In a time when an iPhone can be preordered, customized, and on its way to your doorstep all through a touch-screen tap, it’s almost quaint to remember that people used to camp out for smartphone releases. That was once the regular routine of Andrew Erickson, a longtime tech YouTuber, who recalled to me with a mixture of nostalgia and awe the time he braved the rain at 4:30 a.m. to join a line for the newest iPhone. The line snaked through the mall, nearly reaching the parking lot.
Next month, when Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 18 Pro, Erickson has no plans to even buy the phone, let alone fight crowds for it. Instead, along with a growing number of Americans, Erickson is buying used. He’s fed up with incremental improvements in gadgets, he told me, and is more interested in getting an old version of the iPhone 17 Pro when it hits the secondhand market at a discount. Already, almost half of his current devices were acquired secondhand, and as electronics prices soar amid an AI-fueled chip shortage, he expects that portion to grow. “The argument’s just getting weaker and weaker to buy brand-new,” he said.
Based on the numbers, old tech products are indeed being looked at in a new light. Globally, the size of the industry could reach $153.4 billion this year, up from $104.1 billion four years ago. The used-smartphone market alone is expected to grow by more than 12 percent in 2026, according to the International Data Corporation, which forecasts that the market for new smartphones will experience a record drop this year. Growth in secondhand electronics and refurbished gadgets that have been restored to full working condition now outpaces that of new products on eBay, the e-commerce giant reports.
5G network upgrade ensures the used phone market in Canada is a lot more limited than it was one year ago.
I’m sure they’ll come up with some other reason to force us all to upgrade soon enough. Wife and I are seriously looking at Linux phones or 5G-capable flip phones for our next refresh, due to Google’s noose-tightening bullshit.
Does Canada not have LTE?
As someone who exclusively shops second-hand the mere existence of this article feels like an omen for prices.
The prices of new electronics have skyrocketed, the used market always follows so you’re right to be worried.
They’ll force you to upgrade by making the software run shittier and shittier on your old hardware with each update. That, and your not-easily-replaceable battery will inevitably leave the chat before you are ready to upgrade.
The key here is to know when to stop upgrading. With old Apple devices I always hang back a version or two and don’t ever upgrade to the last version that supports your hardware.
This is not good for security.
Well if you’re going for perfect, just buy new devices when the old one gets slow like they want you to.
I’ve had my Galaxy S9+ for roughly eight years now. The battery doesn’t hold much charge, and the screen has this known bug where it stays completely black unless I do this funny workaround by activating Always On Display first and only then turning the screen on.
But everything on the market now comes with some catch, I really don’t want to give up that SD slot. And I’m unemployed and prices are fucked. So I’ll ride this thing out until it fully dies - which feels like it may happen any day now, honestly…
I’m still using the S7e. The failing battery was so nice to pop open the glued back, so I could easily and cheaply replace it.
Moto G 2025
I can’t wait until we get replaceable battery phones in the EU.
Globally, the size of the industry could reach $153.4 billion this year…
For reference this is the “Second-hand Electronic Products Market”; I’ve never heard it referred to as an industry but I guess it is. And good. It’s deserved. Phone manufactures certainly don’t deserve credit for mediocre devices.
as Nabila Popal, a senior director at the International Data Corporation, reminded me, prices reflect demand: If people keep buying up the used gadgets, those prices are bound to shoot up, too.
Hopefully it’ll be less extreme than with desktops/RAM, though. Phones are at least single units that aren’t so easy to be hoarded or cannibalized for the most expensive parts in them. Most people who want a good phone won’t go out and buy 4-8 mediocre ones. Most people who want a good phone can settle for a popular flagship across several years manufacture, which might have been leased out previously.
Since 2015 I have only upgraded my phone because the previous one broke, and I didn’t notice any difference. I had the first android, and it was slow enough that whatever I replaced it with (I don’t remember what) was better because of the speed. Getting waterproof (resistant, but proof for practical purposes) was a big win. Only other time an upgraded helped was when the camera lens was so scratched that pictures improved. Every phone upgrade has been because the last one broke and so had to be replaced. My current phone is 4 years old and still works fine.
The last time I upgraded my phone was only because my grandmother wanted a newer one and told me to upgrade so she could get my old one
Smartphone technology is reaching a plateau. Does the human being really need 16K streams in their mobile device?
What happens when the wavelength is so short that you have knife-edge diffraction with a flea?
2 my lasts phones I bought were refurbished and extremely cheap (in the range of 150-200 Euro for iPhone SE with battery capacity >90%). I cannot see any sense in buying a brand new iphone for years already .
Edit : Warranty for both refurbished phones was 2 years vs 1 year from apple. And neither of phones were older than a year
I’m kinda interested in a jolla 2026. But they only promise software updates for 5 years and it’s like 700€.
My current android is 5 years old and is no longer getting security updates. I would keep it forever if i could get updates for it.
Next I wan’t a Linux phone. I’m sick of fighting google. I wan’t something I own.
When the next fairphone with dp alt mode comes out I’m going to be all over it, then I may never care again.
That’s why I love my Fairphone 4. Everything about it still works like back when I bought it 5 years ago, except for the replaceable battery. And it will still get security updates for a few more years
