Can Neodymium Magnets Damage Cell Phones?

The strongest permanent magnets that are commercially available are neodymium magnets. Compared to ferrite, alnico, and even samarium-cobalt magnets, they offer unmatched magnetism and resistance to demagnetization. Radio frequencies, a type of electromagnetic energy, are utilized by cellular (cell) phones and found on the electromagnetic spectrum between FM radio waves and the waves used by microwave ovens, radar, and satellite stations.

Neodymium magnets are utilized in voice coil motors in smartphones because they are compelling and can quickly activate the auto-focus mechanism. They cause little to no damage to computers and smartphones. However, we will look at every smartphone component and establish how safe these rare earth metal magnets are to modern-day technology.

What Effect Would a Neodymium Magnet Cause to a Smartphone?

Anyone working with or near neodymium magnets should know the many health and safety warnings associated with neodymium magnets. A word of caution we hear is that you must always keep the neodymium magnets away from your computer, credit cards, and even your phone.

And here’s where we got that notion – the idea goes back to older technologies, where data was stored magnetically, using small pieces of iron.

With the recent technological advancement, neodymium magnets are unlikely to cause interference and damage to smartphones or computers.

Everyone has a smartphone these days, and they are essential not only to our personal lives but can be essential to our work lives as well. Therefore, it is important to know that solid neodymium magnets like neodymium will not erase your phone data.

If you’ve started working with neodymium magnets or even purchased them for do-it-yourself and craft projects, you may wonder if neodymium magnets can harm cell phones. But if you’ve ever read about neodymium magnets, you know they’re already in a surprising number of home appliances – you probably have at least one in your home right now without even realizing it.

So can they do that much damage? Let’s review these warnings and find out if neodymium magnets can harm our phones.

Newer devices that contain solid-state drives do not use magnetism to store data, so they are entirely immune to magnetic interference.

Modern displays are either LCD or LED-based, and these avoid any possibility of neodymium magnets affecting their functionality. Breaking a phone screen with a neodymium magnet will require direct contact, like dropping a neodymium magnet on the screen or placing the phone between two bars of neodymium magnets.

However, this is not where it ends, as we still wonder if some other horror stories we have heard are true.

Can neodymium magnets truly corrupt our phone memory and erase all our data?

We will be addressing all of the worries you have today.

Phone Screen

Initially, cell phone screens were cathode-ray tube technology, often called CRT. Due to the method by which CRT displays transmit light and color, magnetic fields can easily interfere with these displays, causing the display to exhibit a rainbow with vivid psychedelic colors.

With modern technology came LCD and OLED screens, fortunately, unaffected by neodymium magnets. The only danger that neodymium magnets can pose to your screen is if your phone is in the path of two neodymium magnets. Neodymium magnets have powerful force fields, which can destroy your phone screen if two neodymium magnets are attracted to each other with your phone.

Phone Memory

Many people fear that neodymium magnets can erase everything from their phones. But does this happen? The fear is valid as a strong neodymium magnet could overwrite or even delete existing data but only when they are in close contact. This idea comes from hard drives, which use neodymium magnets to switch from “read” data to “write” data.

The storage type in smartphones today is far different from the traditional hard drives found on computers. Cell phones typically use USB drives to store all your data, and they contain no magnetic components, which means no amount of neodymium magnets will interfere with your data!

Digital Compass

iPhones and most Android smartphones have a built-in digital compass. Your phone uses this compass to give you the most accurate directions, and like other traditional compasses, it relies on neodymium magnets. Therefore, a strong magnetic field produced by neodymium magnets could affect the phone’s compass. However, if your phone is affected by a compromised neodymium magnet and compass, your phone will be notified with a warning, and you can take steps to fix it.

Camera

Some components within a smartphone that employ neodymium magnets include the speaker, vibration motor, and camera. Nowadays, phone manufacturers use electromagnetic induction to make wireless charging possible.

Neodymium magnets are the type of magnets found inside smartphones. However, because of their small size, these neodymium magnets cannot interfere with other electronic equipment with their magnetic field.

The inside circuitry of a smartphone is unaffected by these neodymium magnets. In actuality, they fulfill an essential need and serve a purpose.

However, we have already established that strength and size of the neodymium magnet also matter in our evaluations. The magnetic field can affect your phone camera’s focus, especially in phones with an autofocus feature.

Your smartphone camera may no longer be able to stabilize photographs at all if it comes into prolonged contact with strong magnetic fields, which will result in fuzzy pictures for the duration of the device’s life.

Battery

Mobile devices use Lithium-ion batteries. Cobalt, nickel, manganese, or iron-based metal oxide cathode, a porous graphite anode containing lithium ions, and a lithium salt electrolyte are the three main components of lithium-ion batteries used in most smartphones and electronic devices.

Lithium ions that have positive charges move through the electrolyte from the anode to the cathode, propelling electrons through the smartphone as needed before returning to the anode.

Neodymium magnets have no impact on the non-magnetic components of batteries since they are not magnetic.

Speakers

The general sound quality of mobile phone speakers has significantly improved in recent years as they have grown more high-tech. The speakers on your mobile phone need neodymium magnets to function, just like the speakers on your television, computer, or radio. Many phone speakers use neodymium magnets, but these neodymium magnets are far from the speakers to prevent neodymium magnet distortion on your phone’s speakers. Therefore, it makes sense that there would be worries that adding another neodymium magnet could harm your speakers. Fortunately, the neodymium magnets in your mobile phone’s speakers are immune to damage from your neodymium magnets, regardless of their power.

Is Using a Magnetic Case Cover Safe for a Smartphone?

Phones are hardly affected by neodymium magnets, and using a magnetic case cover or phone mount will have zero effect on your device.

Many believe it will probably reduce the battery life faster when using magnetic phone mounts. People that use magnetic phone mounts report reduced battery percentages. However, this is usually caused by utilizing the phone mount while using the car’s navigation system—we all know how much power GPS uses!

Many mobile phone manufacturers, including Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, and others, have introduced phone holsters with neodymium magnets. The smartphone screen illuminates when the holster is opened. When the holster becomes fastened, the smartphone screen becomes black.

It indicates that the makers of mobile phones have also demonstrated through experiments that smartphone circuit boards, GSM signals, and GPS navigation signals are unaffected by neodymium magnets with relatively low magnetism.

Foxconn’s Professional Mobile Phone Product Testing Laboratory (FIH) also runs specialized testing on the antenna signal, call quality, and electronic compass functionality of mobile phones to determine the impact of magnetic mobile phone holders on such devices.

According to the antenna signal test, the neodymium magnet has no discernible impact on the cell phone signal. Additionally, the testing results on call quality demonstrate that neodymium magnets have no discernible impact on phone calls. The compass pointer is the only thing neodymium magnets effects in smartphones. The magnetic field around the neodymium magnet varies, requiring a calibrated compass pointer.

Because the magnetic force of the holder is insufficient to hold the phone directly, you must first connect an iron sheet (magnetic disc) to the device before using it. The magnetic disc resembles a magnetic horn in appearance. The neodymium magnet in the horn has an iron shell attached to it. The neodymium magnet’s magnetic field will not leak outside the horn, forming a closed magnetic field.

How Strong Does a Neodymium Magnet Have to be to Damage a Smartphone?

Neodymium magnets’ powerful magnetic fields have the potential to harm some magnetic media, including credit cards, magnetic I.D. cards, cassette tapes, and video tapes. T.V.s, computer monitors, and other CRT displays may also sustain damage from them.

Avoid close contact with neodymium magnets to be safe. Still, there shouldn’t be any issues with cell phones, iPods, calculators, solid-state drives, or other gadgets that don’t contain magnetic storage.

Only neodymium magnets with strong magnetism, such as industrial neodymium magnets, will significantly impact mobile phones. In addition, if you often go to factories having robust magnetic devices, you also need to pay attention to the influence of neodymium magnets on your smartphones.