science

How long can an unused phone last? Anonymous 24/01/01 (Mon)23:28 No. 5206 Anonymous
1st January 2024
Monday 11:28 pm 5206 How long can an unused phone last?

Okay, now this is going to be a very weird experiment to be honest but i'm simply just curious.

I have a not too old Nokia 1 plus from 2018 that i have swapped for my sisters Iphone 11 because she had bought herself a new phone. The Nokia is in good condition but i want to know how long it can really last while not being used (i'm talking in years and decades here.) Iv'e seen my old Windows XP laptop that hasn't been used since 2007 and this laptop was in my damp loft for all those years and after charging the lithium battery for a bit, it worked.

So i'm going to put my phone in a vacuum sealed bag to prevent moisture from getting in and then leave it in my -45°C industrial chest freezer for 20 years hopefully. I'm not quite sure why and i know that this is very dumb but guess if you think it will work after 20 years and if not, how long will it last in the freezer?

I don't know why but since i was a kid iv'e always been facinated with the thought of "what would happen if all humans suddenly vanished and how long would our infastructure survive in x amount of years/centuries." My logic with this experiment is would my phone work in an area like Antarctica or Greenland if i just left it in the cold, dry weather for 20 years? I know that in Antarctica we have half eaten pemmican that is still edible after over 100 years due to the dry air and cold so i feel like my phone would last longer if left undisturbed in the dry and cold compared to normal British weather. Thank You!

P.S. Picture is from google and somewhat related.

Expand all images.

Anonymous 24/01/02 (Tue)08:07 No. 5207 Anonymous
2nd January 2024
Tuesday 8:07 am 5207

swelling-pouch-cell.jpg

In a modern phone, the only thing that meaningfully degrades due solely to age is the battery. Lithium-ion batteries are inherently chemically unstable, which is how they're able to store energy. They're most chemically stable when stored at half charge, but they will noticeably degrade after about ten years in storage and could spontaneously fail due to manufacturing defects. Gas generation can cause the cell pouch to inflate, which can mechanically damage devices and in extremis lead to electrolyte leakage or even fire.

Larger electronic devices use aluminium electrolytic capacitors that will eventually degrade (and often leak corrosive electrolyte), but phones use solid-state capacitors that don't meaningfully degrade over time.

If I were trying to preserve a phone, I would store it at room temperature in a sealed box with a generous amount of desiccant. Ideally I'd dismantle it, remove the battery and ultrasonically clean the main PCB to remove any potential contaminants that could accelerate corrosion. There's a small chance of tin whiskering which could be mitigated with conformal coating, but whiskering is relatively rare in modern solders unless the solder is exposed to significant mechanical stress.

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