India’s refurbished smartphone demand rose 30.8% in 2025, led by premium iPhones
Cashify says premium devices are driving India’s refurbished-phone market: handsets above Rs 45,000 made up 17.4% of sales, while Apple captured more than 65%. Higher buyback values and a growing flow of used 5G devices are expanding the refurbishment opportunity.
What happened
Cashify reports India’s refurbished smartphone demand grew 30.8% in 2025, led by premium devices and Apple, which held over 65% share. Higher trade-in values,
Key facts
- Refurbished smartphone demand in India rose 30.8% in 2025
- Phones priced above Rs 45,000 accounted for 17.4% of refurbished sales
- Rs 20,000-45,000 was the largest refurbished-phone price segment
- Sub-Rs 10,000 D2C share fell from 10.7% in 2024 to 8.4% in 2025
- Apple held more than 65% of refurbished smartphone sales
- iPhone 13 accounted for 6.93% of buybacks and 15.5% of refurbished sales
- Non-phone categories rose from 8% of refurbished sales in 2024 to 16.7% in 2025
- Mobile buybacks increased 29% year-on-year
- Average buyback value rose 34% to Rs 8,573
- 5G phones' share of devices sold to Cashify rose from 5% in 2022 to over 54% in 2025
- India has over 300 mobile manufacturing units
- Mobile-phone exports reached Rs 2 lakh crore in FY2024-25
- India generated over 1.4 million metric tonnes of e-waste in FY2025-26; over 979,000 metric tonnes was recycled
Why this matters
Target partnerships or acquisitions in premium-device buyback, refurbishment and warranty infrastructure to secure supply in India’s fast-growing secondary smartphone market.
What to watch
- Quarterly trade-in values and resale-price spreads for iPhone models versus comparable new Android devices.
- Share of refurbished sales above Rs 45,000 and Apple’s category share.
- Availability and condition mix of two-to-four-year-old 5G devices entering resale channels.
- Return rates, battery-replacement incidence, warranty claims and consumer trust indicators for organized refurbishers.
- New-device discounting, exchange bonuses and EMI offers from OEMs and large electronics retailers.
- Policy changes affecting e-waste collection, repairability, taxation or secondary-device compliance.
- Expand certified-refurbished premium-phone assortments, especially recent iPhone and 5G Android generations, with transparent battery-health and repair-history disclosures.
- Build trade-in acquisition partnerships with retailers, telecom operators, corporates and OEM channels to secure consistent high-quality device supply.
- Offer EMI, device-protection plans, extended warranties and assured buyback programs to lower the monthly-cost gap versus new handsets.
- Use tiered grading and dynamic pricing to protect margins as premium used-device acquisition costs rise.
- Retailers selling new mid-range Android phones should emphasize bundled value, software support, service and exchange incentives to defend against refurbished premium substitution.