Smartphone upgrades are boosting second-hand mobile sales

What proportion of smartphone owners upgrade just to get their hands on the latest, shiny new hardware? According to a new survey of U.S. and Germany consumers, by analyst Gartner, the figure is 60 per cent. The survey polled some 5,600 consumers in the two countries in June last year. But while smartphone upgraders are helping to drive the upper end of the smartphone market, and doubtless putting money into Cupertino’s coffers (given Apple’s focus on the premium device segment), they are also having a secondary effect on the mobile market as a whole by increasing the number of second-hand devices in circulation. Gartner is predicting the global market for refurbished phones that are sold to end users will grow to 120 million units by 2017, up from 56 million last year. It puts an equivalent wholesale revenue figure of around $14 billion on the size of the market in two years, vs $7 billion last year.