The smart phone industry believes that the culprit in sales decline is: the old smartphones are still very popular.
Last year, dazzling handsets were being refurbished, not least by the likes of Apple Inc.'s (AAPL's) iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S handsets by Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.SE) Have started these refurbished machines.For new phones priced at up to $ 1,000, many shoppers hesitate, and many of the latest cell phone improvements can not impress consumers.
Shipments of new smartphones have dropped to record lows by the end of 2017 as the number of people changing their phones last longer.
According to Counterpoint Technology Market Research, which tracks the sale of electronic devices, refurbished machines represent a rapidly growing area of the global smartphone industry with nearly 10 of every 10 handsets sold as refurbers. According to Counterpoint, overall shipments of smartphones last year The amount reached 1.6 billion.
Second-hand phones have been sold in Africa, India and other developing markets for many years, but now U.S. buyers are buying 93% of second-hand mobile online auctions for B-Stock operations, compared to 2013 The share of U.S. consumers in buying second-hand phones by the rest of the world is about the same as in years.
When old phones are sold many times, handset makers are not totally unprofitable: For Apple, more iPhone users in the price-conscious crowd can generate more revenue for the company's rapidly growing service portfolio, including Apple's App Store As well as music and payment services.
In a recent interview, DJ Koh, head of Samsung's mobile handset, said that second-hand phones are gaining popularity and allowing Samsung to rethink whether it needs to adjust its overall portfolio strategy, saying that although it has not been done Any decision, but the company is considering whether to roll out the refurbished flagship model in some markets as opposed to launching new low-cost handsets.
Deloitte said that in 2017, a quarter of U.S. consumers will sell used mobile phones after purchasing new phones, which is the highest in the world.