The Average Selling Price of smartphones in the secondary market picked up last year as a larger share of sales in this market consisted of refurbished flagship and premium models. The ASP of new smartphones has been going up which has led consumers to hold on to their new phones for longer periods of time which has led to a shortage of phones to sell in the secondary market.
Over the last few years, sales of refurbished smartphones have outperformed sales of refurbished models. In 2019, sales of new phones declined 2% compared to a 1% decline for refurbished smartphones. The next year, new phone sales declined by 12% while sales of refurbished models rose 5%. Both new and refurbished handsets had sales gains in 2021 of 5% and 14% respectively. Last year was a return to 2020's numbers with new sales down 12% and refurbished sales up 5%.
As for 5G, Counterpoint Senior Analyst Glen Cardoza said,"...demand for 5G is increasing, especially in mature markets like the US, Europe, and Japan. In 2022, 5G made up 13% of global refurbished sales." This year, Counterpoint forecasts 5G phones to grab a larger portion of the secondary smartphone market and as a result, 4G phones could lose more of their value at a faster rate.
In addition, with consumers trading in their phones at a faster clip and moving toward premium phones, Counterpoint says that"the inventory of low-grade used smartphones may grow significantly." As for those firms in the business of selling refurbished smartphones, the report says that"Apple's iPhones remained the most sought-after smartphones due to the brand perception, high margins, and high inventory turnover ratios.