Despite many claiming otherwise, Apple says your iPhone and iPad don’t contain conflict minerals sourced from armed groups in Africa.
While Apple remains proud of its supply chain and environmental efforts, the company has faced continued scrutiny regarding the materials it uses to make its products. With 2024 legal complaints, protests over the iPhone 16 launch, and even a 2025 lawsuit, Apple has often been accused of using conflict minerals.
In 2018, 2019 and 2022, Apple cut ties with suppliers who sourced conflict minerals, effectively suggesting that all the tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold found in its products did not come from armed groups. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Apple reiterated its stance.
The company says its “responsible minerals sourcing program includes requirements that apply to all levels of Apple’s supply chain.” Additionally, it claims that 100% of “smelters and refiners of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold (“3TG”) that are identified in Apple’s supply chain are required to participate in an independent third-party audit annually.”
This includes supply chain partners that use 3TG in the manufacturing of the iPhone, Mac, iPad, AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro, Beats products, HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple Card, and all Apple accessories. Suppliers are required to submit a Conflict Minerals Reporting Template as an additional measure to the third-party audits.
Apple terminates its business relationships with suppliers who fail these audits or who do not meet the company’s standards. Apple explains that, during 2025, there were no such supply chain partners.
Per the SEC filing, there was “no reasonable basis for concluding that any smelters or refiners of 3TG identified in our supply chain as of December 31, 2025, directly or indirectly financed or benefited armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country.”
The company reached this conclusion by “analyzing the information provided by third-party audit programs, upstream traceability programs, independent reporting, and our suppliers.” Apple explains that it also evaluates its suppliers with the help of data from “the U.S. Geological Survey, a survey of smelters and refiners, and third-party reviews of publicly available information.”
Cautiously, however, the company says it “cannot always determine the countries of origin of the 3TG actually contained in our specific parts and products,” as “smelters and refiners report their country of origin information at an aggregate level for all 3TG material processed.”
In essence, Apple says that, as far as the company knows, its products do not contain conflict minerals. Apple has made this claim in the past, though it has been disputed.
Apple’s legal troubles over conflict minerals
In November 2025, a lawsuit from International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates) claimed that three Chinese smelters, Ningxia Orient, JiuJiang JinXin, and Jiujiang Tanbre, processed columbite-tantalite, or coltan, smuggled through Rwanda after armed groups seized mines in the DRC.
Apple has faced protests regarding its alleged use of conflict minerals. Image source: Tomohiro Onsumi
Apple’s 2024 list of supply chain partners contains all three companies. In December 2024, complaints against Apple for its alleged use of conflict minerals were filed in France and Belgium.
In September 2024, Apple was also accused of using conflict minerals by anti-genocide protesters. They claimed that “militia backed by Uganda and Rwanda steal coltan and are killing [and] raping people, and are enslaving men, women, and children to mine the coltan in dangerous conditions. Apple buys this coltan.”
In April 2024, the government of the DRC questioned the effectiveness of Apple’s stated Supplier Code of Conduct. Overall, Apple’s claims regarding its supply chain partners’ use of conflict minerals have faced significant scrutiny in the past two years.
Whether or not further allegations of conflict mineral use will arise, however, remains to be seen.
This story originally appeared on Appleinsider
