Refurbished Phone Market Set to TRIPLE by 2031

The value of the refurbished phone market is set to triple by 2031, with an ever-increasing number of people buying refurbished devices, recycling their old devices and enjoying extra cash for old phones.

Many factors including environmental concerns, the rising prices of brand new devices, and global chip shortages are having a large impact on the world’s refurbished phone market, with a study from Persistence Market Research showing the industry is projected to grow from $49.9 billion in 2020 to $143 billion in 2031, a significant rise.

The report shows many reasons for the large increase, and as well as assessing the impact on consumers. It states, “at the back of these factors, the industrial 5G market is expected to grow at a significant rate, thereby propelling demand for refurbished and used mobile phones and mobile phones accessories over the coming years.”

This will no doubt lower the costs of refurbished devices even further for the consumer, as refurbished devices become the norm, and retailers specialising in refurbishment continue to grow.

Changing trends

As well as recycling old devices, many customers are skipping the high-street’s inflated costs when it’s time to upgrade. During the pandemic, the number of phones purchased online dramatically increased, with a survey by CCS Insight showing that over half of all phone sales in the UK were made online in 2021, a number which is expected to continue to grow globally.

Retailers are making the most of this trend, and with customers growing increasingly aware of the environmental impacts of the global device market, many are turning to the internet and buying refurbished devices from retailers with the technical know-how, rather than paying the rising prices of brand new phones from manufacturers.

Ecologically-minded customers purchasing refurbished phones from Reboxed.co are helping to drive this trend. As well as offering money for old devices, Reboxed.co has pledged to make every phone they sell carbon neutral by not only paying to offset its lifetime emissions, but also by planting 10 trees for every phone sold.

Growing satisfaction

As retailers such as these continue to grow, so too does a customer’s confidence in a product that is almost indistinguishable from a brand new phone purchased directly from a manufacturer such as Google or Samsung.

The term ‘second-hand’ hardly does justice to the idea that you can buy a refurbished iPhone 13 Max Pro, a phone not yet 6 months old, for a fraction of the price of buying brand new directly from the Apple store, whilst also getting money for trading in your old phone.

With phone refurbishment offering such a win-win for both retailers and consumers alike, it is little surprise that the market is set for such massive growth.