There’s No Reason to Buy a New Phone Anymore
Consumers are ditching the hype cycle and buying used devices in unprecedented numbers.
In an era where smartphones are preordered and delivered through touch-screen taps, it seems almost archaic to remember when people camped out for new releases. Former tech YouTuber Andrew Erickson shared his nostalgic memory of the rain-soaked line he joined for the latest iPhone, which stretched through a mall and nearly reached the parking lot.
However, Erickson and a growing number of Americans are now opting for used devices instead of buying brand-new ones. He has shifted to purchasing used versions of older iPhones, as he finds incremental improvements in gadgets less appealing and is more interested in securing a discounted old iPhone 17 Pro. This shift in consumer behavior is evident as the secondhand electronics industry is projected to reach $153.4 billion this year, up from $104.1 billion four years ago.
The used-smartphone market alone is expected to grow by over 12 percent in 2026, while the market for new smartphones is forecasted to experience a record drop in the same year. Benton, the U.S. general manager of Back Market, an e-commerce giant specializing in refurbished electronics, noted that demand for refurbished products has surged, particularly after Apple announced price hikes this summer.
Order values for refurbished MacBooks in the U.S. increased by 37 percent in the week following the price increase, and order values for iPads rose by 25 percent. A significant portion of Back Market's buyers, apart from students and parents, are people who understand that newer technology doesn't offer much more. The frequency of upgrading tech gadgets peaked in the 2010s, driven by Apple's yearly release of new iPhone models.
In 2014, about 44 percent of iPhone owners replaced their device every one to two years. However, the enthusiasm for new releases has waned, and people now hold onto their smartphones for an average of three years or longer, growing tired of effectively buying the same device repeatedly. The cost of new devices is also a factor, as inventory shortages in data centers have led to price increases of up to 25 percent for Apple products.
As a result, people are increasingly opting for refurbished devices, with Google searches for secondhand laptops jumping by over 5,000 percent in the past year.
Written by urgent.news from The Atlantic's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
