Tootfinder

@UP8@mastodon.social
2026-05-11 16:36:44

🚯 Junkyard Computing: Repurposing Discarded Smartphones to Minimize Carbon
#computing

Figure 3: Results of a thermal stress test. The top graph shows
the temperature internal to each phone (colored lines) and the ex-
ternal air temperature (grey line). The bottom graph shows the test
job latency. For both graphs, the green line is the Nexus 5; other col-
ored lines are the Nexus 4s. The horizontal dotted lines at the ends
of the Nexus 4 curves represent the device shutting itself off.

Junkyard Computing: Repurposing Discarded Smartphones to Minimize Carbon
1.5 billion smartphones are sold annually, and most are decommissioned less than two years later. Most of these unwanted smartphones are neither discarded nor recycled but languish in junk drawers and storage units. This computational stockpile represents a substantial wasted potential: modern smartphones have increasingly high-performance and energy-efficient processors, extensive networking capabilities, and a reliable built-in power supply. This project studies the ability to reuse smartphon…