The Galaxy S23 is Samsung’s most sustainable phone yet

During the 2023 Samsung Unpacked event on Wednesday, Samsung announced new sustainability efforts in the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, saying the models were the company’s “most sustainable phones yet.”

The company said the new Samsung Galaxy S23 phones are UL ECOLOGO certified. This certification indicates a product has a reduced environmental impact based on environmental performance criteria throughout its life cycle, including energy reduction, materials, health, environment, manufacturing, and operations.

More specifically, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is made up of 12 internal and external components of recycled material, compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which was made of six.

All Galaxy S23 series phones are made of a wider variety of recycled materials than previous generations, including pre-consumer recycled aluminum and glass and post-consumer recycled plastics sourced from discarded fishing nets, PET bottles, and water barrels. The phones also come in 100% recycled packaging certified as sustainably sourced.

Aside from what Samsung’s products are made of, the company also announced at Unpacked that the Galaxy S23 series comes with up to four generations of OS updates and five years of security updates, reducing the need to upgrade your devices as often. In comparison, most Android phones average about three years of updates and about two years of security patches.

It’s all part of Samsung’s ambitious Galaxy for the Planet vision, first announced during 2021’s Unpacked event. Samsung has a net zero commitment for climate impacts by 2050 for all operations and net zero by 2030 for all equipment businesses (i.e., home appliances, mobile phones, consumer electronics, etc.).

Samsung’s Head of North America Corporate Sustainability, Mark Newton, previously told ZDNET that the company is working toward prioritizing a circular economy when it comes to its sustainability approach.

“Getting these [recycled] materials into our products is great. But having these materials available as commodities and feedstock to other industries is also great,” Newton said.

“But thinking about it much more broadly without the guardrails and considering how your waste materials can be a feedstock to another sector is a really important way that tech companies like Samsung can help towards a more sustainable future.”