Samsung vs Apple: Which Tech Giant Is More Ethical?

Apple settled a $25 million agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice for discriminatory hiring practices in November 2023, according to court filings. Samsung was ordered by India to pay $601 million in back taxes and penalties for allegedly dodging tariffs, with seven executives facing fines totalling $81 million.

These are not the headlines either company leads with. But they are the kind of independently verifiable facts that shape the ethics of the device you use most.

Nearly every person reading this has one of these brands in their pocket right now. We scored both Apple and Samsung Electronics across 11 independent ethical dimensions using regulatory records, public court filings, and investigative reporting. No corporate sustainability reports. No self-assessed ESG questionnaires. Just publicly verifiable evidence processed through our scoring methodology.

The results reveal two companies that fail in very different ways. For a wider look at how big tech handles user data, see our tech company data privacy scores.

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Is Apple More Ethical Than Samsung?

Apple leads in 7 of 11 dimensions. Samsung leads in 3. Apple's average of -2.7 is notably higher than Samsung's -24.5, but both remain in negative territory overall.

See each dimension for full methodology.

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iPhone vs Samsung: Supply Chain and Conflict Minerals

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing: Apple +20, Samsung -40

This is one of the starkest contrasts in the comparison, and it comes down to auditable numbers.

According to regulatory filings and published audit records, Apple conducted 893 independent third-party assessments in over 50 countries in 2023, including 203 unannounced visits. Over 65,000 workers were interviewed. Since 2008, Apple's suppliers have repaid more than $34.5 million in recruitment fees to over 37,700 workers. Since 2020, 11% of prospective suppliers were blocked from entering Apple's supply chain for failing to meet its Supplier Code of Conduct.

Samsung's record is smaller in scale. The company achieved 100% RMAP certification for conflict minerals (tantalum, tin, tungsten, gold) in 2024. But certification rates for other minerals tell a different story: mica at 12%, lithium at 8%, nickel at 16%, copper at 3%, aluminum at 0%. From 2017 to 2023, Samsung reimbursed $1,207,283 in recruitment fees to 1,896 migrant workers -- roughly 3.5% of what Apple has returned over a similar period.

In 2024, 90 first-tier and 33 second-tier Samsung suppliers underwent third-party audits. Special audits on 133 first-tier and 32 second-tier suppliers found no child labour. Samsung's Supplier Code of Conduct requires reimbursement of recruitment fees within 90 days. These are real commitments, but the coverage and scale differ substantially from Apple's programme.

View Apple's full score breakdown ->

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Apple vs Samsung on Worker Rights and Factory Conditions

Fair Pay & Worker Respect: Apple 0, Samsung +10

On labour practices at the corporate level, Samsung edges ahead -- but neither company scores well.

Samsung's +10 reflects a workforce that is 97.9% permanent employees, a zero-tolerance policy on child labour with no verified cases in its supply chain, and facilities that include a medical clinic with 93 sickbeds and 22 rooms for pregnant employees staffed with obstetrics and gynaecology doctors. A human rights inspection was conducted at Samsung's Vietnam smartphone plants between 2025 and 2026 following allegations of health, safety, and labour violations, as documented in regulatory records.

Apple's 0 reflects a scorecard where positives and negatives nearly cancel out. Apple found no forced labour in its supply chain in 2023 or 2024. But according to court filings, Apple settled a $25 million agreement with the DOJ for discriminatory hiring based on citizenship status. The company faces a class action alleging underpayment of over 12,000 female employees. The NLRB accused Apple of stifling employee discussions on pay and forcing an engineer to quit in November 2024. At a supplier level, a Foxconn factory was accused in June 2024 of systematically excluding married women from iPhone assembly jobs in India, according to investigative reports.

View Samsung's full score breakdown ->

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Honest & Fair Business: Apple -20, Samsung -30

Neither company scores positively on corporate integrity, but the nature of the evidence differs.

Samsung was ordered by India to pay $601 million in back taxes and penalties for allegedly dodging tariffs from 2018 to 2021. Seven Samsung executives face fines totalling $81 million. In August 2023, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission issued a penalty of KRW 875.6 million for a Privacy Act violation. Samsung Austin Semiconductor was fined $93,000 by Texas environmental regulators in March 2024. In 2023, Samsung received 1,400 compliance whistleblowing cases and 892 corruption whistleblowing cases.

Apple faces a different set of regulatory actions. The European Commission fined Apple over EUR 1.8 billion in March 2024 for breaching EU competition laws related to App Store anti-steering provisions. The U.S. government filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Apple in March 2024 alleging monopolisation in smartphone markets. Apple is also challenging an Indian law that could lead to a fine of up to $38 billion based on global turnover, following a 2023 Competition Commission of India report alleging "abusive conduct" in the iOS apps market.

Apple maintains a Global Whistleblowing Policy updated in April 2025 and an Anti-Corruption Policy with 98% employee training completion in 2023. Samsung has a Global Anti-Corruption and Bribery Policy last updated in June 2025 and a whistleblower system with 16% corruption whistleblowing rate.

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Which Phone Company Is Better for the Environment?

Planet-Friendly Business: Apple -40, Samsung -50

Both companies sell sustainability narratives. Both score negatively.

Apple's total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions were 15 million tCO2e in 2023. The company has an SBTi-validated target to reduce emissions by 61.7% by 2030. All Apple facilities have run on 100% renewable energy since 2018, and 90.25% of total energy consumption came from renewables in 2023. Apple achieved carbon neutrality for corporate operations in 2020 and aligns with TCFD recommendations. But 70% of corporate water use in 2024 occurred in high basin stress areas.

Samsung lacks science-based targets for reducing emissions. Its DX Division achieved a 93.4% renewable energy transition rate, but the DS (semiconductor) Division reached only 24.8% as of 2024. Samsung uses approximately 344,000 tonnes of water per day. The company has not disclosed alignment with TCFD recommendations and has no formal deforestation policy. Samsung received a KRW 6 million fine in 2025 for violating the Chemical Substances Control Act and a KRW 2 million fine in 2023 for violating the Clean Air Conservation Act.

The difference: Apple has committed to science-based targets and third-party climate frameworks. Samsung has not.

Explore Planet-Friendly Business ->

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Data Privacy: Apple's On-Device AI vs Samsung's Record

On Safe & Smart Tech, Apple scores +10 while Samsung has no independently verifiable evidence to assess. For a deeper comparison of how the largest tech companies handle privacy, see our Google vs Microsoft vs Apple privacy analysis.

Apple's privacy record contains both failures and safeguards. France's antitrust authority fined Apple EUR 150 million in March 2025, ruling that its App Tracking Transparency feature was "neither necessary nor proportionate." Apple settled a $95 million lawsuit alleging Siri recorded users without consent. But the company has built documented privacy infrastructure: the PQ3 protocol for quantum-resistant iMessage encryption, end-to-end encryption for additional iCloud data categories since December 2022, Private Cloud Compute for Apple Intelligence verified by independent experts, and compliance with the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules System.

Samsung's score of 0 means there was insufficient independent evidence to assess the company positively or negatively on technology safety. This does not indicate an absence of privacy practices. It means the publicly available, independently sourced evidence does not yet provide enough data for scoring.

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Where Samsung Leads

Samsung outperforms Apple on three dimensions:

Fair Pay & Worker Respect (+10 vs 0): Samsung's higher permanent employment rate and workplace facilities give it an edge, despite both companies facing labour scrutiny.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity (-30 vs -40): The CFPB penalised Apple $25 million in October 2024 for unfair and deceptive practices related to the Apple Card, as documented in regulatory filings. Samsung's financial services footprint is smaller, generating fewer regulatory actions.

No War, No Weapons (0 vs -30): Samsung's 0 reflects limited evidence of weapons exposure. Apple's -30 is driven by criminal complaints from the DRC alleging the company uses conflict minerals, the suspension of ITSCI (a minerals monitoring scheme Apple relied on), and accusations of hosting 52 banned apps from sanctioned entities on its App Store in 2026.

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Where Apple Leads

Apple's strongest scores relative to Samsung reflect areas with documented, measurable commitments:

Kind to Animals (+40 vs -50): Apple eliminated animal leather from all products in 2023, earning PETA's Company of the Year award. Samsung Biologics still conducts animal testing where legally mandated, though it has introduced synthetic alternatives like recombinant factor C to minimise the use of horseshoe crab blood. This 90-point gap is the widest in the entire comparison.

Respect for Cultures & Communities (+40 vs 0): Apple's Community Education Initiative spans 150+ partners across 600 communities. The company funds conservation of sacred tribal lands, integrates Indigenous language revitalisation into its products, and displays Indigenous lands in Apple Maps in Australia and New Zealand, developed with Indigenous advisors. Samsung has no independently verifiable evidence in this dimension.

Better Health for All (+10 vs -50): Apple Watch's atrial fibrillation detection achieves 84% accuracy, according to published research. AirPods Pro received FDA approval to function as over-the-counter hearing aids. The Apple Watch Series 10 can detect moderate to severe sleep apnea. Samsung's -50 stems from two Class 2 FDA device recalls for its Digital Diagnostic Mobile X-ray Systems affecting 292 devices, and a privacy policy for Samsung Healthcare USA that states security "cannot be guaranteed."

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The Overall Picture

Apple's average score of -2.7 is materially higher than Samsung's -24.5. Apple leads in 7 of 11 dimensions, and its strongest scores (+40 on animal welfare, +40 on cultural respect, +20 on ethical sourcing) reflect areas with documented, third-party-verified commitments.

Samsung leads in 3 dimensions, but none of its positive scores exceed +10. Its lowest scores (-50 on environment, -50 on animal welfare, -50 on health) indicate gaps in both policy and independently verifiable action.

This does not make Apple an ethical company. A score of -2.7 is still negative. Apple faces a DOJ antitrust lawsuit, EUR 1.8 billion in EU competition fines, conflict mineral allegations from the DRC, and documented labour issues at Foxconn and Pegatron. These are material findings.

But the data shows a measurable difference in the weight of independently sourced evidence. Apple has more documented safeguards, more third-party audits, and more areas where positive action is verifiable. Samsung has more gaps in independently verifiable disclosure.

An investor choosing between them on ethical grounds is choosing which risks they find tolerable -- not choosing between ethical and unethical.

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If You Own This Device

If you use an iPhone: Apple's average score of -2.7 is close to neutral, but it masks extremes. The company you buy from scores +40 on animal welfare and cultural respect, +20 on supply chain auditing -- and faces a DOJ antitrust suit, EUR 1.8 billion in EU competition fines, and documented labour issues at supplier factories. Apple's strongest ethical commitments are on the corporate side; its greatest risks are in the supply chain you never see.

If you use a Samsung phone: Samsung's -24.5 average reflects wider gaps in independently verifiable evidence. Where data exists, Samsung leads Apple on worker conditions at the corporate level and carries less documented weapons exposure. But lower conflict mineral certification rates (mica at 12%, lithium at 8%, copper at 3%) and a lack of science-based climate targets mean the supply chain behind your device is less audited and less transparent.

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How We Score

Mashinii scores companies across 11 ethical dimensions using publicly verifiable evidence -- regulatory records, court filings, and investigative reports. Every score is cited at the source. No self-assessments. Learn more about our methodology.

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Mashinii provides integrity data for informational purposes. This is not financial advice.