The used smartphone market is booming, but people are hanging onto their handsets for...

[midian182]

In brief: Even though the smartphone market had its worst year for a decade in 2023, there was one sector of the mobile industry that enjoyed substantial growth: used phones. However, there was a troubling trend that could harm sales; people are now hanging onto their phones for over 40 months, meaning fewer devices are available for resale.

Unlike new smartphones, which according to IDC saw a 3.2% decline to 1.17 billion units shipped last year, marking the lowest full-year volume in a decade, shipments of second-hand and refurbished smartphones jumped 9.5% in 2023 from 282.6 million to 309.4 million devices.

IDC projects used phone shipments will reach 431.1 million units in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.8% from 2022 to 2027. The analyst firm writes that extended refresh cycles, high price points, and macroeconomic challenges are pushing people away from new handsets and toward second-hand/refurbished models.

Although this sounds positive, IDC issued a warning. While the used market continues to grow, it's at a slower rate than previously forecast due to shrinking inventory and weak consumer spending. People are now hanging onto their handsets for longer than 40 months, causing stock shortages. It's noted that trade-ins only make up a portion of the total used inventory.

"With refresh rates extending in most mature markets, acquiring inventory remains the biggest challenge for resellers. Secondary phone retailers are hungry for inventory as the high-end of the market continues to be scarce due to customers holding onto their devices," says Anthony Scarsella, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

The United States made up almost a quarter of all used phone shipments last year, reaching 81.1 million, while the rest of the world saw 227.6 million shipments. The US' revenue share in this area was 40.4%.

Back in April, Counterpoint Research data showed that iPhones were the dominant force in the refurbished phones market. Their global volumes increased 16% year-over-year in 2022, taking Apple's market share to 49%. Most consumers buying refurbished smartphones opt for flagship and premium models, pushing up average selling prices.

In other smartphone news, we heard this month that Apple stole the top-smartphone-manufacturer title from Samsung last year, marking the first time since 2010 that the Korean giant has missed out on the number one position.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/101640-used-smartphone-market-booming-but-people-hanging-onto.html

 

[takaozo]

Since the last 2-3 gens are powerfull enough for today tasks, why go through the hustle to change phone?
I hold on to a Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro since 2019 with the AOSP firmware on it. The battery starting to show signs of fatigue, but that's a $10 part + $20 the work. I might keep it a few years for sure.

 

[Aus spot]

Battery tech has improved so you don’t need to replace and the improvements in phones has substantially decreased over the years.

Question is, why are so many people still upgrading regularly?

 

[takaozo]

Battery tech has improved so you don’t need to replace and the improvements in phones has substantially decreased over the years.

Question is, why are so many people still upgrading regularly?

Fashion I guess...

 

[TechSam]

Question is, why are so many people still upgrading regularly?

I'm still on my One Plus 8 Pro from 2020 and its looking a bit weathered and I'd like a new camera. Thats about it!

I was an early adopter a few years back getting new iterations of phones, but then the performance stopped being important so I lost interest.

 

[erickmendes]

The new phone model require new money to buy and I'm not releasing any new money this year so sorry Samsung no new phone for me this year.

 

[Jarenien]

People are keeping them way more than 40 months. Think more like four years.

 

[Faelan]

I’m on month 40. I’ll consider it when the next generation comes out at around month 48. If my battery health hasn’t tanked and there’s nothing exciting about next gen, I’ll frankly just go for another year.

Smartphones peaked years ago and are no longer exciting toys to me. They have become everyday tools instead. If it does what I need it to do, then there’s no need to upgrade.

 

[godrilla]

Before my Galaxy s23 ultra 500 gig I had the V40 for 4 years and it still works. I probably would have still used it if it wasn't for the $500 off and free storage tier upgrade to 500gigs for the s23 ultra last year pre-purchase promo.

 

[yRaz]

Battery tech has improved so you don’t need to replace and the improvements in phones has substantially decreased over the years.

Question is, why are so many people still upgrading regularly?

For me, it's usually because I would either crack the screen and trade my phone in to get a free upgrade or my battery would start fade after about 2 years and, again, I would just trade my phone in. But my s21+ is almost 3 years old and the battery health meter says that my battery has 94% of its health left. With the way I use my phone I can get 3 days, sometimes more, on a single charge so I don't plan on upgrading anytime soon.

I would like to add that I do commercial construction and the stuff this thing has survived is astounding. It's a tank of a phone. I would like to run a custom Linux rom on it but you can't do that with samsungs. When I inevitably have to replace this I likely will replace it with a phone that supports custom android roms because I want to know exactly what my phone is doing. While I did pay for this phone I don't feel like I own it. I have no idea why people are so accepting of not having control over their phones. If someone tried to do that to a PC people would lose their ****.

I do think things like the steam deck are going to help start a renaissance where mobile devices are going to start being treated more like PCs. AMD has some very interesting APUs in the works and I can only imagine what bringing x86/x64 to the mobile space will do. I love the idea of ARM but the freedom and control you get from x86/x64 is irreplaceable.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Flagships don't impress me enough on the software side. My last flagship was the Galaxy Note II. Used phone market and Chinese competition are too stronk. I love tech, but Samsung and Apple aren't doing it for me. They are just now getting better, but I'm long gone!

Still happy with my 2019 Xiaomi.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Lots of people have that "instant gratification" mentality - that's why a lot of them will constantly switch out phones every new generation. If it's not new, then it's not good enough!

I think with how much stuff has gone up in price in the last short 18 months, folks are still reeling from it and are looking to save where they can. Not spending money on a new phone every 18-24 months is a good place to start. Also, it doesn't help that newer phones coming out don't offer anything different over phones that released 5/6/7 years ago (other than maybe more RAM and/or storage space).

I'm still rocking my S8 that I purchased in December of 2017. Battery is certainly showing it's age, but a full charge still tends to last me all day so it works good for my needs still. Plus, the camera on it is better than whatever crap has been in the last few iterations of the Samsung S models. Wife has a S21 (or 22, I forget) and she has me take pictures and video of the kids' stuff because it has better quality over her phone.

I tend to keep my stuff until it falls apart, but that's just me.

 

[nismo91]

People would hold onto their phones much longer if it wasn't for OS upgrades (not talking about security updates).

as much as I want to daily old phones, running an older OS seems like a compromise in terms of compatibility. my current phone just got updated to Android 14 and I noticed one older app does not run anymore. just like modern browser no longer run on win7/8.

in reality I actually struggled to find any notable difference in day-to-day use between android 12 and 14. they introduced some new things with the new API, but nothing major. every new android upgrades from the past 3 years feels like a minor improvement. a thing that you call "feature update" in windows os.

to make things worse, apple and samsung decided to reuse the same design on their phone from the past 4 years. why should people buy a new phone that looks like their current phone? majority of people who know better wouldn't bother to upgrade every year.

While I did pay for this phone I don't feel like I own it. I have no idea why people are so accepting of not having control over their phones. If someone tried to do that to a PC people would lose their ****.

I do think things like the steam deck are going to help start a renaissance where mobile devices are going to start being treated more like PCs. AMD has some very interesting APUs in the works and I can only imagine what bringing x86/x64 to the mobile space will do. I love the idea of ARM but the freedom and control you get from x86/x64 is irreplaceable.

exactly what I feel about ARM vs x86. can you imagine windows 10 pc saying you can't run the newest software anymore because the OS is released 8 years ago and you gotta upgrade to windows 11. or windows 11 pc refused to run 8yo games because it's too old. people would lose their mind.

 

[DZillaXx]

I have a S22, got it used when the S23 came out. Upgraded from my Note 9, IIRC the upgrade was around $300 bucks using amazon... Phone was in near perfect condition. I use my phone a fair amount every day, and really wanted to get a smaller phone after using a note 9 for so long...For the most part I get all day battery, if I'm really heavy on the device I may have to plug it in for a few minuets to get a rapid charge. 10-15% to around 50% on a good charger happens in about 10-15min.

Unless I crack the screen, I will probably own this device till it becomes unsupported at the minimum. Samsung Devices now get a pretty heathy life span of Major Android updates. I used my Note 9 for a long time after its last android update.

There really isn't any major reason for someone not to use a phone for longer than 3 years. It is damn near financial irresponsibility to get a new phone every year or two... Same with a Car... Plenty of people buying the lastest iPhone are the fake it till you make it type.

I'm a Controls Engineer, I'm on my phone alot. Its always a PLC problem to the operator... Phones have become pretty durable, Last device I cracked a screen on was my old Samsung S7 Edge.... Mostly because of that damn edge screen was fragile.

 

[m4a4]

It's nice to hear that people are being smarter with their smartphone purchasing. I certainly do find it silly that a lot of people upgrade so regularly outside of work reasons.

I've had my current for at least a few years now. Don't see me upgrading it soon either (as it's not old enough for me to not be very picky as to what could replace it lol)

 

[RandomWAN]

I'm at 50+ months with my current phone. I'll ride it until it dies or I free up enough time to start another project since I'll be moving over to GrapheneOS and I want to start from a fresh phone with that.

 

[thew118]

iPhone 8 here - 74 months. I’ve replaced the battery twice. It shows its age for sure (it needs an extra moment to think once in a while), but it always gets the job done.

 

[Underdog]

76 years here. And I need an extra moment to think once in a while.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I got 4 years out of my moto g power 2020, and my thinkphone will likely go until 2028. 4 years is a pretty good run for a phone.

Battery tech has improved so you don’t need to replace and the improvements in phones has substantially decreased over the years.

Question is, why are so many people still upgrading regularly?

Security updates, although even motorola is up to 4 years with the thinkphone. If more start following google's trend, expect that 40 month number to increase.

Otherwise it comes down to dumb spending. The thing that keeps our economy afloat.

Fashion I guess...

Same reason people lease cars. I will never understand spending a car payment on a rental you get nothing out of at the end, but some people gotta have the newest shiny.

 

[trparky]

Every year, a new device comes out and the older device instantly becomes the red-headed stepchild with a lisp and ended up being essentially abandoned. This, of course, makes people want to buy new devices because suddenly their OS doesn't do every cool new trick that their friend's device does. The only exception to this rule is Google's own Pixel branded devices.

How is this even acceptable? This contributes to untold amounts of e-waste.

--== If you don't like Apple, stop reading here. ==--

Meanwhile, Apple supports devices for years! They're still supporting older iOS versions going back to iOS 16 and iOS 15 thus supporting even older devices with very important security fixes. Talk about longevity!

 

[8600M GT]

iPhone 6S (remanufactured) at 19 months and counting... or 99 months and counting since the model was released. I don't game on my phone, and it does everything I need.

I see three main reasons to upgrade. More storage space (much less of an issue on Android), newer software (much less of an issue on iPhone), and better camera (less of an issue the newer your phone is as we've reached the point of diminishing returns). I switched to the 6S from an SE (1st-gen) largely for the doubled storage space on the specific phones.

But while I probably have the oldest phone among anyone I know who isn't using a flip phone, the broader trend of infrequent upgrades seems true. Most people I know are using a phone that is several years old and it just isn't really newsworthy when you get a new phone anymore. If it can connect to CarPlay or Android Auto, it's new enough.

 

[Durch]

Samsung Galaxy 20 here, going on 4 years. Wife bought a new Galaxy 22 after cracking her previous 20 and there is almost no difference at all. I actually prefer my model tbh. I handed down my Galaxy 7 to my child and even it keeps up for the most part.

Hardly anything changes in terms of any significant performance improvements anymore. Storage is hardly a factor given cloud or just simple backups. Almost all of the manufacturers have gotten rid of all the ports other than your charging/SIM card. The market is truly stale for the average user and it's not a bad thing.

TLDR: If you're a heavy mobile gamer or just want the latest photography tech, then an upgrade is reasonable, otherwise just hang on to it until it becomes problematic/unusable.

 

[ZedRM]

Two of my three phones are 4+ years old. Both of those older phones are on a custom firmware that is on Android 13 and STILL being kept up to date. The third is a budget model on Android 12 used only for work and will continue being updated for 3 more years.

Phone makers need to get used to the idea that people actually want their phones to last several years.

 

[trparky]

Both of those older phones are on a custom firmware that is on Android 13 and STILL being kept up to date.

I'm of the argument that you, as the user, shouldn't have to jump through such hoops. You paid good money for your device only for the manufacturer to essentially give you the middle finger one or two years later. How the heck people accept this, I'll never know.

If Microsoft pulled this kind of crap, people would be outside of Microsoft's Redmond headquarters with pitchforks and torches. Yet, Android manufacturers get a free pass. Bulls**t, that's what it is.

I went to the iPhone and have never looked back because of that bulls**t.

Phone makers need to get used to the idea that people actually want their phones to last several years.

I concur. Their policies of not supporting their older devices directly contributes to an ever increasing amount of e-waste. They should be held accountable!

 

[Underdog]

I admit, I will never understand why so many lives depend on having the latest phone. I bet you could stick a sim card in an old brick phone from the 90s and it would still work. Mine was dropped from a moving car and survived the impact that would have had a modern "smart" phone in a hundred pieces. People should be smart. Not their phone.