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.
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.
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.
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.
which is why you only buy unlockable android phones, lineageOS is if anything only going to make your device faster every update.
EU made repairable batteries mandatory, so that will hit the used market in a few years.
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
right? You only have to go a couple of years old for the price of a refurbished phone to absolutely plummet, and that’s for as-new quality!
If you go for one that’s just a little bit scuffed but still perfectly functional you can get something indistinguishable from a brand new phone for a quarter the fucking price
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?
I’m on the last iPhone mini. I refuse to upgrade because I refuse to use phones above 6". It’s insane to me that everybody wants to use shovels instead of phones.
About a year ago I bought a ulefone armour 29, the first phone I’ve been excited about since 10 years at least.
Its has all the standard features like a 50 mpixel camera, etc but it also has a 20.000+ mAh battery that lasts a week, it has a real FLIR infra red camera which works quite well, a night vision camera, a huge LED light bank that can light up a complete garden or burn out youtbeye balls if you stare into it. It has a small display on the back that can show a clock or compass or camera display even, without using the main screen. It also has emergency red blue flash lights that can make someone think you’re police if you put it on your dashboard.
Its also huge and heavy, 700+ grams. Its built like a tank and I’ve only been able to find one protection case for it as it kinda sorta doesn’t really need one. Hell, this thing can be used as a self defense weapon of someone attacks you. At night, with a single button I activate that light and my attacker will not break able to see anything for minutes and a single smack in the face with this thing will make you reconsider life choices.
Yeah, most of these features are semi useful at best but boy is it fun for a nerd to use it.
Its also a great conversation piece. Anytime I pull this monster out, people look, and the questions start.
My next phone will need to have at least all these features and more. Add a UV camera, add a Geiger counter, add whatever feature you can think of. That will make me buy a nre phone again, nothing else will.
Edit: the phone does have a number of downsides, of course. Customer support is nonsexist as far as I can tell, software is a bit shaky at times, as are updates. The main camera is good enough but not great. But all those downsides make little difference to me, I love this phone
I want a device that can do text and mfa. I recently bought a fake iPod for music.
Alrgiht. Since its ride until this thing dies…is there an alternative OS for me humble Samsung S21 Ultra? I understand Graphene doesn’t work with it. I just need to call, 2FA support, Podcasts, Firefox, Maps, and use Signal. That’s it. And I can do without maps.
Just FYI, since nobody responded, the steps to check:
- Search if the phone model can have the bootloader unlocked. If no, then you’re likely unable to do anything. Note that in some cases, this can vary by region. (Ex. the US version could have a locked bootloader, but the international model can be unlocked). The bootloader is basically the software that loads your phone operating system, and it needs to be unlocked to allow the OS to be changed.
- LineageOS is probably the easiest to check for a reputable replacement OS, for non-Pixel phones (for which you can get GrapheneOS.)
- XDA Forums used to be the #1 spot for phone “ROMs” (alternative OSes); it’s changed a bit, afaik, but I think they’re likely the next easiest spot to look for a custom OS, if GrapheneOS and LineageOS isn’t an option.
A few Linux phones work, but there are only a handful of models supported. If you don’t have a Fairphone 5 or a phone specifically marketed/sold as a Linux phone, you’re most likely out of luck, unless you’re willing to make major compromises, like non-working cell connectivity, camera, etc.
