Cashify released The Great Indian Upgrade 2026, its latest analysis of India’s refurbished smartphone economy, examining how consumer behaviour, device values and upgrade cycles are reshaping the secondary smartphone market. Drawing on Cashify’s platform data and an independent consumer survey, the report finds that India’s recommerce market is moving into a more mature phase, as demand shifts towards higher-value refurbished devices and newer smartphones enter the secondary market earlier in their lifecycle.
The shift comes as the economics of smartphone ownership change. India’s average smartphone selling price rose 8% in 2025, while the premium segment accounted for more than one in five smartphones shipped, its highest share ever.
This pressure is likely to persist as geopolitical instability and demand for computing infrastructure, AI hardware and advanced components continues to reshape the electronics supply chain, adding another layer of cost pressure across the technology ecosystem.
“The smartphone industry is no longer driven solely by new device sales. As devices become more valuable and consumers upgrade more thoughtfully, what happens after the first purchase matters just as much. Trade-ins are enabling premium upgrades, certified refurbished devices are expanding access to flagship technology, and buybacks are becoming a natural part of ownership. The next phase of industry growth won’t come from selling more devices, it will come from creating more value throughout every stage of a device’s lifecycle,” said Mr. Mandeep Manocha, Co-Founder & CEO, Cashify.
Key Highlights
| Metric | 2024 | H1 2025 | 2025 | Direction |
| Avg. Buyback Price | ₹6,401 | ₹7,800 | ₹8,573 | +34% ▲ |
| 5G Share (Buyback) | 36% | — | 54.6% | +18.6 ▲ |
| 5G Share (Refurbished) | 18.4% | — | 61.0% | +42.6 ▲ |
| Growth in Refurbished Devices Demand | — | +30.8% ▲ | ||
| Top Buyback Bracket | Under ₹10K (74.5%) | Under ₹10K (73.2%) | Under ₹10K (66.9%) | Sub-₹10K share declining |
| Top Refurbished Bracket | ₹20K–30K (28.6%) | ₹30K–45K (25.8%) | ₹20K–30K (26.9%) | Stable premium |
| Top Buyback Model | iPhone 11 | iPhone 11 | iPhone 13 | Gen upgrade ▲ |
| Top Refurbished Model | iPhone 11 | iPhone 13 | iPhone 13 | Gen upgrade ▲ |
| Top Buyback City | Mumbai | Delhi | Delhi | City flip ▲ |
Refurbished demand is moving up the value curve
The demand data points to a changing consumer. The ₹20,000–₹45,000 band accounted for the largest share of refurbished sales in 2025, while the ₹45,000+ segment continued to gain share. Simultaneously, the sub-₹10,000 segment declined to ~8.4% of D2C sales from ~10.7% in 2024.
This shift reflects what consumers are seeking from the secondary market. Refurbished devices are increasingly being considered for access to premium technology at rational price points, with buyers in the ₹30,000–₹45,000 range increasingly making value-optimised choices rather than seeking the cheapest option.
Apple accounted for more than 65% of refurbished smartphone sales, with the iPhone 13 being the most bought-back and most purchased device. This points to a maturing upgrade cycle in which devices are being exchanged while they still retain substantial residual value.
The market is also expanding beyond smartphones. Devices across laptops, tablets, smartwatches and other categories accounted for 16.7% of refurbished sales in 2025, up from 8% in 2024. The shift points to organised recommerce evolving from a mobile-dominant market into a broader consumer technology ecosystem built around the device lifecycle.
The secondary market is getting younger
The changing demand profile is being matched by a shift in the devices entering the secondary market. While mobile buybacks grew 29% compared with 2024, the average buyback price rose 34% to ₹8,573. At the same time, the share of 5G devices sold to Cashify increased from just 5% in 2022 to over 54% in 2025, reflecting a steady flow of recent-generation smartphones into the resale ecosystem.
As consumers upgrade, flagship devices from two or three generations ago are traded in, refurbished and passed on to their next owners.
The iPhone 13 illustrates this transition best. It accounted for 6.93% of buybacks and up to 15.5% of refurbished sales, making it the leading device on both the supply and demand sides. iPhones 14 and 15 are beginning to follow the same path, indicating a secondary market that is increasingly connected to the primary upgrade cycle.
There is also a significant pool of devices that remains outside the organised market. Seven in ten Indians continue to hold 2-3 unused phones at home. These are devices that retain economic value but sit outside active circulation. Structured trade-ins, certified buybacks and upgrade programmes can help bring this dormant inventory back into the market.
The ability to unlock this supply at scale depends on greater trust and formalisation across the category. OEM-backed certification, IMEI verification, warranty-backed resale and structured upgrade programmes are helping create greater confidence in second-life devices and move recommerce from an unorganised trade towards a structured consumer category.
“2025 reinforced that the biggest opportunity in smartphone recommerce is not just consumer willingness to sell, but the confidence to participate. Consumers want assurance about the value they receive, the process they experience, and the platform they trust. As recommerce continues to grow in 2026, the focus will be on making resale a seamless part of ownership, where consumers see selling an old device not as a separate decision, but as a natural step in the smartphone lifecycle,” said Mr. Nakul Kumar, Co-Founder & CMO, Cashify.
India can become a global refurbishment hub
India’s evolving recommerce market is emerging alongside a much larger opportunity in electronics manufacturing and device lifecycle management. The country is already the world’s second-largest mobile-phone manufacturer, with more than 300 manufacturing units. Mobile-phone exports reached ₹2 lakh crore in FY2024–25, while smartphones became India’s largest exported commodity in CY2025.
The next opportunity is to extend these capabilities beyond manufacturing into repair, refurbishment, resale and lifecycle management. This transition is already beginning: under the government’s Electronics Repair Services Outsourcing pilot, companies including Lenovo and Flex tested repairing imported electronics in India for re-export.
Global markets are moving in the same direction, with regulation emphasising durability, repairability and elongating device lifecycles. The European Union has introduced requirements around smartphone and tablet durability and repairability, and the UK has prioritised refurbished devices in government technology procurement.
For India, this creates an opportunity to extend its manufacturing base into repair, refurbishment and resale, and build a global refurbishment ecosystem.
The opportunity also carries an environmental dimension. India generated more than 14 lakh metric tonnes of e-waste in FY2025–26, of which more than 9.79 lakh metric tonnes was recycled. Where devices retain productive value, extending their useful life through reuse, repair and refurbishment can precede their eventual recycling.
As India’s electronics ecosystem matures, the next opportunity is to extend its capabilities from making devices to managing what happens to them after their first sale. India has built for the world. It now has the opportunity to manage device lifecycles for the world, developing into a global hub for refurbishment, reuse and lifecycle management.
Covered By: Mobility India / Cashify
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