After extraction, cobalt and other materials move through global supply chains. China plays a major role in refining and processing these materials, and much of the cobalt mined in the Congo is either processed there or passes through Chinese-controlled systems. 

This means that the phone is not just tied to one place but to a series of interconnected systems (mining, transport, processing, and manufacturing) that are organized across national borders. What appears as a single product is actually the result of coordinated activity between different industries and regions.

The phone hides this complexity. It feels self-contained, but it depends on infrastructures that extend far beyond what I see on the screen.