By akademiotoelektronik, 04/10/2022
110 million cell phones sleep in our drawers… instead of being resold or recycled
Old Nokia kept out of nostalgia, smartphone kept as a precaution… The French cling to their old mobile phones, so much so that 110 million mobiles gather dust in our drawers!
This is revealed by the Recommerce barometer (French pioneer in smartphone reconditioning) of the second-hand mobile market, produced by Kantar and published this Wednesday, March 9. When you know that 40 kg of raw materials are taken to make a smartphone, it's an ecological aberration!
Benoit Varin, co-founder of Recommerce, gets annoyed. In addition, these phones could help people who cannot afford to buy new ones.
According to another recent study by consulting firm Sofies, two-thirds of unused mobiles are still functional.
Read also: Should you buy a refurbished smartphone?
Unthinkable for half of the French people
Buying a second-hand phone has become commonplace: one in three French people has already taken the plunge. But when it comes to hers, it's a different story… Less than one in five respondents (19%) sold or gave away their unused mobile in 2020. So why the hell do we have such a hard time parting of our old cell phones?
A good half of the French respondents (54%) do not even consider it. Some mention the sentimental value (exchanged text messages, photos, etc.), but many want above all to keep a backup phone, to troubleshoot in the event of a glitch. Or even as a gift to a loved one.
Sold for €92 on average
There remains a gray area of 27% of respondents, who would like to resell their old device, without resolving to do so. First reason for this blockage, a resale price that is too low. Recommerce takes back phones for €92, on average. At Orange, we are talking about 93 €. These figures include the latest iPhones as well as old touch phones and of course it all depends on the model.
Many websites allow you to estimate the resale price of your mobile. It will always be better than if it stays stored in a drawer,
points out Benoit Varin. And the longer you wait, the more value it loses to the Argus of phones! Like a car that would remain parked in the garden.
Personal data
Some French people still mention a reluctance related to their personal data, stored en masse in our phones. For a complete cleaning, it is better to call on certified operators, such as reconditioning specialists (BackMarket, Recommerce, etc.), or directly with mobile phone operators. Moreover, these generally offer discounts on the purchase of a new phone when an old one is reported. So might as well give them a second life
, concludes Benoit Varin.
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