“Every on occasion, a revolutionary product comes alongside that adjustments every thing,” Steve Jobs mentioned when he unveiled the iPhone in 2007. He was proper; the world was by no means the identical. But the iPhone 16? Meh.
The latest mannequin, which hit shops in September, is off to a straggling begin. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimated that first-weekend preorder gross sales had been down by practically 13% in contrast with first-weekend gross sales for final yr’s iPhone 15. The iPhone 15 additionally had an underwhelming begin to the yr: from January to March, Apple reported a ten% year-over-year drop in cellphone income. In the 17 years for the reason that authentic got here out, the discharge of a brand new iPhone has gone from the marquee tech occasion of the yr to little greater than a software program replace wrapped in cellophane.
Replacing that hype is a brand new form of hype: for outdated iPhones. The international marketplace for refurbished smartphones grew by 5% yr over yr from 2021 to 2022, in accordance with Counterpoint Research. Apple made up half of the resold-phone market in 2022. It accounted for a few quarter of recent smartphones shipped globally in late 2023, in accordance with market intelligence agency International Data Corporation. (The firm additionally sells its personal refurbished merchandise.) In Europe, some 43% of individuals have already owned a refurbished cellphone, in accordance with a 2023 survey performed by Vodafone and Recommerce Group, a tech buyback firm. Zion Market Research estimates that within the US, the marketplace for used telephones might develop by about 13% a yr by way of 2032.
Glen Cardoza, a senior analysis analyst at Counterpoint, says a couple of issues are driving the used-phone revolution. People are extra conscious of refurbished telephones, due to advert campaigns and phrase of mouth. Learning that your buddy has an iPhone 12 and nonetheless manages to be probably the most lively member of your group chat might make you extra prone to get a used cellphone your self. The high quality of repairs and ensures from refurbished-phone sellers have improved, making the telephones much less dangerous to purchase. Some buyers care about environmental affect, however excessive costs are the chief concern. “With incremental enhancements between new smartphone variations, a rising share of customers really feel that refurbished choices are higher,” Cardoza tells me in an electronic mail. “They don’t thoughts utilizing a less expensive refurbished mannequin that has a lot of the current options.”
Refurbished-tech sellers suppose that is their second to grab. Back Market, a secondhand-tech market based mostly in France, has raised greater than $1 billion and is on monitor to change into worthwhile in Europe for the primary time this yr, says CEO Thibaud Hug de Larauze. During a current press convention, he revealed the corporate had served 15 million clients and offered 30 million objects, indicating that Back Market has had variety of repeat patrons throughout the previous 10 years. Phones are nearly all of Back Market’s gross sales, however the firm additionally sells, amongst different objects, good watches, headphones, laptops, and video-game consoles. Refurbished tech is now among the many 5 hottest secondhand classes bought on eBay.
Hug de Larauze is extraordinarily bullish on the way forward for secondhand tech: He predicts that inside 10 years, 90% of adults could possibly be shopping for refurbished merchandise or opting to restore their gadgets reasonably than shopping for new ones. “People begin to really understand there’s not that a lot innovation within the subsequent product,” he tells me. Consumers are additionally unsure about all of the AI that corporations, Apple included, are baking into their newest gadgets. “What does it do?” he says. “What does it change in your life?” Hug de Larauze likens the used-phone revolution to the shifts in automotive gross sales. Cars are costly and lose worth, and innovation from one mannequin to the subsequent has change into negligible. The concept of shopping for a used automotive and fixing it as elements break down is normalized. If telephones are simply as poor of an funding, why not get one thing extra reasonably priced that will get the job accomplished — even when it means sacrificing horsepower and the newest add-ons?
Refurbished-phone sellers are additionally discovering inventive waves to counter years of promoting that capitalizes on “newphoria,” the sensation of elation individuals get when unboxing a shiny new tech toy. Back Market satirized the thought in an advert final yr, displaying individuals desperate to seize the brand new product however mocking the slight adjustments to buttons and charging ports. The firm additionally just lately ran a mystery-phone promotion. For $249 or 299 euros, clients might purchase a refurbished iPhone or Android with out realizing the mannequin they’d get. The telephones offered out in two hours in France and simply days within the US, Hug de Larauze says. Back Market did not present the whole variety of telephones offered throughout the promotion, however Hug de Larauze mentioned the gross sales exceeded the corporate’s expectations. It confirmed that there are buyers who care way more in regards to the cellphone’s worth than its mannequin.
Anmol Aroz, a 23-year-old who works in IT gross sales in England, says he purchased a refurbished iPhone 13 Pro two years in the past and saved about £500. He’s been impressed with the cellphone and fewer impressed by the brand new options on more-recent fashions. He looks like he can do sufficient with ChatGPT on his cellphone and would not want Apple Intelligence but. Aroz says sustainability was additionally on his thoughts, including that he isn’t so wooed by new garments or new tech, each of which lose worth rapidly. “The second you contact the wrapper, it is £200 down the drain,” he says. “I’m just about set on sticking to the refurbished route.”
Perhaps the largest factor blocking individuals from shopping for extra secondhand telephones is the producers themselves.
Amy Marty Conrad, a 34-year-old who lives within the Washington, DC, space says she and her husband have every purchased refurbished telephones. She’s on her second, a Samsung Galaxy S21, which she purchased two years in the past. She just lately changed the battery, giving it much more life. “I largely use my cellphone for calls, electronic mail, work, and a digicam,” she says. “Numerous the opposite software program improvements aren’t doing so much for me.” She’s additionally aware about waste, and she or he buys clothes and different home goods secondhand, too.
But maybe the largest factor blocking individuals from shopping for extra secondhand telephones is the producers themselves. Through a follow known as “elements pairing,” by which a substitute half can work provided that an organization’s software program acknowledges and approves it, tech corporations have made it tough to restore your personal cellphone or to get third-party retailers to take action: Replace your cracked iPhone display at an area restore store, and your Face ID might by no means work once more. That’s altering, albeit slowly. In April, Apple introduced it could start making adjustments that might enable for some used real Apple elements to be put into different iPhones. Apple didn’t reply to an electronic mail asking about updates on the rollout of the change, however the firm has lengthy maintained that elements pairing bolsters a cellphone’s safety.
In March, shortly earlier than Apple’s announcement, Oregon handed a legislation banning elements pairing, turning into the primary US state to take action. And whereas it applies solely to gadgets made after January 1, 2025, it is a main shift for a way producers make their future tech fixable. More lawmakers are tackling restore impediments, and the European Union this yr adopted legal guidelines designed to make it simpler for individuals to get their merchandise fastened by producers or third-party repairers reasonably than being pushed to switch them.
Tim Cook definitely would not see the rise of refurbished telephones as an existential risk. Even underwhelming gross sales are underwhelming by Apple’s requirements. It has already offered an estimated tens of thousands and thousands of iPhone 16s, and that is earlier than the standard vacation increase and the discharge of Apple Intelligence. But with customers’ rising AI skepticism and curiosity in secondhand telephones, the corporate would want to summon the form of dazzle unseen since Steve Jobs’ presentation in 2007 to reverse the pattern of dwindling pleasure with the iPhones 17, 18, 19, and 20.
Two years in the past, I purchased a refurbished iPhone 11 from Back Market after the show on my iPhone XR out of the blue turned unusable. It did not have the upgraded digicam or New Radio — however the cellphone let me textual content, doomscroll on social media, and take respectable photographs, and it had good battery life. In an age of fixed tech adjustments, typically all you want is for a cellphone to be a cellphone.
Amanda Hoover is a senior correspondent at Business Insider protecting the tech trade. She writes in regards to the largest tech corporations and developments.
