Used smartphones or laptops? This is out of the question for the vast majority of consumers. The main reason is the uncertainty about the condition of the devices.
According to a survey, less than a fifth of consumers in Germany have ever bought a used smartphone or laptop. A representative survey by consumer advice centers showed that 19 percent of those surveyed had so far bought a digital device in used condition. The most common were smartphones: 65 percent of the buyers surveyed had already bought such a device used. Laptops (32 percent) and tablets (27 percent) follow in second and third place.
But the majority of consumers remain skeptical. For 63 percent of those surveyed, buying used is probably out of the question. Above all, uncertainty regarding the condition of the devices and their remaining lifespan played a role.
“More people need to be convinced to even consider used items as a purchase option,” said Julia Rehberg from the Hamburg Consumer Center. The constant development of technical devices drives consumption. Their production costs raw materials, requires energy and causes emissions.
And the old smartphone often just ends up in the drawer at home. According to the digital association Bitkom, around 210 million old cell phones were stored in households in Germany last year. 87 percent of citizens had at least one discarded cell phone. This number has more than doubled since 2015.
Source: Stern
