found that an average smartphone user will have to upgrade after at least 15 months depending with the phone's lifespan. The main reason for the high rate of smartphone upgrades is poorly engineered smartphones that are hard to maintain.
For instance, when the old mobile phones' batteries became unable to store enough juice a user could easily snap off the back panel, replace the damaged battery and continue enjoying the benefits of their old phone. That is not the case today as more manufacturers are opting for irreplacable batteries that are burried in phone cases that are hard to open. Since the lifespan of Li-ion batteries used in today's smartphones is 2-3 years, that automatically translates that users are likely to replace some smartphone models after 2 years.
Frequent smartphone replacements are good for business but can lead to adverse environmental effects such as pollution. Manufacturers are aware of this looming problem and are actively working on it, even though their interests are hardly in line with providing a universal solution to it. For instance Apple (who played a big role in the popularisation of irreplacable battery phones) are considering recycling parts of disposed phones for their new phones. Although recycling smartphones is a viable solution, it is important to consider that is often more expensive to recycle than to manufacture new parts from raw minerals. Since smartphone manufacturers are basically after profits, it becomes clear how big of a challenge recycling is. However, in the manufacture of the iPhone 12 series, Apple has taken big steps towards becoming a 100% carbon neutral company by 2030.
Smartphones have played a big role in improving the quality of lives and are one of the highlights of the achievement of man in the first quarter of the 21st century. The benefits of smartphones are numerous and it is without argument that smartphones will still be a hot commodity for years to come. Since the end-user decides which smartphone to buy, it is important to consider disposability and long-term usability of the phone you buy. The specs and colours can be very attractive but a wisely engineered and designed smartphone is always a wise purchase.
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