When is a smartphone worthless? And where does it go then? The iPhone refurbisher Swappie has dealt with this and in a representative survey asked 1,075 people from Germany over the age of 18 and who own a smartphone about their attitude towards the so-called drawer cell phones. The study was conducted in March 2023.
The older a smartphone is, the lower the residual value is of course estimated. But after just one year, a quarter of Germans expect a massive loss in value and estimate the value at only 51 to 100 euros. Around three out of ten Germans (29.7%) still expect it to be between 101 and 250 euros.
Greentech cellphones: overall values of smartphones
After two and a half to five years, around 40 percent still expect a value of up to 50 euros. After five years, most (44.2%) consider a smartphone to be completely worthless. At least 36.5 percent still assume a residual value of up to 50 euros.
If a smartphone (model still available in stores as new) has a defect, for example a defective camera, 40.9 percent estimate it to cost up to 50 euros, but almost every third party (32.2%) considers it worthless . For around one in seven Germans (14.3%) of those surveyed, even weak battery performance is a reason to rate the smartphone at zero euros. Most frequently (31.1%), however, a lower battery performance is estimated with a residual value of up to 50 euros.
Estimates of the values of smartphones as a whole
| Category | 1 year | 2-2.5 years | 2.5-5 years | Over 5 years | Low battery power | Broken camera |
| 0 Euro | 0,8 % | 2,7 % | 14,8 % | 44,2 % | 14,3 % | 32,2 % |
| Up to 50 euros | 8,8 % | 25,7 % | 39,9 % | 36,5 % | 31,1 % | 40,9 % |
| 51-100 Euro | 25,9 % | 34,1 % | 28,1 % | 13,2 % | 27,9 % | 17,8 % |
| 101-250 Euro | 29,7 % | 26,0 % | 13,0 % | 4,4 % | 17,9 % | 7,5 % |
| 251-500 Euro | 26,6 % | 9,9 % | 4,1 % | 1,1 % | 7,7 % | 1,6 % |
| Over 500 euros | 8,3 % | 1,5 % | 0,2 % | 0,5 % | 1,0 % | 0,0 % |
Android vs. iOS
There are also clear differences depending on which smartphone operating system the respondents use: In general, Android users rate the value of old smartphones as lower. For example, just 4.4 percent of iPhone users say a device is worthless after more than two and a half years, compared to four times as many Android users (18.7 percent). In the case of a five-year-old smartphone, only every fourth Apple user (26.2%) says this, but every second Android user (51%) says so.
Even smartphones with defects are given higher values by iPhone users. Almost seven times more Apple (2.7%) than Android (0.4%) users estimate a smartphone with a low battery capacity to be more than 500 euros.
The fact that iPhone users rate their older models with a higher residual value is certainly partly due to the higher acquisition costs. The longer usability, thanks to the software updates available over several years, gives iPhones a higher residual value.
Second hand cell phones everywhere – Estimated Value vs. Swappie Value
But most respondents underestimated the value of their old smartphone enormously. The values for an iPhone 13 and an iPhone 8 were selected for the price comparison. The iPhone 13 is the best-selling iPhone worldwide and the iPhone 8 is the oldest model that Swappie still buys. At Swappie, for example, you currently get between 560-705 euros for a one-year-old iPhone 13, depending on the GB size of the memory (estimated at 101-250 euros). If this model has a low battery capacity, you can still look forward to 460-605 euros. With a defective camera, the price range is still 320-465 euros.
Even a five-year-old iPhone 8 still achieves values between 90-130 euros (estimated at zero euros). With a defective camera, this model can still be worth between 28-68 euros and a device with a low battery capacity is remunerated with 55-95 euros.
Estimated values vs. purchase price at Swappie using the iPhone 13 and iPhone 8 as an example:
| Category | estimate | Swappie value iPhone 13 | Swappie value iPhone 8 |
| optimal condition 1 year old | 101-250 Euro | 560-705 Euro | – |
| optimal condition 5 years old | 0 Euro | – | 90-130 Euro |
| Low battery power | Up to 50 euros | 460-605 | 55-95 Euro |
| Broken camera | Up to 50 euros | 320-465 | 28-68 Euro |
However, the sale of old devices is more worthwhile the sooner you part with them after changing your smartphone. If you leave a smartphone unused in a drawer for a few years, you accept a greater loss in value. In addition, further value-reducing defects have to be accepted with the long storage, such as the decreasing battery performance. Drawer phones slow down the circular economy and bind urgently needed raw materials, which have to be mined more and more intensively due to increasing consumption.
The drawer: E-waste dump in our home
But what happens to all the discarded smartphones, some of which were only used for a short time and are often still functional? They end up in drawers and are forgotten there.
Most Germans (57.1%) have one or two mobile phones in their drawer. But there are also real collectors with more than five drawer phones (2.4%). One in five (21.8%) stated that they did not bunker at all.
Drawer phones in German households:
| Average | Women | Men | Android users | iOS users | |
| 0 | 21,8 % | 22,8 % | 20,8 % | 19,9 % | 26,0 % |
| 1 | 28,4 % | 25,8 % | 30,9 % | 28,7 % | 27,8 % |
| 2 | 28,7 % | 28,6 % | 28,9 % | 29,5 % | 26,5 % |
| 3 | 13,3 % | 14,3 % | 12,3 % | 13,4 % | 13,4 % |
| 4 | 5,5, % | 6,5 % | 4,3 % | 6,1 % | 3,9 % |
| 5+ | 2,4 % | 2,1 % | 2,8 % | 2,4 % | 2,4 % |
Gen-Z is a collector
Gen Z is the first generation that doesn’t know a time without cell phones and the internet. It is therefore not surprising that their consumer behavior differs from that of other age groups. 18-29 year olds seem to be more attached to their smartphones. Although they buy a new smartphone earlier than other age groups, they still want to keep the old ones. Six out of ten Gen Z members have two to four smartphones in their drawer.
The 50-59 year olds break up the easiest: One in four no longer has a smartphone in their drawer (24.3%). They are also least likely to have four or more than five of them.
Apple users have fewer unused devices: 26 percent of iOS users said they had zero devices compared to 19.9 percent of Android users.
Why is this smartphone in the drawer?
Most will be familiar with this scenario, the new smartphone arrives and is put into operation. But the old one has to go somewhere. Since smartphones are very small, unlike discarded washing machines, you can easily hide them in a drawer. The iPhone refurbisher Swappie asked why the smartphones ended up in the drawer and stay there: Six out of ten Germans think that selling them is not worth it and would be too expensive. Because smartphones are not allowed to be thrown away, 57.8 percent end up in the drawer and around a third (33.8%) are too lazy to take the discarded smartphones for recycling.
Older people keep smartphones because they don’t know what to do with them
The agreement with the statement: “A sale is not worthwhile or would be too expensive” increases linearly with the age groups: Every second of the youngest participants, up to 68.6 percent of the oldest respondents here (Ø 60.1%).
Smartphones often end up in drawers because they are not allowed to be thrown in the trash; 70.8 percent of 60-69 year olds agree with this statement, while 30-39 year olds give the lowest level of agreement with 46.2 percent (Ø 57 ,8th %).
Too lazy, too time-consuming – proper disposal is often put off
Half of drawer cell phone owners state that they are not broken and are actually functional (Ø 49.4%). Only 37.5 percent were able to identify a defect.
The more unused devices someone owns, the more likely they are to agree that they were too lazy to send them for recycling. From 22.7 percent agreement with one up to 51.7 percent with five or more drawer smartphones (Ø 33.8%).
Those who have many smartphones disproportionately often consider a sale to be too expensive (82.7% cf. Ø 60.1%). With so many smartphones, cleaning out would be particularly worthwhile.
About the study:
The iPhone Refurbisher Swappie designed the study and commissioned it from the market research company bilendi. In March 2023, a total of 1,075 smartphone owners aged 18 and over in Germany were surveyed online.