Refurbished smartphone more popular than ever: number increased sharply

iPhoned and android planet conducted a consumer survey at the end of 2022. The number of refurbished smartphone users has risen sharply. Nevertheless, the price of a refurbished device is always important.

Refurbished smartphone is now more popular than ever

Also have this year iPhoned and sister site Android Planet de refurbished market mapped through a large-scale consumer survey. Thanks to the responses of nearly three thousand respondents, we have discovered new trends.

These trends give a good picture of the refurbished market in 2022. We compared them with the conclusions from our refurbished barometer from 2020. What developments do we all see?

Global smartphone sales continue to decline

Smartphone sales are still falling and consumers are using their smartphones for longer. In addition, the average budget for a new smartphone is also falling more and more.

Manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung regularly provide smartphones with updates. This allows you to continue using the device for at least a number of years. This is also the reason that a refurbished iPhone is a good alternative if you want a new smartphone. And that is also reflected in the market figures for 2022.

1. Doubling the number of refurbished users

Where in 2020 only 16 percent of those surveyed experience had with refurbished tech products is this grown to 37 percent in 2022. Good to hear is that almost 60 percent of refurbished users still have their device and are very satisfied with the purchase (score of 8.8).

This is important, because a negative experience with a refurbished device is an important reason for adopters and intenders not to purchase a refurbished product (again). In 2022, we will therefore see that more and more consumers are considering a refurbished tech product for their next purchase.

If we take a closer look at which smartphones sell best, we see that Apple still has the largest share. It shows that 45 percent of all refurbished smartphones are Apple devices.

Furthermore, we still see that the smartphone remains the most popular of refurbished products (42% of adopters). But there also seems to be a large market for refurbished laptops (18% of adopters) and tablets (15% of adopters). These last two groups have grown considerably in recent years. In 2020, these numbers were still 12 and 13 percent.

One in three is not considering a refurbished smartphone

Refurbished is being considered more and more seriously, but still there is a third of the respondents who do not find refurbished interesting at all. This last group of ‘resistors’ is declining (2020: 32%, 2022: 27%) and have various reasons not to consider a refurbished smartphone.

The main reason is that this group likes to own a new smartphone or think the price difference is too low. The quality of a refurbished smartphone was still an important reason not to opt for refurbished in 2020, but now seems to be fading into the background. In addition, we are that the average satisfaction among the intenders has also increased considerably (4.6 in 2020 to 6.6 in 2022). It therefore seems that more and more people have a positive experience with refurbished or know someone in their area who has been satisfied with this.

Part of this group can still be convinced by a higher price difference or the problem-free return of the product. This is still a big difference with the study from 2020. This showed that price savings are by far the most important reason to convince consumers (58%), while in 2022 being able to return free of charge and without problems if you are not satisfied with your product has become the most important reason . The higher price savings have even fallen to 26 percent.

2. Ten percent now use a refurbished smartphone

When we specifically zoom in on a refurbished smartphone, we see that 10 percent actually own a refurbished phone (in 2020 this was still 6 percent). The refurbished smartphone market is therefore growing.

On average, consumers who want to buy a refurbished iPhone pay between 250 and 499 euros for a device. About 32 percent want to spend a little more (between 500 and 749 euros). The top three of the most popular refurbished iPhones are as follows.

Although the lower price of refurbished is the main reason for choosing this, the desired price savings differ per model. Consumers indicate that they want to save an average of 46 percent, but if we look at the actual click behavior, 30 percent seems to be sufficient. The price savings depend on a number of factors such as the current new price, stock and, of course, how long the device has been on the market.

Price savings new versus refurbished (visibly used) iPhones in January 2023

You can see that you save the most money for an iPhone 12 Mini with a refurbished device (310 euros). This is 38 percent of the current new price. You save the least in absolute euros on this iPhone 11, namely 193 euros. In 2020 we saw that the desired price savings seemed to be at least 100 euros. At the moment we suspect that consumers make an analysis again and again and see what the savings are compared to the new price. In addition, we have seen in recent years that iPhones are very stable in value and hardly drop in price when new. Sometimes we even see a slight increase in the news price, despite the fact that the device has been on the market for a long time. As a result, the gap with refurbished also becomes larger and therefore more attractive to many consumers. Last year, Apple did not lower the new price of the iPhone 13 series for the first time. So refurbished Apple products may become even more interesting in the future.

Is there confusion between refurbished and second-hand?

From the answers to our survey, there seems to be confusion about the definition of refurbished. Several respondents indicate that they have bought a refurbished television, washing machine, dryer and countless other products. The suppliers in the Dutch market are relatively small. Perhaps it meant that they had bought a second-hand device.

Refurbished literally means overhauled. In other words, the device has had a previous owner and the device has been refurbished, checked and cleaned. Then it was sold again so that someone else can be happy with it. The difference with a second-hand smartphone is that with a refurbished device you have an ‘as good as new’ experience. You also get a warranty and a purchase receipt.

3. Trade in your old smartphone: 58 percent are willing

Trading in your old smartphone is becoming increasingly important for manufacturers and webshops in the Dutch market. Parties such as Vodafone, KPN, Belsimpel, Bol.com and Apple itself even focus on this when introducing new smartphones. But how many consumers are now willing to hand in their old smartphone?

Relatively few people trade in their old smartphone as soon as they buy a new one. Still, you can save a lot of money with this nowadays. Our survey shows that 58 percent are willing to trade in their old smartphone. In addition, we see that the group of refurbished resistors has a lower willingness to trade them in (45 percent).

This means that reaching the refurbished target group is important for everyone. This may also be because purchasing a refurbished device is only possible if everyone hands in their old smartphones and ensures that they can be refurbished.

Buying a refurbished iPhone is more sustainable

Worldwide there is a shortage of chips for all kinds of electronics, which causes annoying problems such as liver problems. This is partly due to a shortage of the raw materials needed for production. By choosing a refurbished iPhone or other smartphone, you prevent the waste of raw materials and the devices last longer.

Curious about where you can best buy your refurbished iPhone? iPhoned has a price comparator for each model where you can compare all the offers on price and condition. We also have an overview of the iPhone refurbished prices per model.

Compare refurbished prices

2,664 respondents participated in this survey.