Xiaomi, Apple, Samsung among most popular brands in pre-owned smartphone market

Xiaomi, Apple, and Samsung were among the most popular brands in the pre-owned smartphone market with sub- ₹10,000 smartphones accounting for the highest volume in 2020, according to a report by Cashify.

Customers in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad ranked high on the 'top selling' list, while  Hyderabad and Chennai topped the 'Truth Index' that reflected the percentage of smartphone users who stated the actual condition of their devices most truthfully while putting them up for sale online.

Satellite towns such as Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow are also showing robust growth in the pre-owned smartphone market.

Cashify's fifth annual 'User Behaviour whitepaper' for the pre-owned smartphone market said India is the second-largest smartphone market in the world, sees an average Indian upgrade their smartphone within 14-18 months of purchase. Xiaomi topped the chart as the most sold smartphone brand by its users with 26 per cent share, followed by Apple (20 per cent), Samsung (16 per cent), Vivo, and Motorola (6 per cent each) among others, it said.

Most smartphones sold by users were in the sub- ₹10,000 brackets, it added.

Among models, the iPhone 7 was the hottest selling model along with some other models as well as Redmi Note 4 and OnePlus 6 during the year. The number of smartphone repairs was the highest in Delhi in 2020.

The whitepaper said people sold their second-hand phones at the average price of ₹4,217 in 2020, and smartphones around the age of three years got sold the most by users.

One of the most important reasons for upgrading for most smartphone users has been the need to have a smartphone with high-speed network connectivity (3G to 4G) and supporting apps for online classes and work from home, it added.

"A major migration from offline to online took place last year. Locked within their houses, everyone had to make do with whatever was accessible online. Work, studies, and shopping all shifted to digital. As lockdown restrictions eased and people started stepping out, our focus again was on expanding our touchpoints with smartphone users," Cashify COO and co-founder Nakul Kumar said.