Estimated to be worth $17 billion, the global secondary device market continues to grow. Counterpoint Research reported that worldwide sales of refurbished smartphones were at 140 million units in 2018. Though this was just a 1% growth over 2017, India realized a 14% growth of pre-owned device sales equalling 14 million units.

After months of planning and preparation, Mobile World Congress (MWC) now seems like a distant memory. With headlines and column inches over the past few months full of talk of 5G, 5G trials and 5G firsts, it comes as no surprise that the big focus for this year’s show was on the next generation of cellular technology.

2018 was an eventful year for the global smartphone market. We saw the usual flurry of new devices from the likes of Apple, Google and Samsung; we saw rumors and news stories about 5G devices, and we saw players such as Huawei, Xiaomi and OnePlus shake up the market, addressing consumer demands for lower priced devices, with more innovation.

HYLA Mobile began investing in the secondary device market in 2009. And almost a decade later, the market has become a multi-billion-dollar industry that continues to grow year on year. In fact, research from Counterpoint has shown that the fastest growing global smartphone market last year was for refurbished smartphones, which grew by 13%. 

“The goods of today are the resources of tomorrow, but at yesterday’s prices.”—Walter Stahel, Founder of the Product-Life Institute.

The iPhone 8 was recently hailed the best-selling smartphone in the world according to Counterpoint Research. Despite being based on a four-year-old design, the iPhone 8 now outsells every other smartphone, including the more advanced iPhone X.

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.

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%.

In the mobile and telecoms industry, February is dedicated to one thing—Mobile World Congress (MWC). As the world’s largest event for the mobile industry, attracting over 100,000 attendees and more than 2,300 exhibitors, MWC is an event that simply cannot be missed.

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.