The launch of Apple iPhone 15, Huawei Mate 60 Pro, etc. has triggered a wave of new phone purchases, and the second-hand market is showing a different picture. A reporter from China Business News recently visited the Shenzhen Huaqiangbei second-hand mobile phone market and learned that many old Apple mobile phones are selling well. After the release of iPhone 15, many old models not only did not reduce their prices, but also increased in price recently.
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Apple Online Store (China)
Author|First Finance Zheng Xutong
"Many second-hand Apple mobile phones have increased in price after the release of iPhone 15. It may be that the new phones are not selling as well as in previous years." Many merchants talked about similar situations. Another merchant said that the prices of iPhone 14 series models have also increased.
Huaqiang Beitong Tiandi Communications Market concentrates on selling second-hand mobile phones and other second-hand electronic products and accessories. Here, Apple is the most important and most valuable brand. The iPhone 6 to iPhone 14 series are all clearly marked with prices ranging from a few hundred yuan to 6,000 yuan. The reporter visited the market when it first opened on a weekday afternoon. Several counters were already crowded with people asking for prices. Many merchants revealed that the second-hand mobile phone business this year was better than last year.
The second-hand and new machine markets ebb and flow. According to data from market research firm Counterpoint, global smartphone shipments will drop 12% year-on-year in 2022. At the same time, the smartphone replacement cycle will reach 42 months, reaching the highest level in history. Smartphone shipments in 2023 are also expected to hit a 10-year low. In 2022, global sales of refurbished smartphones will increase by 5%.
Price increases for some iPhone models
In Huaqiangbei, the boundary between second-hand mobile phones and refurbished mobile phones is not very clear. Refurbished mobile phones basically refer to second-hand mobile phones whose screens, batteries or back shells have been replaced. There are also second-hand mobile phones that do not need to be replaced and are sold directly. The third floor of Tongtiandi Communication Plaza sells second-hand mobile phones, while the second floor sells various mobile phone accessories. It is not difficult to replace accessories. Many merchants said that second-hand mobile phones can be used normally for several years without being broken.
Compared with high-end new mobile phones that can cost tens of thousands of yuan, the price of second-hand mobile phones is not in the same order of magnitude. The reporter visited and learned that the newer Apple iPhone 14256G version currently sells for about 5,200 yuan in Huaqiangbei. The iPhone 13, 12, and 11 sell for more than 3,000 yuan, 2,000 yuan, and 1,000 yuan respectively. The iPhone 8 Pro sells for about 650 yuan, and the iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 sell for 300 to 600 yuan.
According to some merchants, Huawei Mate40 sells for about 1,900 yuan in the second-hand market. Many other domestic brand mobile phones are heavily discounted. For example, a domestic brand mobile phone that sold for about 3,000 yuan when it was released six or seven years ago is now selling for about 200 yuan. A mobile phone that sold for about 4,000 yuan when it was released a year ago is now selling for more than 1,000 yuan. "Here, you can even sell a Nokia feature phone that costs tens of yuan. All models are easy to sell, but different models sell at different prices," the merchant said.
Unlike the new phone market, which competes for functionality and appearance innovation, the second-hand market places more emphasis on cost-effectiveness. The quality of each generation of mobile phones is carefully compared and ultimately converted into price and sales volume. Older models are mostly sold as work machines, such as iPhone 6, 7, and 8. A merchant said that the iPhone 8 Pro runs fast, can be used as a work machine and can play mainstream competitive games, and does not have the heating problem of new mobile phones. This phone is very popular in the second-hand market and is more popular than the iPhone X. There are currently few iPhone 8 Pros on the market, so the price has increased. Also due to better quality, iPhone11 and iPhone12 have better sales.
Newer second-hand mobile phones are purchased by both individual consumers and companies for software testing. The reporter learned that after the software testing is completed, the mobile phones can be sold to second-hand merchants again. Compared with purchasing new phones, companies can greatly save costs by purchasing second-hand mobile phones. Such companies are a regular source of customers for second-hand merchants. During the visit, the reporter also found that many consumers inquired about iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, and there were also backpackers who searched for second-hand iPhone 14 series mobile phones for customers. According to the backpacker, the price of iPhone 14 originally dropped, but the price of iPhone 15 increased again after the release. The reason is related to the fact that the US version of iPhone 15 cannot manually open a card slot. In contrast, the US version of iPhone 14 can manually open a new card slot, so that the phone can be used as a national bank phone.
Many other merchants said that the prices of higher-end second-hand iPhones have basically not been reduced recently, and the prices of low-end models are still increasing by tens of yuan. The prices of iPhone14 series models have also increased. This may be because iPhone15 lacks selling points and sales are not good enough.
Recently, media reported that the iPhone 15 was experiencing heating problems, and Apple subsequently admitted that it had discovered some problems that may cause the iPhone 15 series to run at too high a temperature. In addition, some market analysts pointed out that the iPhone 15 lacks innovation or the upgrade changes are not obvious. Market research organization CINNO Research predicts that the sales of Apple mobile phones in China's smartphone market in 2023 may reach 45.5 million units, a slight decrease of 2% year-on-year. Among them, the sales of iPhone15 series models this year may be around 10 million units, a 22% decline compared with the same period of the iPhone14 series.
Second-hand mobile phone market picks up
The second-hand mobile phone market and the new phone market are ebbing and flowing. While the global smartphone market shipments will decline in 2022, refurbished smartphone sales will increase year-on-year. Counterpoint data shows that Apple will account for 49% of the global refurbished smartphone market in 2022. However, due to the epidemic and other impacts, China’s refurbished smartphone market sales fell by 17% in the same year.
After the impact of the epidemic has gradually subsided, the domestic second-hand mobile phone market has shown signs of recovery this year. Many Huaqiangbei merchants said that sales of second-hand mobile phones were affected by the epidemic last year and have picked up this year. Although consumers are currently more sensitive to the price of second-hand mobile phones, new phones are more expensive. "With the development of mobile phones, there have been no big breakthroughs. There is no need to buy a very new mobile phone. It used to be very prestigious to hold an Apple mobile phone in your hand, but it won't be like this anymore." A merchant said.
The prices of many new flagship phones are indeed high. The starting price of the iPhone 15 series is between 5,999 yuan and 9,999 yuan. Some models have increased in price compared to the previous generation. Some memory versions of the iPhone 15 Pro and ProMax have increased in price by 100 to 500 yuan compared with the previous generation. Huawei's high-end new phones that have attracted much attention recently are not cheap either. For example, the Mate60Pro starts at 6,499 yuan and the MateX5 starts at 12,999 yuan.
Guo Tianxiang, a senior analyst at IDC China, told China Business News that, related to the economic environment, attention to second-hand mobile phones continues to increase, and the prices of high-end mobile phones continue to rise, making second-hand mobile phones that are 90% new more cost-effective. At the same time, the use experience of new phones has not improved significantly in recent years, making the use value of second-hand mobile phones relatively high.
Counterpoint related reports stated that the global smartphone market seems to have passed the rapid growth stage. Consumer replacement cycles are getting longer and longer, and the refurbished smartphone market is becoming increasingly mature. The channels for supplying refurbished mobile phones mainly come from refurbished smartphone retailers, operators and OEM manufacturers. Among them, retailers have the fastest growth, and OEM manufacturers are also working hard to collect and resell refurbished smartphones. Guo Tianxiang also told China Business News that with the maturity of second-hand platforms and the growth of official refurbished phones, the second-hand mobile phone market is becoming more and more standardized, but the C2C (consumer-to-consumer) transaction business needs more improvement.
Apple has a refurbished phone business overseas, and Huawei has also launched an official refurbished phone business before. Currently, Huawei Mall has two entrances: "Huawei Certified Used Mobile Phones" and "Huawei Official Refurbished". Available refurbished models include P50Pocket, nova9, nova10 series and P50E. The reporter learned from second-hand mobile phone merchants in Huaqiangbei that some second-hand or refurbished phones recycled through their own channels have expired. Some merchants said that the motherboards can be guaranteed for two to three months. In contrast, Huawei Mall shows that refurbished machines come with Huawei’s official one-year warranty.
Some mobile phone supply chain manufacturers have also entered the second-hand mobile phone market. At an investor meeting in August this year, Zhao Haijun, co-CEO of SMIC, said that a trend emerging in the mobile phone market this year is "new phones" and "refurbished phones", that is, second-hand mobile phones recovered from the market have their screens, circuits and other components replaced with new ones and then sold again. This trend is most obvious in the Chinese mobile phone market. It is estimated that about 140 million refurbished phones will be shipped in the market this year, and there are urgent orders from Chinese mobile phone customers. The reporter visited Huaqiangbei and learned that Foxconn also supplies second-hand mobile phones to businesses.
In contrast, the new machine market is yet to recover. Counterpoint predicts that global smartphone shipments will fall by 6% in 2023, reaching 1.15 billion units, the lowest level in the past decade. Smartphone replacement cycles will extend to record levels, and the pace of recovery in 2024 may be delayed.