Second-hand phones surf rising green consumer wave

The success of refurbished phones is a reminder that flashy new gadgets and cutting-edge capabilities, on show this week at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress (MWC) telecoms trade fair, are not the only engines of the sector. Around 46 percent of Europeans have already taken the plunge by buying a second-hand device, marketplace Recommerce found in a 2025 survey commissioned from pollsters Kantar. But the picture varies around the world, as "mature markets in Europe and parts of North America tend to show higher refurbished uptake"...