Researchers at the University of San Diego, working with Google, are exploring whether discarded Google Pixel smartphones can be repurposed into low-cost computing clusters for schools, as part of a project to cut e-waste. Rather than being thrown away, old phones' motherboards are stripped of their displays, batteries and casings and combined into a "phone cluster computing" setup that functions as a general-purpose computing platform, potentially giving schools cheaper access to computing power than building new infrastructure would allow.

The team found that a cluster of 20 Pixel motherboards could support education apps for a class of up to 75 students, with an eventual goal of a 2,000-phone cluster serving around 100 classes at once, due to launch this autumn. A Pixel's motherboard accounts for roughly half of the device's carbon footprint, according to Google Sustainability reports, so reusing it substantially reduces environmental impact. The research also revealed that older Pixels remain surprisingly capable: the 2023 Google Pixel Fold reportedly matches or beats servers such as the ASUS RS720-E11 in single-threaded performance, with Google Research suggesting many modern smartphones rival multicore servers on this measure.