Samsung Advances Circularity With a New Cobalt Recycling Process for Galaxy S25

Samsung Electronics is building on its commitment to do more with less of the planet’s natural resources by continuing to scale the use of recycled materials in Galaxy devices, including cobalt, an essential material for batteries. Last year, the Galaxy S24 series was the first device to incorporate recycled cobalt. Now, Samsung is taking it one step further by sourcing cobalt from the batteries of previously used Galaxy devices and batteries discarded during the manufacturing process. To achieve this, Samsung established a new Circular Battery Supply Chain with like-minded partners, featuring a multi-phase process to recover cobalt from previously used Galaxy batteries, giving them a second life to power the new Galaxy S25^[1] .

The process starts by collecting previously used Galaxy smartphones, such as those from trade-in programs. The batteries are carefully dismantled, discharged and shredded to safely recover cobalt. Then, the shredded fragments are processed into “black mass,” a powder mixture containing cobalt and other metals. The black mass undergoes further processing to extract cobalt, which is then used to produce cathode material—an essential component of smartphone batteries. The remaining cobalt goes through the final stage of the battery manufacturing process, becoming an integral part of the new Galaxy S25 batteries, with each Galaxy S25 battery featuring 50% recycled cobalt^[2].

Samsung will continue to expand the use of our new recycled cobalt batteries into our ecosystem to accelerate circularity.

Check out the video below to learn more about Samsung’s innovative Circular Battery Supply Chain.

[1] Inclusion may differ by markets.

[2] A minimum of 25% of the Galaxy S25 battery is cobalt by weight, 50% of which is recycled cobalt.