Daniel Eran Dilger, AppleInsider:
The fastest growing segment in global smartphones isn’t Google’s vision for super-cheap, simple Android phones. Instead, according to new market data, it’s refurbished high-quality phones that carry a desirable brand but can be sold at a more affordable price, a segment where Apple is “leading by a significant margin.”
And from the original study from Counterpoint Research:
The low growth of the new smartphone market in 2017 can be partially attributed to the growth of the refurb market. The slowdown in innovation has made two-year-old flagship smartphones comparable in design and features with the most recent mid-range phones. Therefore, the mid low-end market for new smartphones is being cannibalized by refurbished high-end phones, mostly Apple iPhones and, to a lesser extent, Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
This is a pretty interesting development. Apple has added another layer to this market, a layer that it dominates.
I absolutely cannot afford a new Iphone under any circumstances, but I have now bought three used ones on Ebay. I buy the newest one I can afford, use if for a few years, then upgrade and sell the old one to recoup part of the upgrade cost.
This shows the degree to which Apple’s is the preferred platform among most ordinary people. It also explains the decrease in average revenue per user (as quantified by Horace Dediu), as access to the platform becomes more widely available due to lower entry costs. This lower ARPU actually represents a deepening well of future revenue growth.
Whoopsie.
We did that a couple of times, but realized we could each get a longer useful life out of a new device.