If the 2020, thanks to the difficulties created by the global pandemic, will close with a decline in smartphone sales that can be quantified on average at about 10% of contraction compared to the data of 2019, there is a segment of this market which is benefiting from a strong growth. We are talking about the sale of used and refurbished smartphones, for which the 2020 led an increase of 9.2% compared to the previous year .

The absolute value of the market is equal to a fraction, about 1/5, of that of new smartphones but in any case it is a dynamic to be taken into utmost consideration for the next few years. There were about 225 millions of used and refurbished smartphones purchased by consumers, pushed into this also by dynamics implemented by manufacturers and telephone carriers .

Much of this dynamic is in fact active in the more developed countries, where carrier and manufacturers offer commercial initiatives that involve changing your smartphone for the purchase of a latest generation model at a particularly aggressive price . In this way, the demand for new smartphones is stimulated but at the same time many models are available on the market, even if not necessarily “old”, for purchase in the second-hand and refurbished products market.

The IDC estimates for this type of market are of continuous growth , even at in the face of an expected rebound in 2021 for the new smartphone market. In the period from 2019 to 2024 IDC estimates a average growth of 11, 2% which will be higher in North America than in the rest of the world. A market which in the 2024 will touch share 351 million pieces , equal to approximately 1/4 of that expected for the sales of new smartphones.