Jeong-mo, a 33-year-old office worker, is looking for a used iPhone these days. This is to use the’Club House’, a voice-based social media (SNS) that is known as’Instem (mainstream item)’ among young people. Clubhouse can only be used on devices running the Apple operating system (iOS). Jeong said, “If you only have an Apple air system, you can connect to the club house by connecting Wi-Fi.”
Used + affordable phone subscription 56%↑ from last year
Clubhouse effect, iPhone transaction surge
The’hot wind’ is blowing in the used phone market. MZ generations (young generations born in the late 1980s to 2000s) who value silly are increasingly signing up for the’used phone + affordable phone plan’, as well as used phone trading platforms such as the Lightning Market and Carrot Market.
The used phone market is getting bigger and bigger. Graphic = Reporter Kim Kyung-jin [email protected]
According to UPM, a used phone inventory management company on the 28th, the number of used phone transactions increased from 400,000 in January last year to 460,000 in January this year. The transaction amount increased 65.3% from 51.4 billion won to 84.9 billion won over the same period. In November of last year, the transaction amount exceeded 100 billion won (107.9 billion won, 530,000 transactions). In particular, the popularity of the iPhone is steady. According to UPM, the trading volume of used iPhones increased from 87,000 in October last year to 179,000 in January this year. In just three months, the size of the new transaction has doubled. Yoo Sang-hyun, CEO of UPM, said, “The iPhone 8, an old model released in September 2017, has even risen in transaction prices,” he said.
The number of subscriptions to the’Used Phone + Affordable Phone’ plan is also on the rise, centering on the MZ generation. According to Sejong Telecom, the number of subscriptions to affordable phones last month (February) increased by 56% compared to the same period last year. The company believes that many of them are MZ generation. An official from Sejong Telecom said, “The latest smartphones are expensive in handsets, and you have to sign up for an expensive plan to get a discount on the purchase cost.” said.
The creation of second-hand trading platforms such as the Lightning Market and the carrot market is also raising the used phone market. According to Lightning Market, the amount of smartphone transactions in January this year was 18.1 billion won, an increase of 22.4% compared to the same period last year. CEO Yoo Sang-hyun said, “The foreign company that bought and exported domestic used phones in the second half of last year withdrew, and from the second half of the year, trade of used phones for domestic use has been active through SK Networks, Lightning Market and Carrot Market.
Reporter Kim Kyung-jin [email protected]
