Sources: Apple is in talks to buy long-term supplies of cobalt, a key battery ingredient, directly from miners for the first time, amid fears of a shortage
iPhone maker one of the largest end users of the metal — Cobalt is a key ingredient in mobile phone batteries
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's cobalt problem has been building for years: Washington Post reporting traced cobalt from dangerous Congolese mines into the Li-ion batteries inside iPhones and Samsung devices, and after Sky News found continuing child-labor problems Apple temporarily stopped buying hand-mined Congolese cobalt. Until now it bought through the battery supply chain rather than dealing with miners itself.
The direct-purchase talks change that posture: as one of the largest end users of the metal, Apple is moving to lock up long-term supply ahead of a feared shortage, at the same moment its device roadmap is straining other inputs — it later faced a power management chip shortage and pushed suppliers toward Indian factories for iPhone 16 batteries to diversify away from China.
First-order effects
- Cobalt miners gain a first-time direct customer in one of the world's biggest electronics buyers, shifting Apple's purchasing from battery intermediaries to long-term contracts negotiated at the mine level.
- Battery cell makers and traders who currently sit between Apple and the miners lose part of their intermediary role on the metal's supply.
Second-order effects
- Rival end users of cobalt — Samsung and other phone and EV battery buyers named in the earlier supply-chain reporting — face pressure to match Apple's direct contracting or risk being priced out when shortages bite.
- Direct contracts give Apple leverage to enforce sourcing standards upstream, extending the audit-and-suspension approach it took after the Congo labor findings deeper into the mining tier.
Third-order effects
- If large device makers routinely contract raw battery inputs directly, the battery supply chain restructures around vertically secured materials, with spot-market exposure pushed down to smaller buyers.
- Securing cobalt directly also positions Apple for the automotive-scale battery demand implied by its later talks with CATL and BYD about supplying an EV program.
The trend: Electronics makers are moving from buying finished components to directly securing scarce battery raw materials, as shortage risk and electrification pull end users up the supply chain.