Trade in offer poor value.
I can sell mine often for 3x what they offer.
Only 1 in 3 Euro consumers are trading in their old phones
Submitted 22 hours ago by sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al to technology@beehaw.org
https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/18/used_phones_europe/
Comments
Toes@ani.social 5 hours ago
gerryflap@feddit.nl 7 hours ago
I tend to keep them around tbh. Sometimes I install random shit on them or use them for funny projects. I only kiss one because it broke completely
ElectroLisa@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 hours ago
People don’t trade in their old phones, as the prices companies offer are lower than the second market resale value
Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 hours ago
My last phone was the OnePlus 6T and they only accepted trade-ins for about five years. By the time I’m ready to trade it its value is so low that it’s barely worth the cost of sending it to a recycling centre
Radiant_sir_radiant@beehaw.org 15 hours ago
Trade-in deals mostly suck around here. I hand my ‘old’ phones down to friends and family, who hand theirs down to their kids. Their kids usually get a ‘new’ phone when their old one has stopped working or is really, really showing its age. I assume this system is representative of a quite sizeable part of society, so I’m not sure how much to read into those trade-in statistics.
Asetru@feddit.org 10 hours ago
Yeah, same here.
bownage@beehaw.org 20 hours ago
Yeah maybe cause it doesn’t have any benefits for me
lnxtx@feddit.nl 22 hours ago
My phone my data. I’m not sure if factory reset deletes all data.
I keep my old phones, sometimes repurpose (PostmarketOS).
But batteries are becoming like a spicy pillow.
E.g. Galaxy S7: screen broken by swollen battery 🙏 .smeg@feddit.uk 20 hours ago
If your phone is encrypted and you factory reset it I believe the encryption key is wiped so the data is gone (unless MI5 are really keen on spending a lot of time piecing it back together, I guess)
howrar@lemmy.ca 21 hours ago
I don’t know if it’s the same in Europe, but here in Canada, I’ve only seen the option to trade in old phones when you’re buying one of the fancier phones with a bunch of bells and whistles I don’t need. There no way they would give me enough for this phone to make up for the price difference.
icelimit@lemmy.ml 4 hours ago
40 months is in no way long. All my devices last well beyond 5 years. Then I repurpose them if they’ve incompatible with accompany services like the internet or something.
FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 hours ago
40 months is unusually short!
Mine is nearing a decade of age!
SteevyT@beehaw.org 4 hours ago
I just replaced a Note 9 a couple months ago. Before that was a Note 3. I despise setting up new phones.
sanzky@beehaw.org 12 hours ago
I don’t think so. Most people I know keep their phones from 3 to 5 years, sometimes more.
TehPers@beehaw.org 20 hours ago
40 months is just 3y 4mo. Do people get new phones every two years or something? I usually just get a new one when my old one’s not working for me anymore.
i_am_not_a_robot@discuss.tchncs.de 1 hour ago
Until a few years ago, it was common for Android devices to stop receiving features after about 1 year and then stop receiving security updates after 2 years. Unless you’re getting security updates another way, which may not work correctly and may even require you to build Android yourself, you should not use the device for anything important after that point. The batteries would be next to useless by that time. Now it seems more common to get three years, which isn’t great either. iPhones last longer, but they come with all the iPhone problems.
abbadon420@lemm.ee 20 hours ago
Yeah, some people get a new phone every year or so. I know a guy who trades in his “old” phone for a brand new model every few months. He doesn’t really trade though,he just resells. It only costs him like 200 or 300 euro, if you factor in the resell. For him that’s worth it, aparantly.
rumschlumpel@feddit.org 20 hours ago
My last phone broke after about 1.5 years of me using it (and it was already a refurbished device), and my current relatively new-to-me phone only has 2 years of security updates left (also refurbished). I’m probably going to use it for longer than that if it doesn’t break, but that would definitely be a good time to get a new phone if money was no object and I didn’t give a shit about the environment.
algorithmae@lemmy.sdf.org 13 hours ago
I had my last phone for 5 years, current phone is on its 4th year and I have no plans to change that
rirus@feddit.org 20 hours ago
Its difficult to export all data.
madjo@feddit.nl 22 hours ago
That’s still a lot more people than I expected. I would’ve guessed 1 in 300
rumschlumpel@feddit.org 22 hours ago
Who isn’t? If the phone doesn’t break, it becomes unusably slow with any operating system that still receives security updates (if there are any, which is not a given). Also, I have my doubts on whether it’s actually possible to reliably delete all data from your old phone as a consumer.
MicrowavedTea@infosec.pub 22 hours ago
I never trade in. Every old phone I’ve had has seen more use than the value of trading it. Most go to a relative then back to me for some secondary use. Plus it’s good to have a backup device in case something happens to your main phone.
princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 hours ago
It’s the same as trading in a car versus selling it on the private market. It is ALWAYS a bad deal. It’s also not like if you trade it in that’s more environmentally friendly, because they just recycle it immediately, and most of the carbon emissions come from manufacture. They’re just trying to inflate prices by killing the second-hand market.
If you’re that worried about your data, screen who you’re selling it too. But unless you’re a journalist, politician or very high up in a business, you’re probably fine.
rumschlumpel@feddit.org 20 hours ago
The thing is, recycling is clearly better for the environment than having 3 unused old phones in your drawer.
sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 22 hours ago
I don’t. Maybe I should but I like having an emergency device on hand. That said, I’m due an upgrade in a couple months, so if a trade-in is meaningful, I’ll trade my eldest Pixel.
Unboxious@ani.social 19 hours ago
With how many things I log into on my phone I think I’d rather have no phone at all than one that’s too old to receive security updates.
FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 hours ago
none of the companies accept a trade in because by the time i buy a new phone my phone is usually a decade old.