Carbon Mobile relocates smartphone production to Germany

Carbon Mobile (Berlin, Germany) has relocated its production of sustainable composite smartphones to Germany.

In partnership with commerce and lifecycle service provider Ingram Micro (Irvine, Calif., U.S.), the company's future devices will be produced in the former Motorola factory in Flensburg. In addition, the price of the Carbon 1 MK II smartphone, which launched in March 2021, will lower to €599. Carbon Mobile contends that the Carbon 1 MK II is the world’s first carbon fiber smartphone.

“With the new location in Germany, we can reduce our exhaust emissions for the production and transport of our devices even further and create new jobs in the coming years,” notes Firas Khalifeh, founder and CEO of Carbon Mobile. “Ingram Micro already operates the workshops for the repair of our smartphones and can therefore bring comprehensive knowledge of our technology into production.”

Today, the industry reportedly produces 50 million tons of e-waste every year, most of which cannot be recycled. Khalifeh reports, “Working with advanced materials is the necessary first step to closing the loop on e-waste. The Carbon 1 MK II is built with a lightweight monocoque body, making it 33% lighter than the average smartphone. If all devices were made in this way, the industry could save 100,000 tons of the earth’s resources every year.”

A partnership with Cleanhub (Berlin, Germany) enables 500 grams of plastic waste to be collected from the ocean for every device sold, reportedly making it the world’s first plastic-neutral smartphone. The company says future generations of its smartphone devices will include bio-based carbon fiber and enhanced reparability features to increase the lifecycles of its products.

The Carbon 1 MK II is made from Carbon Mobile’s HyRECM technology, a hybrid material that is characterized by its strength and light weight.