Theoretically, trade-in programs save iPhones from ending up in a landfill or sitting in a drawer. But trade-in programs also generate a nice amount of money.
Joanna Stern for The Wall Street Journal:
Analyst firm IDC calculates that over 282 million secondhand smartphones shipped in 2022. (Those include refurbished and just plain used.) While that is substantially less than the 1.2 billion new smartphones shipped that year, IDC projects the secondhand market will grow more than 10% annually until 2026.
If so many phones are being shipped, where are they going? And who makes money on them?
[And] what about Android? Refurbishers prefer taking in iPhones for the same reason thieves prefer stealing them: more money. While Back in the Box does resell some Android devices, the majority are iPhones and iPads, said its chief executive, Ari Marinovsky. A big reason is that Apple updates device software for more years than its competitors do.
Mr. Marinovsky said Back in the Box typically prices refurbished products, depending on their final grade, 20% to 30% below the retail price of the same phone purchased new… That pricing, Mr. Marinovsky said, gives the consumer a good discount. It also gives the business enough margin—somewhere between 10% to 15%—to have some profit.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s also more convenient for the users (yes, admittedly, it’s less profitable) to use Apple Trade In than to go through the rigmarole of selling your iPhone with every upgrade.
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Interesting. I have always imagined it was to recycle the precious metals.