With the rising cost of living and sustainability efforts in full swing, the global smartphone market has struggled to attract new sales.
Taking full advantage of the trend is a refurbished smartphone industry that’s been steadily growing quarter after quarter - and now, new research is showing Apple as a surprising winner in this new category.
Market research firm Counterpoint Research recently released its latest report in which it states that 49% of the secondary smartphone market falls on Apple. The Cupertino giant’s sales in the refurbished smartphone category grew by 16% year-on-year, compared to 2021, to become the fastest-growing brand in the sector, having had 44% of the market in 2021.
India pushing forward
Helping propel Apple forward is India, a country in which the growth in the sale of refurbished iPhones is palpable: “Apple is a highly aspirational brand in India, and refurbished iPhones give further a lower entry point to these aspirational users in Apple’s ecosystem,” Tarun Pathak, research director, Counterpoint, told TechCrunch.
At the moment, india holds about 15% of the global refurbished smartphone market, he added. But it’s seen a 19% growth year-over-year. As a whole, the market grow 5% this year, compared to 2022. Latin American market grew 18% year-on-year.
The growth could have been even bigger, the publication states, if the sales of refurbished phones in China didn’t drop by 17%. The decline was mostly due to the resurgence of Covid-19 and the subsequent setup of Covid-zero policies, Counterpoint Research says.
The global inflation, triggered by Covid-19 and the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, has singificantly increased the prices of all things, smartphones included. At the same time, the push towards a more sustainable future is the strongest it’s ever been, motivating consumers to move away from new devices and into refurbished phones. Apple is doing a good job tapping into that market, the researchers are saying, with a one-year warranty on the battery and the outer shell for such devices, as well as software support that lasts years.
Apple also has different sustainability-oriented initiatives that make iPhones an attractive device.
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Via: TechCrunch
