European consumers are mostly saying 'non' to trading in their old phones
- Reference: 1750260554
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/06/18/used_phones_europe/
- Source link:
The global market for secondhand smartphones declined 2 percent during the first quarter of 2025, according to CCS Insight, which says this is the first year-on-year decline in over three years. Europe showed a similar decline.
It estimates that a modest 27.1 million smartphones were sold via organized secondary markets worldwide, which compares with [1]figures from IDC showing that 304.9 million new handsets shipped into sales channels during the same period.
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CCS believes this drop in secondhand sales is just a temporary blip, driven by strong promotional offers for new devices during 2024, and that the market will recover during this year.
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"The European secondary smartphone market had built strong momentum going into 2025. Consumers were turning away from brand-new devices amid a lack of innovation and ongoing economic pressures, both factors that play to the strengths of the secondhand market," said CCS Market Analyst Ben Hatton. "We expect these headwinds to continue weighing on new device sales, which bodes well for secondhand options."
But as The Register has previously reported, users are also tending to [5]hold onto their devices for longer than ever before, with replacement cycles for phones extending past 40 months, which has contributed to a shortage of available inventory for the secondary market.
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And only 31 percent of Europeans sell or trade in their old phone when buying a new one anyway, CCS says, citing its own survey into mobile buying behavior. According to its estimates, that means there are up to 100 million smartphones every year that could be resold if their owners can be persuaded to part with them.
[7]Doomed UK smartphone maker Bullitt Group finally liquidated
[8]Armored cash transport trucks allegedly hauled money for $190 million crypto-laundering scheme
[9]Blocking stolen phones from the cloud can be done, should be done, won't be done
[10]Tariff woes equal US smartphone price hikes, shrinking sales
For this reason, a key goal of the European secondary smartphone market will be finding ways to boost the internal supply of devices through measures such as trade-in schemes. The analyst biz says that network operators, manufacturers, and retailers are developing new and improved programs in response to regulatory pressures, supply shortages, and environmental targets.
Trump can bluster and bluff all he wants, but iPhone manufacturing isn't coming to the US [11]READ MORE
This focus on an internal supply of devices is because Europe has been a massive importer of used phones, mostly coming from the US, Japan, and Singapore. But with the [12]EU Radio Equipment Directive requiring all devices to support USB-C for charging, many of those handsets (two out of five) can no longer be imported.
"The regulatory landscape in Europe is encouraging players to pay much closer attention to trade-in, as it restricts their ability to source devices from outside the region," Hatton commented. "Companies that can secure supply through their own trade-in programs will benefit in the long run as imported devices are restricted."
CCS said that such programs include "forward trade-in" schemes that guarantee a future buyback price for a phone at the time of purchase. The firm said it will be closely monitoring whether these initiatives boost trade-in activity in Europe during this year. ®
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[1] https://my.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS53311725
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aFLikxBCeO-dBT7NU2jN-QAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aFLikxBCeO-dBT7NU2jN-QAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aFLikxBCeO-dBT7NU2jN-QAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/23/second_hand_device_market/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aFLikxBCeO-dBT7NU2jN-QAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/17/doomed_uk_smartphone_maker_bullitt/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/16/asia_tech_news_roundup/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/09/opinion_column_blocking/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/30/tariff_troubles_to_cause_cut/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/27/trumps_iphone_manufacture/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/20/secondhand_smartphone_demand/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Well, I won't consider selling my second hand phones unless I can remove the solid state storage from them. I'm just not sure I trust a wiped phone to be properly wiped, and my phone is gradually gaining as much sensitive banking stuff as my computer, which I wouldn't sell without removing the hard disk
Came here to say the same thing plus I tend to keep my devices until after the manufacturer/service provider has abandoned it security-updates-wise so trading in something that's inherently insecure for somebody else to use doesn't seem particularly ethical to me.
When my previous phone died, I disassembled it and broke the memory chips before disposing of it, just to be sure!
replacement cycles for phones extending past 40 months
My iPhone SE (2020 version) is now at 61 months.
Phones will eventually die, or at least become incapable of receiving OS upgrades or new applications, at some point.
If I use it until that point is it really less environmentally sound than selling it on to someone else? Refurbishment might reset some hardware deterioration, but it won't extend its software lifespan.
Old phones
Mine are either dead, so old with no future updates or I use it.
The misses does upgrade her phone still, but on holiday she takes the old one with the sim. the only thing that may go against that is the quality of the camera, but there have not been that many quality updates on the camera front as far as we can tell
The other thing limiting used phones is the low values offered for phones
I just tried 3 different site with my current phone (still receiving updates)
1 site didn't recognise the phone (but offered £4 for the next model down)
2nd site wasn't accepting the model at this time
3rd site offered £5 (and is currently selling the same model for £120)
with that kind of offer I would stick it in a drawer for use as a backup if my main phone got damaged or pass it onto somebody else that needed a phone (wiped of course)
They need to adjust the figures
...to include mobiles snatched from users, and then exported to those markets where people don't care.