Mobile phone recycling prices decline: old phone trade-in value drops by hundreds of yuan in a week

Gelonghui April 1 | According to CCTV Finance and Economics, recently, the price of consumer-grade memory modules has ended its surge over several months and has seen a significant pullback. This fluctuation quickly spread to the downstream market for used digital products. During interviews, reporters found that the boom in the “disassembly” and recycling of old phones—previously unusually hot due to shortages of storage chips—has already cooled down, and the buyback prices for old phones have become more rational. In the used phone recycling market in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen, many consumers still ask for quotes in front of some shops, but the merchants’ quoted prices have loosened noticeably compared with before. Several merchants said that the decline in spot memory prices directly affected the phone recycling market, and that the buyback prices for some popular models fell by around a hundred yuan within a week. “For example, for this used phone, last week it could be bought back for 1,000 yuan; now it may only be around 900 yuan.” One merchant said that previously, large volumes of old devices were sold, leading to the market’s demand being saturated, so old phones are no longer priced at a premium.