Challenges in LCA comparisons of multifunctional electronic devices

In comparative life cycle assessment (LCA), one of the most important steps is a definition of functional unit and subsequently setting system boundaries. When comparing multifunctional electronic devices, this step is more complicated than in many other cases. We perform an illustrative LCA comparison of a smartphone and a basket of dedicated devices. On the case study we illustrate different approaches towards defining system boundaries based on different user profiles and discuss how these decisions affect the results. We present results for climate change and freshwater ecotoxicity impact categories. The results show the importance of the size of system boundaries, particularly when including network and internet infrastructure. User profile plays a key role here.