The Circular Economy of Smartphone
– 2min Read

Research findings: The circular economy of smartphones

– 2min Read

Circular economy is nothing new for us humans. From the hand-me-down clothes of your father to your mother’s older car, we are immersed in it daily – even unknowingly. Yet, as the climate crisis is taking its heavy toll on our environment, it is all the more pressing to rethink how we produce and consume. 

For example, you’re probably reading this on a smartphone. Or you have one next to you, right? Have you actually ever thought about how many new devices are bought every year? And what happens to the previous ones? We Pandas set out to find some answers and run our first ever research on the circular economy of smartphones, in partnership with ELTRUN.

The findings

We found some very interesting findings, some of them quite surprising too. Let’s dig into them.

infographic eltrun
infographic eltrun

 

Consumers buy ~1 new smartphone every ~1,63 year, on average. And they are younger than ever too. Millennials get their first smartphone at the age of 14-18, while Gen Z at an age younger than 14. This trend seems to be strengthening by the year.

And what about the old devices? A whopping 83% of our respondents had at least 1 perfectly-working smartphone forgotten in their drawers. In fact, the vast majority of households with 1-2 people had 3 to 4 working devices on average. 

What’s broken with trade-in until now?

So with all these devices lying around, why don’t people trade them in? Our research found out that the main reasons blocking someone from following the trade-in route is that the current experiences are complicated, opaque, and slow, taking up to 3 weeks to complete. They need a fair compensation for the device and a way to do without security risks as they’re worried about a potential breach in their data.

The Pandas solution

As it’s becoming increasingly obvious from our research, there is a huge gap in the trade-in market

We Pandas are here to offer an easy, quick, and safe solution so that people are able to turn their smartphones from disposable to reusable assets. And we do this in just 3 minutes. Yes, you read that right – three! Thanks to our team of experts and the AI models we developed, we have achieved patented, technological breakthroughs that currently no other company offers. And it’s all for good. It’s a true win-win-win for the users, the businesses, and the planet.

Are you interested to learn more? Visit us at pandas.io or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or TikTok. 

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