Why pre-loved tech is having a moment in Asia
IN SEPTEMBER, Apple released its new iPhone 15 amid the usual worldwide blaze of publicity that has become a familiar trope in the world of iterative smartphone upgrades. This time around, the fanfare surrounding the iPhone 15 was a little more lukewarm. Make no mistake, crowds still flocked to Apple stores worldwide – but it seems that the fervour has toned down somewhat compared to a decade ago, as the sheen of new tech begins to wear off amid a climate of intensifying distrust towards the profit machine of Big Tech.
Indeed, a significant portion of this year’s queue at the Singapore Apple store consisted of foreign tourists looking to resell the smartphone in their home countries. Elsewhere in Shanghai, the mixed reception to the newest iPhone – compounded by the booming success of domestic rival Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro – saw even the most diehard Apple fans express reservations about future upgrades.
The new iPhone also sports some unexpected changes in the hardware, most notably the European Union-mandated introduction of the USB-C port. With users no longer having to solely rely on Apple’s Lightning cords for charging, it marks the potential loosening of the tech giant’s closed ecosystem as a strategy to foster customer reliance and loyalty.
So what is driving these changing attitudes towards brand new iPhones? The answer may lie in the growing embrace of pre-loved tech, partly thanks to the ongoing cost-of-living crunch. According to a joint report from Meta and Bain, nearly two in five South-east Asian shoppers reduced their average spending over the past year, with the most significant dips in the electronics category.
And with the iPhone 15 models retailing for upwards of S$1,299, it is no surprise that people are finding it increasingly difficult to justify such a splurge – a YouGov survey reported that 80 per cent of Gen Y and Gen Z in South-east Asia find mid-range mobile phones more appealing than they were five years ago, because of their cost-effectiveness and no-frills functionality compared to premium models.
Surprisingly, this pivot towards second-hand tech is also gaining traction in developed markets like Japan, where getting first dibs on the latest gadgets has been a way for image-conscious shoppers to flex their cultural cachet. Refusing to engage in mindless consumerism and confronted with a weakening yen, Japanese Gen Y and Gen Z – commonly dubbed the “enlightened generation” – are now eschewing the relentless pursuit of smartphone upgrades. Within the same week of the iPhone 15 launch, Japanese shoppers rushed to buy pre-owned iPhone 12 and 13 minis to fill the void for smaller screens after the discontinuation of those models.
As the global refurbished smartphone market is projected to surpass US$98 billion in 2028, it is clear that owning cutting-edge tech no longer commands the same cultural cachet as it did in the past. Not only are Gen Z becoming more financially pragmatic with their smartphone choices, a growing minority are returning to more Luddite forms of tech, whether it is dumbphones to help them detox digitally or vintage digital cameras that satiate their never-ending appetite for 2000s nostalgia.
No doubt, growing eco-anxieties in the region are also shaping people’s growing enthusiasm for second-hand tech. In 2021 alone, South-east Asia was responsible for generating a whopping 12.3 million tonnes of e-waste. That said, the intention-action gap remains prevalent when it comes to tackling e-waste – data from Blackbox Research showed that 98 per cent of South-east Asian consumers said they want to reduce their waste and adopt more sustainable habits, but only 14 per cent recycled their personal tech products.
With the above in mind, perhaps the skyrocketing costs of tech upgrades and repairs may be what is needed to convince those with tightened purse strings to move beyond misconceptions of the green premium and adopt more sustainable habits, effectively killing two birds with one stone. And as countries like India continue leading the way for the right-to-repair movement in the region, we may be seeing a greater behavioural shift towards more circular forms of tech consumption that resist planned obsolescence – a strategy that, disappointingly, remains baked into much of hardware development today.
As a matter of fact, a new wave of Asian startups are already bursting onto the scene to fulfil the burgeoning demand for pre-loved and refurbished tech without compromising on quality. For instance, Singapore-based tech subscription platform Circular offers customers a more flexible and affordable route to tech ownership. And on the other hand, sustainable tech marketplace Reebelo is already seeing promising signs of growth – the startup recorded a revenue of S$7.8 million in 2022, which was a sixfold jump from the previous year. In a similar vein, China’s largest resale platform for used electronics ATRenew saw trade-ins increase by more than 60 per cent year on year in 2023 during the country’s major 618 shopping festival.
Ultimately, despite these signals, it is unlikely that the obsession with the shiniest new tech will completely disappear overnight. But as pre-loved consumer gadgets become a mainstay in people’s everyday lives and durability becomes the new premium, it is clear that tech giants like Apple and Samsung are beginning to take into account this sea change.
Indeed, corporations can no longer ignore the growing calls to redress the egregious amounts of pollution that they are responsible for, and retaining loyalty will also require genuine empathy for consumers’ desire for affordable, accessible tech.
The writer is an analyst with Canvas8 Singapore
