Global Refurbished Smartphone Market Drops 9 Percent In 2020

Smartphone (Photo by 7shifts on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on almost all industrial sectors. From technology to agriculture. The smartphone industry has not escaped this impact.

In 2020, global smartphone shipments fell by 8 percent. And based on the latest research from Counterpoint, the market for refurbished or reconditioned devices has decreased by 9 percent in the same year.

The market share for reconditioned devices is the secondary market. Even though what is available is only old equipment, the products being sold have been repaired, repackaged, then resold at a much cheaper price.

Some products even come with half the warranty of new smartphones - which is the primary market area. And the report only examines products that comply with the above description.

It explained that the global refurbished smartphone market fell 9% year on year in 2020. Among the many regions, LATAM (Latin America) and India are the markets most affected by this pandemic. Respectively decreased by 24 percent (LATAM) and 20 percent (India).

China did not escape from this decline. In the Bamboo Curtain Country, this market decline rate reached 8 percent compared to 2019.

The trade war between the United States (US) and China and tensions with Hong Kong were reported to be factors behind the decline. It seems that many sellers are avoiding China out of fear of the strict supervision imposed by the Chinese government.

"Including higher import duties and spare parts costs," said Research Director Jeff Fieldhack via Gizmochina, Wednesday, January 20.

Jeff explained that this market has been decreasing since the first semester. He explained that during H1 2020, this market had decreased by 16 percent compared to semester 1 of 2019.

In addition, Jeff continued, as the pandemic worsens, regional and economic restrictions in some locations have resulted in lower inflows from reconditioned cell phones.

"Compared to last year, Europe, the US and others experienced a decrease of 14 percent, 2 percent and 10 percent, respectively," Jeff explained.

Even so, the second semester gave a little relief to the industry. The schedule for the release of the latest smartphone from Apple has influenced this condition a lot. According to Research and Senior Analyst Glen Cardoza, Apple's share in the secondary market grew from 39 percent to 42 percent.

Overall, most countries are currently facing a decline in the market share of refurbished smartphones due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And it is estimated, this condition will subside once vaccines begin to be launched and applied by many countries.