Every smartphone contains real gold to ensure its internal electronics function reliably.

A typical smartphone contains approximately 0.034 grams of gold, mostly located on the printed circuit board and within the integrated circuit (chip) packaging. According to the World Gold Council, gold is used because it is the most ductile and malleable of all metals, allowing it to be drawn into extremely thin wires. These gold bonding wires connect the silicon chips to their external casings, ensuring high-speed data transmission without signal loss.While silver is a better conductor of electricity and copper is cheaper, both metals oxidize when exposed to oxygen and moisture. This oxidation creates a layer of non-conductive material that can cause device failure. Gold is chemically inert, meaning it does not react with oxygen at any temperature. This property ensures that the microscopic contact points in a phone remain conductive for years, even in humid environments.The scale of gold use in electronics is significant. The United Nations' Global E-waste Monitor 2020 reported that the gold content in the world's electronic waste was valued at roughly $9.5 billion annually. It takes about 35 to 40 smartphones to recover one gram of gold, which is a much higher concentration than is found in many primary gold mines. This has led to the rise of 'urban mining,' where companies like Apple and Umicore use specialized chemical processes to reclaim 99% of the gold from old devices.