According to a list published by the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO), Apple obtained a technology patent, suggesting that future iPhones will have built-in sensors to calculate the device’s carbon footprint.
Bloomberg reported that an iPhone 15 Pro will produce 66 kilograms (145 pounds) of carbon dioxide during its life cycle. Based on Apple’s iPhone shipments in 2022, the total carbon footprint is estimated to be 15 million metric tons that year, approximately That’s four times the annual emissions from buildings in Washington, DC.
According to the patent description, Apple plans to build one or more sensors into future iPhone products to calculate the power or energy the iPhone device draws from the power grid and estimate the device’s carbon footprint.
Apple’s patent Figure 5A illustrates a flow chart for measuring device power consumption and deriving grid energy consumption and carbon footprint; Figure 6 illustrates using grid data to derive carbon footprint from energy consumption and deriving such A system that reports data to an external server.
The patent diagram only shows an iPhone, but according to the patent description, the sensor could be expanded to Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, HomePod and other Apple devices and accessories in the future.
