The mobile phone has finally arrived.

While we have been solely focused on the mobile phone battery, mobile phones are built from many individual parts, also made all over the world. The many parts of a mobile phone each have a supply chain.

Each part, including the lithium-ion battery, is shipped to a location where mobile phones are assembled, packaged, and transported to finally arrive at the store or at your home.

There are over 3 billion mobile phones in the world. This map shows how many mobile phones are in each country.

YOUR PHONE IS ONE OF OVER 3 BILLION. BUT IT IS STILL SPECIAL BECAUSE IT’S YOURS. YOUR PHONE WILL THEN GO THROUGH ITS USE CYCLE. YOU LIKELY KNOW IT WELL…

YOU GET YOUR NEW PHONE…

…and you are excited. It has that new phone smell. The screen is shiny and perfect. And you load all your data and favorite apps.

Did you know?:

To create psychological dependency, social media companies use similar tactics to those of casinos. These include pull-to-refresh and infinite scroll features, and they activate the same brain mechanisms of addictive drugs.

Source: The Guardian, 2019

Did you know?:

There are almost 5 million apps available for download and use.

Source: Business of Apps, 2019

Did you know?: 

While there are over 3 billion smartphones in the world, there are more mobile phones in the world than there are people with the number of activated phone lines topping 7.5 billion. 

Source: Bankmycell, 2019

Did you know?: 

According to several studies, the number of bacteria found on the screens of mobile phones is at least 3 times more than what has been found in a toilet bowl.

Source: Insurance2Go, 2018

Did you know?: 

There are over 11,000 reported serious injuries caused by texting and walking a year in the United States alone. According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, pedestrians were the only category of road users whose deaths went up (5,376 deaths per in 2018). This increase has been partially attributed walking while texting.

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2019

Once you have your phone set up, you will likely use your phone every day. People generally spend an average of 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phones every day, with the top 20% of smartphone users spending upwards of 4 hours and 30 minutes a day.

Source: The Guardian, 2019

CONSIDERING ALL THE TIME AND RESOURCES IT TOOK TO GET YOUR PHONE TO YOU, RELATIONSHIP DOESN’T LAST LONG…

Did you know?:

There are over 300 parts in each mobile phone. If any of these parts fail, they can cause your smartphone to cease to function.

Source: SourceMap, 2017

Did you know?:

In many phones, the most expensive part is the screen.

Source: PCMag, 2018

Did you know?:

In the United States, consumers spend over $3.4 billion a year replacing cracked screens.

Source: MarketWatch, 2018

 

Did you know?:

Every hour in the United States alone, 5,761 screens are cracked. That is nearly two per second, and it amounts to approximately 50 million cracked screens a year.

Source: Android Authority, 2018

Did you know?:

19% of people drop their phones into the toilet.

Source: CNET, 2011

The average lifespan of a phone is between 15 months and 2.5 years. The lifespan of your smartphone depends on how you handle your device.

ONCE YOU HAVE DECIDED TO PART WAYS WITH YOUR PHONE, YOUR ARE ON TO THE NEXT ONE. BUT IS THAT THE END OF YOUR OLD PHONE?

Is this the end of the supply chain?

WHAT'S NEXT?