Apple held on to the crown as the world’s largest vendor of refurbished smartphones last year. But Samsung is getting ever so closer to the iPhone maker in this market. The Korean brand leads Apple in the new smartphone market though. Region-wise, Latin America saw the biggest growth (29 percent) in refurbished smartphone sales in 2021. It is still the smallest market for used smartphones though. India, with a growth of 25 percent YoY, has leapfrogged Southeast Asia and Africa to become the third-biggest market for refurbished smartphones, behind China and Europe. The latter two saw YoY growth of ten percent each. The US refurbished smartphone market grew 15 percent last year. Counterpoint expects developing markets like China, India, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa to see further growth in refurbished smartphone sales in the coming years “as they have many unorganized businesses and a large rural demographic yet to be captured.”
Several factors contributed to this growth in refurbished smartphone sales
Refurbished smartphones are used devices that have been repaired, restored, and certified to function like a factory-new device. They often come with a limited-time warranty as well. Note that devices sold as-is, which are usually peer-to-peer sales, don’t qualify as refurbished smartphones. This market is seeing rapid growth for multiple reasons. Firstly, the increasing prices of new flagship smartphones and faster drop in the prices of used smartphones are making people buy refurbished smartphones more than ever. Smartphone carriers also now offer more attractive trade-in benefits to consumers buying new phones. These traded-in devices make their way into the refurbished market. And since big and established e-commerce platforms now sell refurbished smartphones, it’s easier for consumers to buy these phones. Sustainability awareness is another key factor driving the sales of refurbished smartphones. Several big brands are now actively running sustainability campaigns, exposing consumers to the benefits of buying a pre-owned device. People looking to buy a secondary smartphone for work or some other purpose are now leaning towards refurbished devices. Last but not least, the evolution in the core smartphone tech has somewhat slowed down in recent years. Coupled with OEMs promising longer software support, consumers buying a one or two-year-old refurbished smartphone don’t miss out on too much of the latest tech. The refurbished smartphone market will likely grow further in the coming years.
