According to a new report from Counterpoint Research, the refurbished smartphone market grew 5% YoY in 2022. However, Samsung wasn’t able to tap into that growth as the company’s share in the refurbished smartphone market went down from 28% in 2021 to 26% in 2022.
The research firm says, “There was a small percentage shift of Android consumers to iOS in 2022, which affected Samsung refurbished sales”.
iPhones are the most sought-after refurbished smartphones
Apple was leading the refurbished smartphone space in 2021 with a market share of 44%. Now that a considerable amount of people made a shift from Android to iOS, the company’s share in the refurbished smartphone market has reached 49%. According to Counterpoint Research, “Apple’s iPhones remained the most sought-after smartphones due to the brand perception, high margins, and high inventory turnover ratios.”
While you might think that this is good news for Apple, in many ways, it isn’t. Counterpoint Research suggests that due to the increase in the sales of refurbished iPhones, sales of new smartphones from Apple have been affected. However, the research firm also points out that increased sales of refurbished iPhones also increase Apple’s revenue from services/subscriptions (such as iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple TV).
Samsung is the biggest Android brand in the refurbished smartphone market
Although Apple has eaten up Samsung’s share in the refurbished smartphone market, the South Korean tech giant is still way ahead of every Android smartphone manufacturer in this space. Oppo and Vivo have only a 3% share each, whereas Huawei stands at just 2%. All the other brands combined contribute only 17% to the refurbished smartphone market.
The supply of refurbished smartphones is one of the major factors which decide how a company performs in this space. That means Samsung has to increase the supply of refurbished smartphones to gain a share of this market. The company has recently started selling Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra through the company’s Certified Re-Newed Store, but it has to offer a wider collection of models to increase refurbished smartphone sales.
Samsung reclaims top spot from Apple in Q1 2023 smartphone sales
Although Samsung is trailing behind Apple in the refurbished smartphone market, the South Korean tech giant is performing really well when it comes to the sales of new smartphones. In Q1 2023, Samsung overtook Apple to become the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.
