At the start of 2019, the industry saw OEMs such as Apple attribute declines in revenue and smartphone sales to heating tensions with China, as well as to the broader economic slowdown. Samsung also forecasted a drop-in profits due to declining mobile sales in China and because of “intensified competition”. But it seems that the slowdown in global smartphone sales cannot be solely blamed on China – demand doesn’t seem to be strong in developed markets, either.

Carriers and mobile device retailers aren’t immune to general trends in consumer behavior and customer experience. Like in any other industry, the mobile device industry has to embrace an increasingly digital buyer’s journey. What used to be exclusively a brick-and-mortar process has evolved into an omnichannel experience that spans desktop websites, apps, mobile sites, and more.

By now, no consumer should be tossing their old mobile devices in drawers when it comes time to upgrade. Not only is it an environmental concern, but you’re also leaving significant amounts of money on the table if you neglect trade-in programs.

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.

Every quarter, we analyze the millions of data points we’ve acquired and filtered from the mobile device trade-in market. Our research examines data points about the most-traded devices around the world, the devices with the highest trade-in values, the total amount of money returned to consumers in the United States, the average value of traded devices, and more.

What happens to your old mobile device when you’re ready for an upgrade? In the past, most consumers would toss old devices in a drawer or throw them in the trash.

Now that equipment installment plans (EIPs) have become the predominant way for consumers to buy new mobile devices, consumers are holding on to their devices much longer.  As a result, analytics play an ever-increasing role in understanding how to entice trade-ins and price them when they come in to maximize the value of both the device and customer relationship.

In 2018, the global cost of fraud exceeded $3 trillion. There are countless types of fraud that contribute to these losses, including identity theft, telemarketing scams, insurance fraud, and so many more.

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.

The industry is set to welcome the first 5G smartphones into the market this year with most manufacturers planning to launch the new models early in the year. AT&T has announced it will add a Samsung smartphone to its 5G device collection, with Verizon doing the same. We can also expect to see 5G-ready devices from the likes of LG and OnePlus early on in 2019.