Choosing refurbished extends device lifecycles and reduces e-waste. One choice can make a difference.
Extrapolated from annual global estimates. These counters calculate in real-time based on the seconds elapsed since the start of today, this year, or your page load.
We make more phones than most people can imagine. But the bigger number is the one we don't see: the billions of phones that fall out of use every year.
Produced
1.4B
Falling Out of Use
5.3B
5.3 billion phones fall out of use each year, compared to 1.4 billion new ones produced. That's almost 4x more phones reaching end-of-life than entering the market.
Visualising the scale and growth of global phone production and e-waste.
A refurbished phone that's properly tested and restored can deliver another 3–5 years of service, keeping valuable devices out of e-waste for longer.
Every refurbished purchase means one fewer new phone needs to be produced, reducing energy consumption, material extraction, and carbon emissions in the supply chain.
Phones contain rare earth elements and precious metals. Refurbished phones make better use of these scarce resources than disposal or traditional recycling.
We don't claim that buying one refurbished phone directly prevents one phone from entering a landfill. The relationship is complex. But every refurbished purchase helps reduce the pressure to manufacture new devices, lowers demand for raw materials, and supports a more circular economy.
Every refurbished phone you choose reduces demand for new manufacturing and keeps valuable technology in use longer. Shop now and help extend the lifecycle of great devices.
Start Shopping RefurbishedSmartphone shipment data is used as a proxy for global production. The 1.4 billion annual figure is derived from IDC forecasts and represents the midpoint of estimated global production.
Rate used: 44.39 phones per second
The 5.3 billion "phones falling out of use" estimate comes from the Global E-waste Monitor and represents devices reaching end-of-life. This does not mean all devices go directly to landfill—many are stored, resold, reused, or recycled.
Rate used: 168.06 phones per second
Global e-waste figures come from the ITU Global E-waste Monitor 2024. The 22.3% formally recycled rate reflects documented recycling; the remaining 77.7% enters informal recycling, storage, or waste streams.
2022 baseline: 62,000,000 tonnes generated | 13,826,000 tonnes formally recycled
All counters are extrapolations from annual estimates. Page-load counters calculate seconds since midnight (today counters) or Jan 1 (year counters) and multiply by per-second rates. Session counters display phones produced/discarded since you opened this page.
1.25 billion smartphones forecast for 2025 Learn more
Comprehensive global e-waste data and projections Learn more
Official UN publication on global e-waste Learn more
About this microsite: The Phone Waste Clock is a data visualization tool created to illustrate the scale of global phone production and e-waste. The counters extrapolate from published annual estimates and are designed to be illustrative, not precise. We do not claim these counters represent exact real-time measurements. The purpose is to contextualize the scale of these global challenges and make the case for refurbished phones.