Apple has a considerable lead in refurbished smartphone market

According to Counterpoint Research, Apple has a considerable lead in the refurbished smartphone market. The company released numbers for 2022, and compared them to 2021.

Apple is far ahead when it comes to refurbished smartphone market, it’s not even close

Based on the company’s information, Apple held 49% of the refurbished smartphone market in 2022. Those are global numbers of course. Samsung followed with 26%. The company then listed ‘Others’ with 17%, and outside of that are OPPO and Vivo with 3%, and Huawei with 2% share.

Apple actually increased its lead compared to 2021. In 2021, the company held a 44% share, while Samsung had a 28% share. ‘Others’ were at 18%, while Huawei was at 4%. OPPO and Vivo were on the same level, they both held a 3% share.

The refurbished smartphone market has seen sales grow 5% worldwide in 2022. India led the charge, actually, which is not surprising. It’s not only a developing country, but also the world’s second-largest smartphone market, right behind China. Considering that standard in India, many users see refurbished phones as great deals, hence these numbers.

The source shared some interesting info regarding demand for refurbished phones

What is very interesting, however, is that Counterpoint Research claims that demand for refurbished smartphones is mostly coming from new smartphone buyers in mature markets, and from feature phone users switching to smartphones in emerging markets.

Both Apple and Samsung are far ahead of the competition as far as refurbished phones are concerned. Apple is far ahead of Samsung, however, it’s not even closer, and that is not exactly surprising.

Apple has had great and long software support for its devices for a long time now. The same cannot be said for Samsung, even though the company turned things around starting a couple of years ago. Still, Apple’s reputation in that regard is still quite high, it would seem.