Surge in smartphone popularity to boost mobile recycling
Monday, December 6, 2010 - 14:48:08
As UK consumers go mad for smartphones in the run up to Christmas and high end handsets become more affordable, experts believe that mobile recycling will boom as people do away with their ageing, outdated tech, in favour of something sleek, stylish and multifunctional.
A spokesperson for communications regulator Ofcom, said that the ability to access the internet from mobile phones was becoming one of the leading reasons that is encouraging average consumers to make the jump and pick up a smartphone when they upgrade.
Between the beginning of 2009 and January 2010, the number of people using smartphones in the UK grew by 70 per cent and this expansion is not set to slow down any time soon, with most predicting that clever handsets will become the most common form of portable communications device within two or three years.
While mobile recycling is set to be a direct beneficiary of the smartphone boom, the ability to sell old phones for cash is not an incentive for consumers. Social networking as well as internet access have become important commodities for mobile owners and already a quarter of UK handset users access sites like Facebook while they are out and about.
As people begin to reinvest in smartphones and upgrade, the mobile recycling market will gradually deal in pricier handsets, which is why, at the moment, the likes of the Apple iPhone can fetch people who sell their mobiles a good price, even if they have been on the market for a year or more.
Branding pays in this area and just like the used car market, some makes of smartphone deteriorate in price quicker than others. Reports into both mobile recycling and smartphone uptake suggest that the two are rising in tandem.
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