Apple’s using more recycled materials in its iPhones and watches

Apple’s new iPhone Air contains more recycled titanium than any of its predecessors, the company announced at the Tuesday Keynote. It’s using 80 percent recycled titanium. The phone as a whole is made with 35 percent recycled material by weight, compared to 30 percent recycled material for the iPhone 17.

The company’s latest lineup of watches also boast higher proportions of recycled content. Both the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3 are made up of 40 percent recycled content, with 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery. The Ultra 3 case is made with 100 percent recycled titanium, and Apple says that an “innovative 3D printing process” allowed it to cut down the amount of raw materials used in the case by half compared to previous iterations. The Apple Watch SE 3 case is made with 100 percent recycled aluminum.

For comparison, Apple’s Series 10 watches came with either 100 percent recycled aluminum or 95 percent recycled titanium. Using more recycled materials can minimize the pollution and environmental risks of mining and processing raw materials, as does designing products to have more longevity.