Yale researchers have conducted a study that found brand is more important to the quality of a smartphone’s life than physical attributes. To reach this conclusion, the team analyzed over 500,000 listings of second-hand Apple and Samsung phones for sale on eBay. Apple iPhones were found to have at least one year of additional use when compared to Samsung.
When thinking of the characteristics behind a smartphone’s life, ability to repair, memory size, quality of materials and other physical characteristics come to mind. However researchers have realized that is not the case -- the study determined that brand of smartphone is the main indicator of a smartphone’s life.
Many smartphone makers participate in “planned obsolescence,” where companies purposefully and frequently create new products that quickly become obsolete. Researchers also say smartphones also contain over 50 elements that are harmful to the environment -- these elements are linked to dwindling numbers of rare earth elements and toxicity to both the Earth and human life.
"I know that people bash the phone companies for 'planned obsolescence' of their products, but in most cases phones are replaced when they are still working fine, so improving repairability won't necessarily help much," said Tamar Makov, a doctoral student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). "Perhaps we should be focused on what really makes us replace phones so quickly, or we should be angry at manufacturers for making really good commercials. But it's likely that the problem is not the hardware."
The new findings show the potential behind utilizing the intangible properties of smartphones in order to create a consumption system that is more eco-friendly.
During the study, Yale researchers studied the resale performance of Apple and Samsung smartphones. These two brands own 70% of the market, and both produce very comparable phones that are easy to break and hard to repair. Apple ranks higher in brand equity than Samsung, consistently ranking at the top of the world’s most valuable brands, while Samsung ranks below the top ten.
The second-hand smartphone market is a major player behind extending the life of smartphones. The research team compared the resale prices and detailed device information for 500,000 Apple and Samsung smartphones on eBay, and then calculated the percentage of overall value each device had lost by the time it reaches the resale market.
The study found that Samsung phones lost value faster than Apple phones. Samsung phones lasted around 54 and a half months, while Apple phones lasted a full year longer, around 67 months.
"It's not that technical specifications don't matter," Makov said. "But no matter what combination of specs were included in our analysis, brand name had a substantial impact."
"Some phones last longer, and it's not just because they're repairable or more functionally durable," she added. "It's also the psychological aspects that make them more durable. That's important to remember."
The paper on this study was published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology.
