Samsung Electronics launched a Circular Battery Supply Chain to recover and reuse cobalt. | MilsiArt/Shutterstock
Samsung Electronics is working to take cobalt from old Galaxy batteries and incorporate it into new batteries.
Last year’s Galaxy S24 series was the first of the company’s products to incorporate recycled cobalt. This year’s Galaxy S25.1 will use 50% cobalt specifically from recycled devices, the company announced.
“To achieve this, Samsung established a new Circular Battery Supply Chain with like-minded partners, featuring a multi-phase process to recover cobalt from previously used Galaxy batteries, giving them a second life to power the new Galaxy S25.1,” according to a press release.
Samsung didn’t specify which other companies it was partnering with but noted that the collected phones will have the back glass and batteries removed via an automated system. Many of the phones will come from trade-in programs, it added.
“Samsung will continue to expand the use of our new recycled cobalt batteries into our ecosystem to accelerate circularity,” the company wrote.The company’s interest in cobalt recycling goes back several years, in part due to high prices and human rights concerns over mining.