"Trade in three old phones for an iPhone" goes viral, reporter investigates the truth

Recently, the market for recycling old mobile phones has been booming, with prices continuously rising. The topic of “three old phones can be exchanged for one iPhone” even trended on social media. Some businesses claim that the recycling price for broken phones that used to be only a few dozen yuan has now soared to several hundred yuan. Do old mobile phones really hold such high value? Is this price increase a common phenomenon, and what factors are driving it?

Not All Categories Are Rising, Significant Differences in Price Increases

On social media platforms, some merchants have posted videos claiming that some discarded phones have been severely damaged, with former recycling prices of 10 to 20 yuan now rising to around 500 yuan. As long as the motherboard inside the phone isn’t broken, these discarded phones can be exchanged, with three to five old phones being able to directly trade for one iPhone.

Old mobile phones have suddenly become “hot commodities.” Currently, practitioners in the recycling sector on social media have begun to use this as a selling point, posting advertisements. A reporter’s field visit revealed that the recent rise in recycling prices for old mobile phones is not a universal increase across all categories; there are significant differences in price increases among different brands, models, and specifications of old phones.

The reporter visited several official offline recycling points for second-hand platforms in Beijing and found that the old mobile phone recycling market has not universally raised prices. One staff member stated that the so-called price increase mainly pertains to the CPU chips of some older phones. Another recycling platform’s staff also confirmed that the pricing system had not seen significant fluctuations, and the high prices circulating online differ from actual recycling prices.

There Has Been Some Improvement in Mobile Phone Recycling Recently, But the Scale Is Limited

While the official recycling platform’s prices have not been significantly affected, what about individual merchants’ recycling of phones? One merchant told the reporter that there has indeed been some improvement in the recycling of old mobile phones recently, but the extent of change is limited.

In the price list provided by the merchant, the phone with the highest price increase rose from 70 yuan to 170 yuan, while the vast majority of models increased by around 40 to 50 yuan.

Mr. Tan, a digital product evaluation streamer, told the reporter that the reason for the increase in recycling prices for old mobile phones is that the overall trend for memory and chips is upward, and some second-hand mobile phone recyclers have found channels for selling storage and chips. Compared to Apple phones, Android phones have higher hardware compatibility and versatility, so their price increases are relatively higher.

Digital economy scholar Liu Xingliang further analyzed that the increase in recycling prices is not merely a result of merchants speculating but rather the outcome of multiple factors, including changes in the global supply chain and imbalances in market supply and demand. The core driving force is the shortage of storage chips caused by the explosion of the AI industry.

Liu Xingliang: Traditional storage has been compressed, supply has tightened, and prices naturally rise. Old phones contain a large number of removable storage chips, turning old phones into “mines.” Now, recyclers look at the size of the memory and the model of the chips, regardless of whether the phone can be used or not; as long as the motherboard is intact, it holds value. Essentially, the prices of components have been reassessed. The market has both a magnifying effect and an emotional bubble, which is why there are extreme statements like “three old phones can be exchanged for one iPhone.” Prices are indeed rising, but not to such an exaggerated extent; many high prices only apply to specific models.

Liu Xingliang reminds ordinary citizens to view the recycling prices of old mobile phones rationally and not to follow trends blindly. The claims circulating online that “all old phones can skyrocket in value” or “easily cash in thousands of yuan” are unrealistic, and one should not have overly high expectations. Furthermore, it is essential to choose legitimate recycling channels while ensuring personal privacy and security.

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