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Apple is looking to ensure that it has the steady supply of cobalt it needs to produce iPhones and other electronics:
Apple Inc. is in talks to buy long-term supplies of cobalt directly from miners for the first time, according to people familiar with the matter, seeking to ensure it will have enough of the key battery ingredient amid industry fears of a shortage driven by the electric vehicle boom.
The iPhone maker is one of the world's largest end users of cobalt for the batteries in its gadgets, but until now it has left the business of buying the metal to the companies that make its batteries.
The talks show that the tech giant is keen to ensure that cobalt supplies for its iPhone and iPad batteries are sufficient, with the rapid growth in battery demand for electric vehicles threatening to create a shortage of the raw material. About a quarter of global cobalt production is used in smartphones.
Also at Ars Technica and TechCrunch.
(Score: 2) by black6host on Thursday February 22 2018, @05:33AM (7 children)
In terms of doing business, this is a good move for Apple. The more control over your supply chain, the more control you have to limit your exposure to shortages. You can never eliminate all the risks, but you certainly can try to minimize them. That's what a good business does.
Do I like good business', not necessarily. Just because it's good for them doesn't mean it good for me or you. But still, this is some pretty simple stuff.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday February 22 2018, @05:41AM (2 children)
Next thing: Apple launches its own mining probes in the asteroid belt to secure cobalt.
The iPhone supply for the populace to access Facebook and buy from iTunes must never dwindle.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday February 22 2018, @05:44AM
Need that iPhone 8K VR headset hrrrnrnrnngghgh
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by beckett on Thursday February 22 2018, @07:18AM
Replace "Apple" with "SpaceX and Tesla" and i figured the recent Falcon Heavy test flight was also a fesability study for a future mining probe mission. Elon Musk currently has the advantage when it comes to mining anything in space.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Thursday February 22 2018, @06:40AM (2 children)
But how big are the risks? Surely Apple's use of Cobalt is a tiny fraction of the worldwide use for electric vehicles? A leaf, which has a relatively small battery for a modern EV has a battery that is about 2000 times the capacity (in Watt-hours) of an iPhone. Worldwide, there are already several million battery-electric vehicles on the road, which, at 2000 times the capacity, would easily exceed the battery capacity of all the iPhones in the world.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday February 22 2018, @09:33AM
Don't forget to factor in product lifetimes and recycling percentages. Apple expects you to replace your phone every year or two. I would expect car batteries to last much longer and be more likely to be recycled.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 1) by nwf on Thursday February 22 2018, @04:59PM
With all the car batteries taking up much of the cobalt, it makes sens so they can ensure a supply of batteries. They've done similar things for flash memory, but this is obviously much lower in the product stack.
I can see them moving toward this model more and more. Apple is so huge they can use this technique to guarantee no one can touch them going forward. When most of the world's supply of batteries, flash, and RAM are locked to Apple, good luck trying to compete.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Thursday February 22 2018, @06:42AM
It's also worth noting that there is a tradeoff between cost and risk. Buying guaranteed capacity costs money and reduces flexibility. But since Apple's gross margins on the phones is very high, it's probably a tradeoff that Apple is willing to take.