Research firm, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) has found what consumers do with their older iPhone and Android smartphones in the United States. According to its latest survey, 50% of consumers trade-in or sell their retired iPhones while the majority of Android smartphones are kept.
In the Q1, 2023 earnings report, Apple announced that its active install base had surpassed 2 billion active devices, double from 1 billion devices from seven years ago. The achievement was accredited to strong customer loyalty and satisfaction and more importantly, to switchers and new users.
50% of iPhone users extracted value from an older “functioning” iPhone in 2022
Apple and mobile carriers allow users to trade in their devices and earn credit toward their next purchase. These trade-in programs enable consumers to upgrade their iPhones easily by offering value for their older iPhones. Therefore, the majority of iPhone users choose to “extract value” from older models in 2022.
When retired, 43% of iPhones were traded in and 7% were sold to a third party. In comparison, only 14% of Android smartphones were traded in and 4% were sold.
As 54% of Android smartphones were kept by the owners and 11% were given to family or friends, it shows users do not get attractive compensations for the value of their retired Android smartphones.
| When retired | iPhone | Android |
| Trade-in | 43% | 14% |
| Sold | 7% | 4% |
| Kept | 23% | 54% |
| Friends and family | 13% | 11% |
| Lost/ stolen | 8% | 8% |
| Recycled | 6% | 9% |
CIRP wrote:
“Perhaps the typically lower trade-in values for Android phones makes that a less desirable transaction. Or perhaps customers switching from Android to iPhone want the security of knowing they still have a familiar Android device to fall back on or refer to, if their migration fails to bring every last contact, photo, or note to their new iOS device.”
Read More:
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- Apple’s iPhone user loyalty rate holds steady at 90%, according to data from CIRP
