Apple pulled 2,204 pounds of gold out of old iPhones and iPads

now that's recycling!

[tangor]

Apple says its recycling program has recovered thousands of pounds of rare metals from discarded phones, tablets and computers.

The Cupertino slinger of iStuff said in its annual Environmental Responsibility Report [PDF] that when it breaks down returned products, it comes into possession of huge stocks of gold, silver and other metals.

The tally for 2015 includes:

2,204 pounds of gold
6,612 pounds of silver
44,080 pounds of lead
23,101,000 pounds of steel
189,544 pounds of cobalt
13,422,360 pounds of plastics

[theregister.co.uk...]
Some critics think Apple's design, which makes it difficult to repair their products, might explain this recycling success.

[bill]

Some outlets are calling this a hoax
https://motherboard.vice.com/read/apple-does-not-melt-iphones-into-gold [motherboard.vice.com]

Almost Nothing About the Apple Harvests Gold From iPhones’ Story Is True

Simple math shows that Apple would have had to have collected 33.3 million iPhones to recover that much gold. In other words, in this alternate reality, rather than refurbish and resell these iPhones for hundreds of dollars a piece in developing nations, Apple decided to destroy them to harvest roughly $1 worth of gold per device.

[tangor]

I suspect the truth might be somewhere between. Apple does have an attractive and AGGRESSIVE recycling program and they take other mfg products as well as their own. Given the volatility of the precious metals markets in these unnerving times, it does not take a lot of any to generate a high return. Gold and silver, in particular, are immediately recyclable to manufacturing (or monetary) use.

Secondary, not sure all developing countries would want iPhones (specific because of the OS and encryption). If refurbed for overseas with a dumbed down OS it won't be the same product, or have the same value.