Millions of family members will receive ‘hand-me-down’ mobiles this Christmas, as tech-savvy younger consumers upgrade their phones to the latest model.

However, while globally a third of us will give our old phones to family or friends, around 75% of consumers still have at least one older phone sitting in the junk drawer, according to early figures from a new survey of 10,000 consumers across 26 countries by the GSMA, which represents mobile operators worldwide.

Globally, over 40% of mobile phones have some form of ‘second (or third) life’; being passed down to family members or friends and traded in for newer models, often over the Christmas period.

Around 14% of phones in current use globally were purchased used or refurbished, with nearly 10% of UK consumers buying refurbished phones, compared to a global average of 4%.

The used smartphone market grew by 6% in 2023, while sales of new handsets declined by 4%. Furthermore, the growth rate for reused and refurbished devices is projected to continue outpacing that of new smartphones in the coming years.

However, nearly one-third of consumers hold on to their previous phones as backups, contributing to an estimated 5-10 billion ‘pre-loved’ phones sitting idle worldwide. Many (27%) keep these devices out of concern for losing stored photos and memories, while a further fifth of consumers hold on to their devices because they don’t know what to do with them.

While receiving cash is the strongest incentive to get respondents to hand in their phones for reuse or recycling, equally important is knowing their data would be deleted properly.

Early figures from the GSMA’s global consumer survey into recycling and reuse of mobile devices, which will be released at MWC Barcelona, the mobile industry’s largest annual event in March, also found that:

• The average age of phones before replacement is around 3 years, with the vast majority of phones (75%) lasting between 1-3 years.
• Almost 60% of consumers expect to purchase their next phone within the next two years.
• Older people use phones for longer before replacing them, with over 40% using their phones for longer than 3 years.
• The top two factors that drive replacement of phones are 1) battery life (very important for 90% of consumers) and 2) poor performance / slowing down (87%).  50% said they would replace phones just to get the latest model.
• 75% of respondents had at least one old phone at home not in regular use with nearly half (46%) having at least two old phones.

Encouragingly, nearly half of consumers (49%) said sustainability is a “very important” factor in their next mobile phone purchase, and this is higher amongst younger consumers, demonstrating that interest in more sustainable and circular mobile devices is growing.

Steven Moore, Head of Climate Action at the GSMA, said: “This extensive survey shines a light on how many of us around the world are more aware of the environmental impact of our phones, want to use them for longer, but also want secure and easy ways to trade them in responsibly. With these markets only expected to grow, this presents many opportunities for companies to innovate to serve this demand.”

Reuse and recycling are increasing points of focus for mobile operators worldwide, as they move towards a more circular economy for mobile devices and network equipment –16 mobile operators have signed up to the GSMA’s pace-setting targets on circularity of mobile devices, and the GSMA’s recently launched Equipment Marketplace is helping operators reuse expensive and material-intensive network kit.

Meanwhile countries such as Australia have introduced dedicated targets and even recycling schemes for mobile phones, with positive results – survey results show that Australia has the world’s highest recycling rate for mobiles.

Recycling devices can reduce the need to mine for new materials and avoid environmental impacts while supporting the mobile industry to move towards its ambitious 2050 Net Zero goal.

A refurbished phone has just one-tenth the environmental impact of a newly manufactured phone. The GSMA estimates that if properly recycled, five billion mobile phones – just half of our latest estimate of dormant devices – could recover USD 8 billion worth of gold, palladium, silver, copper, rare earth elements, and other critical minerals, and enough cobalt for 10 million electric car batteries.

Using such materials could help manufacturers develop more robust and secure supply chains and lower the impact of mining operations on biodiversity and communities in sensitive global regions.

At the same time, operators recognise that further work is needed to address concerns that stop people from returning handsets, such as data privacy, the need to save precious memories stored on devices, and the desire to keep a spare device.