India’s Refurbished Smartphone Market Enters a New Phase

The secondary smartphone market in India has long operated in the background, dominated by informal channels and limited brand participation. That’s beginning to change. Recent moves in the refurbished space, including Samsung’s direct participation in the refurbished ecosystem, signal the beginning of a more-organized and -competitive landscape where pricing, supply and trust are crucial.

Many manufacturers that once viewed refurbished smartphones as a threat to new device sales are now repositioning them as complementary to the broader ecosystem. This shift stems from the ongoing struggle for memory component supply, which has increased smartphone bill-of-materials costs and exerted upward pressure on prices. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are also increasing logistics costs and contributing to inflationary pressures, weakening purchasing power. Smartphone prices might never return to pre-2025 levels, making refurbished smartphones an attractive proposition. For brands, the secondary market will become critical to maintaining revenue.

Notably, India is the second-largest smartphone market globally behind China, making it a strategically important testing ground for new business models. Its price-sensitive consumers often purchase smartphones outright and face more acute cost pressures than those in Western markets. The absence of operator-led contracts makes every price increase pinch stronger.

The sub-$200 segment accounts for half of smartphone sales in India. In the first quarter of 2026, prices of new devices in this tier rose by more than 30%, stifling demand. Curtailing device specifications further exacerbated the situation, lowering the overall perceived value proposition and making it difficult to accept higher prices.

FDM CCS Insight forecasts that the primary Indian smartphone market will contract by 14% year-on-year in 2026 to 135 million shipments. In contrast, the UK, France and Germany are projected to see a single-digit decline of 8% to 9%, helped by the strong position of Apple and Samsung.

Importantly, India’s organized secondary smartphone market is only 4% of the size of the primary smartphone market. This points to significant untapped potential, especially compared with more-mature secondary smartphone markets in Europe.

In May 2026, Samsung became the first smartphone player to sell refurbished smartphones in India through a branded initiative. The Certified Re-Newed programme was first launched in the US and South Korea, before expanding into the UK, Germany and France in early 2026. The programme offers genuine parts, software updates and a one-year warranty. The line-up includes the premium Galaxy S25 series as well as the mid-end A36 and A56 models, and is available on samsung.com and through the Samsung Shop app.

The Certified Re-Newed initiative isn’t only designed to boost second-hand phones sales. Samsung also seeks to enhance its overall ecosystem play, increasing residual value, accelerating replacement cycles and maintaining stronger consumer retention through enhanced trade-in participation and buyback programmes. Samsung plans to lock customers into its value chain to maintain long-term continuity.

However, competitive pricing is crucial to ensure adoption of the scheme. Through the Certified Re-Newed programme, the Galaxy S25 series is priced similarly to a new smartphone and even higher in some instances, making the proposition non-viable. The mid-range A36 and A56 models offer some relief, with prices between 19% and 38% lower than new devices — illustrated in rupees in the table below. But promotions, bank discounts and cashback offers on new smartphones will further narrow this final price difference.

We also observed higher pricing on competitor platforms, including Cashify. This highlights that n-1 models aren’t strong volume drivers in the Indian secondary market: they accounted for less than 5% of Samsung’s portfolio in 2025 according to our market-tracking data. Older devices, particularly n-3 and n-4 models, have historically been the most popular second-hand smartphones, primarily because of their lower cost and strong supply. We believe Samsung and other manufacturers entering this space should prioritize older n-2 and n-3 smartphone models, as their lower residual values will translate into lower trade-in costs, resulting in competitive sell-out pricing.

The unorganized channel, encompassing peer-to-peer sellers and “mom and pop” shops, still accounts for 85% of the second-hand smartphone market in India, highlighting the scale of the opportunity and the difficulty of building a more-formal market. However, we believe this is just the start. We expect Samsung to continue to evolve the Certified Re-Newed programme and encourage more brands to enter the space, including China-based manufacturers.

Our latest Insight Series report examines these challenges in detail and explores the strategic considerations for device-makers looking to address India’s refurbished smartphone opportunity. Contact us for more information.