Old Pixel Phones Take Center Stage in Eco-Friendly School Clusters

Researchers from the University of San Diego and Google are repurposing discarded Pixel phones into a low-carbon computing cluster for schools, stripping devices to the motherboard to create a general-purpose platform. A 20-board setup can run education apps for about 75 students, with a broader goal of 2,000 phones powering hundreds of classes; a fall launch is planned. Tests suggest aging Pixel hardware, including the 2023 Pixel Fold, can rival modern servers in single-threaded performance, potentially offering affordable, scalable computing while reducing e-waste.