It’s estimated that 1.5 million iPhone 4s were sold on the first day of it’s launch last Thursday and that three-quarters of them went to people upgrading from a old iPhone. On that basis, more than 1 million iPhones have been made redundant. So what happens to them now?
Some, unbelievably will be thrown away or just left in the back of a draw gathering dust. Others will be recycled and others will be sold on to the secondhand market. On eBay on Friday morning, more than 5,000 iPhone 3GS units were for sale.
Many sites buy, rehab and resell old mobile phones and PDAs and business is booming for these sites at the moment.
iPhones hold their trade-in value better than most old mobile phones because the components are so expensive and valuable. As a result, if you’re unlucky enough to break your iPhone before your contract ends, you have to buy a new one if you want a replacement. Brand new iPhones cost a lot, which is why many people are heading to the second-hand market.
David Chen from an American recycling company says: “There’s a large market for folks that just want the parts. We’re trying, as a company, to divert goods away from the waste stream and keep them from ending up in a landfill.”