Run on used goods

Refurbished cell phones: What to look out for when buying

Top-of-the-range smartphones now often cost more than 1000 euros. For more and more Europeans, this is a reason to use their devices for longer or to look around the booming second-hand market.(Bild: Toyakisfoto.photos - stock.adobe.com)

While the who's who of the cell phone industry is meeting in Barcelona these days to present expensive new luxury smartphones at the Mobile World Congress, European customers are increasingly losing interest in the new devices. Refurbished devices are booming, especially in Europe. Krone+ explains the economic and ecological background - and reveals what you need to look out for when buying.

While Apple customers are still swallowing the annually rising prices with sales of 234.6 million devices in 2023 (2022: 226.3 million), the other manufacturers now seem to have reached a ceiling. Samsung's cell phone sales fell by more than 13% (226.6 million in 2023 compared to 262.2 million in 2022), and even the Chinese brands Xiaomi and Oppo, which are already established in the West, saw their sales figures decline. Marketing strategists are taking countermeasures and, unlike in recent years, have barely increased prices in 2024. But it could be too late for the industry: In Europe, it is becoming increasingly popular not to buy a new smartphone at all.