SUSTAINABILITY
Despite a momentary dip in 2020 ( for reasons that should be confusing to no one ), smartphone sales are on the rise . In 2013 , just shy of 970 million smartphones were sold worldwide . Five years later , that figure comfortably exceeded 1.55 billion . Now , as remote and hybrid work , rapid digitalisation of developing markets , and the increasing maturity of 5G continue to drive sales , we find ourselves facing a decade of everincreasing smartphone consumption .
Obviously , this poses some serious problems . As smartphone sales have grown worldwide , so too has the industry ’ s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions , as both the manufacturing process and the hunt for rare earth minerals ( many of which the Royal Society of Chemistry predicts we will exhaust within the next century ) has accelerated .
This , combined with a convenience culture in which the average smartphone is beating the odds if it doesn ’ t break down within four years , is creating an unsustainable amount of electronic waste ( e-waste ).
If the rare earth metals , plastics , and other non-biodegradable - potentially toxic - components of commonly discarded
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