There are 0.034 grams of gold in each cell phone, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That's the equivalent of 0.001 troy ounces, worth about $1.82 at today's prices. There are also 16 grams of copper, worth about 12 cents, 0.35 grams of silver, worth 36 cents, and 0.00034 grams of platinum, valued at 2 cents.
As its name implies, a 24K gold iPhone is an iPhone that has been plated with 24K gold. Basically, the casing of the iPhone is made out of gold while the internal components are still made out of the same internal electronic components that cause iPhones to work the way that they do. True 24K gold iPhone are rare.
And after that, where is the gold? In fact, a lot of components of mobile phone motherboard contain gold. The mainboard lines, chips, IDE interfaces, PCI Express slots, and other interfaces, processor sockets, and so on are often covered in gold layers of a few microns thick.
Well, that's because there's not a whole lot of gold, silver, and platinum in them. It is estimated that an iPhone contains about 0.0012 ounces of gold, 0.012 ounces of silver, and 0.000012 ounces of platinum.
There is only about 1/35th of a gram of gold in an average cell phone's interior. Not much, because gold is super malleable and gold is so soft and nontoxic, we can eat gold sheets and shavings.
A single mobile phone contains around 0.04 g of gold, which may not sound like a lot, but keep in mind that there are estimated to be more cell phones on the planet than people.
Rare earth minerals: Technically abundant, effectively rare. With names like dysprosium, neodymium and praseodymium, rare earth elements aren't exactly household names. But the products they're used in -- including iPhones and Tesla cars -- certainly are.
There are 0.034 grams of gold in each cell phone, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That's the equivalent of 0.001 troy ounces, worth about $1.82 at today's prices.
Apple was the first electronics company to publish a list of cobalt and lithium refiners in its battery supply chain, with cobalt in 2016 and lithium in 2020. In 2017, the company mapped its supply chain for rare earths.
Among all home devices, computers and televisions typically contain the most gold. Gold is also found in the circuit boards of earlier generations of cameras, radios, and media players. Traces of gold can be found in other electronics like game consoles, tablets, and phones.
In brief, a Computer has around 0.310 gram of Gold which is worth around $20. Gold is present in Microprocessor, Wire tip coating and other components in a Computer. Extracting gold for several computers together is cost productive.
Gold in iPhones
A typical iPhone is estimated to house around 0.034g of gold, 0.34g of silver, 0.015g of palladium and less than one-thousandth of a gram of platinum. It also contains the less valuable but still significant aluminum (25g) and copper (around 15g).
For $7,300, luxury electronics store Ademov will sell you an iPhone 6 plated in 24-carat gold. Even the Apple logo is given special treatment, plated with 18-carat gold and encrusted with VS1 white diamonds.
This is the 24K GOLD iPhone case owned by Kylie Jenner and Khloe Kardashian - and you won't believe how much it costs. When you buy a brand new phone, you have two options; protect it from the world in a chunky, military-standard cover, or coat it in priceless diamonds, of course.
The most expensive part: The screen ("retina display," in Applespeak), which costs about $28.50.
The most expensive components of the iPhones are their Samsung-built OLED displays which are estimated at $70 per unit and Qualcomm X55 5G modem which goes for around $90.
iCloud locked iPhones are worth almost nothing and are generally only purchased by companies who scrap them for spare parts. You'll have a very hard time finding interested buyers, as companies like GadgetGone do not accept iCloud locked iPhones. If, however, you came by the iPhone legally, then yes, you can sell it.
In fact, computer parts contain the most gold. It is possible to recover gold from computer boards; it is also possible to extract gold from motherboards, integrated circuits, contacts, pins and printed circuit boards.
Gold is used in the manufacturing of SIM cards due to it being a very excellent conductor of electricity. Other than this, it is also very durable. However, each SIM card contains very little amount of gold, and you need thousands of SIM cards to be able to extract a few grams of gold.