Looking for more evidence that China is set to take over from the U.S. as Apple’s biggest market?
According to a report from the Chinese-language news outlet Tencent, Foxconn is currently buying 50,000-60,000 second-hand iPhones per day through worldwide channels, and then selling these on to the Chinese market.
Roughly 80 percent of the iPhones are said to sell through stores in Hong Kong.
The report notes that second-hand iPhones are a good business to be in due to the high profit margins involved, and suggests that Foxconn is currently looking to set up a more official second-hand iPhone transaction ecosystem in China, since some people have been trying to boost profits by refurbishing older iPhones using second-rate components.
The suggested figure of 50,000-60,000 iPhone units per day is certainly big, although even at the top end it only translates to 21 million units per year. Given that some reports suggested that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus pre-orders in China were more or less on par with the total 10 million iPhone sales worldwide in their opening weekend, perhaps an extra 21 million in twelve months really isn’t that much after all.
Recently, a new trade-in program was launched in China, whereby Foxconn was reported to be buying up older iPhone handsets to refurbish and resell.
Meanwhile, a separate interesting report from the Wall Street Journal claims that Foxconn is trying to get into the medical sensor industry by teaming with the Palo Alt-based Varian Medical Systems to get the rights to sell radiation-treatment devices in China.
Via: Digitimes
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
2 responses to “Foxconn is buying up to 60,000 used iPhones per day to sell in China”
I’m always hearing about how no one wants older iPhones because the display is too small. It’s claimed that consumers in China only want cheap smartphones with larger displays. Foxconn must think there is some demand for them. I think it could be a good deal for Chinese consumers if the quality is good but they’re still older models. With Android smartphones, it’s like they’re putting out new models every day with the latest tech in them.
“Foxconn is buying up to 60,000 used iPhones per day to sell in China”
Why are you showing what looks like someone either trying to conceal iPhones for the purpose of smuggling them, or who is about to act as an iPhone suicide bomber? The article doesn’t seem to suggest that Foxconn buying used iPhones and selling them in China is illegal, which I don’t think it is. Why the visual slur?