It’s been quite the rollercoaster ride for US and China on talks of trade and tariffs. I am of course referring to the Trump administration who proposed a 25% tariff on some 1,300 Chinese imports, then agreeing to suspend the $150 billion in tariffs, but soon after said the US would move forward with tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports.

The pre-smartphone days gave the secondary mobile device market a bad reputation.

Locked into two-year contracts for devices, any accident led to an inevitable trip to the carrier to receive a refurbished device. Malfunctioning refurbished devices caused reporters and bloggers to create content all about the dangers of embracing the secondary market.

Prior to Apple’s earnings, there was a lot of industry discussion about what its results would reveal, and how well the iPhone X had done in terms of shipments. According to newly released CIRP data, Apple’s iPhone 8 sales made up 23% of total iPhone sales for Q1, while the iPhone 8 Plus accounted for 21%, putting the lower-cost models at 44% of the market. CIRP stated that the iPhone X share fell from 20% to 16% in the December quarter, while combined sales of the iPhone 8 models rose three percentage points in the same period, up from 41%.

About a year ago, the topic of wearables was becoming a hot topic and the sense of smartwatch trade-ins had to be on the radar as new devices were being released. The secondary market for watches hadn’t formed yet, but high price points and growing sales made it seem inevitable.

Every quarter, we analyze our trade-in processing data to get a sense of how the secondary market for mobile devices is growing. While there are definitely patterns in the peaks and valleys throughout the year, one things is clear—trade-ins are becoming an increasingly-vital piece of the buying process.

April 22, 2018, marked the 48th anniversary of Earth Day. The day that we take a step back and think about how our actions impact the environment.

Part of the reason that trade-in programs are gaining momentum for carriers is that the process has become much easier over the years. What was once a low-value, high-friction trade-in experience has been streamlined thanks to new technology.

Every time a hardware upgrade cycle comes full-circle, a closet somewhere in the office gets more packed with retired phones and mobile devices. For many tech managers, trading those devices in can seem like more trouble than it’s worth.

In 2017, we watched over $2.1 billion transfer to U.S. customer hands through mobile device buyback and trade-in programs. And while your first reaction may be to think it’s all from consumer trade-ins, it’s important to recognize that businesses are part of this equation, too.

From a consumer’s perspective, the process of buying a new phone often seems confusing. But in a world of smartphones and constant upgrades, there’s one piece of the process we’re all coming to understand—device trade-ins.