Apple states that 50 percent of the electricity used to manufacture iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max comes from renewable sources. iPhone Duo’s figure is higher, at 60 percent. AirPods 5’s is lower, at 35 percent. Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 carry no matching percentage in the material published for this launch.
This is a different figure from the recycled-content percentage Apple states for every product. Recycled content describes what a device is made of. The renewable-electricity figure describes how the factory that built it was powered, and it is the one line where three of the six new products have a specific number and two do not.
Key facts
| Product | Manufacturing electricity from renewable sources |
|---|---|
| iPhone 18 Pro / iPhone 18 Pro Max | 50 percent |
| iPhone Duo | 60 percent |
| AirPods 5 | 35 percent |
| Apple Watch Series 12 | Not stated in the material checked |
| Apple Watch Ultra 4 | Not stated in the material checked |
Where each number comes from
The 50 percent figure for iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max is stated in Apple’s Product Environmental Report for the two phones, alongside the 40 percent recycled-content figure and the carbon totals by storage tier. iPhone Duo‘s 60 percent figure appears in Apple’s press release, in the same sentence as its 35 percent overall recycled-material figure and its 100 percent fiber-based packaging claim. The 35 percent figure for AirPods 5 appears on Apple’s AirPods 5 product page, next to a 40 percent recycled-material-by-weight figure.
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Lined up together, the three figures do not track neatly with recycled content. iPhone Duo has the lowest overall recycled-material figure of the three, at 35 percent, yet the highest renewable-electricity figure, at 60 percent. AirPods 5 has a recycled-material figure close to the iPhone’s, at 40 percent, but the lowest renewable-electricity figure of the three, at 35 percent. Apple’s releases do not explain the relationship between the two figures for any product, and this article does not attempt to supply one.
The two products with no figure
| Product | Recycled material, overall | Manufacturing electricity, renewable |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Watch Series 12 | 40 percent | Not stated |
| Apple Watch Ultra 4 | 45 percent | Not stated |
Apple Watch Series 12‘s press release and tech specs state its overall recycled-material figure, the recycled content of its aluminum and titanium cases, and its fiber-based packaging claim, but no manufacturing-electricity percentage sits alongside them. Apple Watch Ultra 4‘s release follows the same pattern: a recycled-material figure and a recycled titanium case figure, with no renewable-electricity number in what we checked.
Two figures, not one
Apple’s own reporting treats recycled content and manufacturing electricity as separate figures, gathered and stated independently, not as one derived from the other. A product that states a recycled-content percentage has not, by doing so, also stated a renewable-electricity figure, and the reverse holds too. That is the reason a straightforward count across six products turns up three numbers rather than six, without implying anything about what the missing three would be if Apple published them.
The same iPhone 18 Pro report that states the 50 percent renewable-electricity figure also states that final assembly supplier sites for the phone are Zero Waste to Landfill, verified against a third-party standard. That claim sits next to the electricity figure in the same document, describing two different parts of the manufacturing process rather than one. Nothing in the iPhone Duo, AirPods 5 or either Apple Watch release repeats a Zero Waste to Landfill claim in the material checked, which leaves the iPhone pairing of a renewable-electricity figure with a landfill-diversion claim as something stated for two products out of six, not six.
What Apple has not said
- A manufacturing renewable-electricity percentage for Apple Watch Series 12, in the release or tech specs checked.
- A manufacturing renewable-electricity percentage for Apple Watch Ultra 4, in the material checked.
- Any explanation for why iPhone Duo’s renewable-electricity figure is higher than iPhone 18 Pro’s while its overall recycled-content figure is lower.
- Whether the missing Watch figures will appear in a later document, such as a Product Environmental Report specific to each Watch.
iPhone 18 Pro, Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4 and AirPods 5 reach stores Friday, September 18, 2026. iPhone Duo ships October 23. As of September 12, no renewable-electricity figure for either Apple Watch has surfaced in the sources checked for this piece.