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.

Looking at the shortest month of the year, did the promotions come up short?

Recycling your old mobile device has never been easier, so why don’t more people do it? The highest percentage of the recycling market are cell phones, more than any other electronic material. However, in the U.S., we only recycle 10 percent of our phones, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We have the option to do better by taking advantage of the growing eWaste industry.

A new year and new promotions for January 2018.

The secret is out: The refurbished mobile device market, was predicted to grow to a $14 billion dollar industry by 2017, and here in 2018 we anticipate continued success.

As small business owners, franchises, and big box stores alike scramble to grab their piece of this revenue, our expert team at HYLA Mobile is watching the buying and selling frenzy all play out on our analytics dashboard.

Every quarter we analyze and compile data about the mobile device trade-in market. We look to see which devices have held their value, which devices are being traded-in the most, and how U.S consumers benefit from these activities. At the end of the year, we look at the overall trend in the pre-owned smartphone market and see what’s different from the year before. What happened in 2017, and how does it compare to 2016?

2017 was an interesting year for smartphones.

The smartphone market was rarely out of the spotlight in 2017. It was a busy year for flagship device launches, relentless marketing efforts, and a certain 10-year anniversary.

The holidays were in full swing in December, but did promotions follow with a gift or a lump of coal?

As with every Apple launch, the levels of hype built up around the iPhone 8 were at an all-time high. 10 years on from when the first iPhone caused a stir in the smartphone market, consumers were expecting a device that would put their current one to shame. It didn’t.

November began with much fanfare with the Apple launch of the iPhone X, but the rest of the month also brought big cell phone promotions for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.