On average, consumers replace their smartphone every four years. But the device’s core computing capabilities are intact and relatively powerful. Computer scientists at UC San Diego are now giving these smartphones a second life. The phone’s motherboards are removed, connected into clusters, and redeployed as a general-purpose computing platform. With Google’s support, the university plans to deploy a datacenter built from 2,000 Pixel smartphones that will provide hundreds of researchers and students with low-cost, low-carbon cloud computing, reducing the need for newly-manufactured hardware and associated emissions. At UC San Diego, the project is led by computer science faculty members Ryan Kastner and Pat Pannuto; alumna Jennifer Switzer, PhD ‘25 leads the project at Google as a postdoctoral scholar. Read more on the Google blog, CNET, FOX News, Tom’s Hardware, Reddit, and Hacker News.

*Picture and text via UCSD JSOE Media Relations