Tech roundup: The growing Brazilian market for used smartphones

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Welcome to our Tech roundup, with the biggest stories on technology and innovation in Brazil. This week: A new push for the smartphone market in Brazil.

Brazilian used smartphone market gains new momentum

A combination of the exorbitant prices of recently launched smartphones in Brazil and the arrival of 5G technology in many state capitals has boosted a relatively new market in the country: that of used and refurbished mobile devices.

The market now … According to a survey conducted by the International Data Corporation (IDC), the estimated revenue of the used smartphone market in Brazil was BRL 2.8 billion (USD 530 million) last year — small compared to other countries, but still higher than that of the previous year.

In 2020, the purchase of 3.1 million used phones resulted in a revenue of BRL 2.2 billion.
Guillermo Freire, a cofounder of Brazilian used phone marketplace Trocafone, notes that when the company was founded in 2015, the penetration of used mobiles in Brazil was less than 2 percent. Now, that number is already close to 10 percent.

A global trend. The projection is for even faster growth in the coming years....

Ana Ferraz and Fabiane Ziolla Menezes

Ana Ferraz is a journalist specialized in global affairs and economics. She previously worked at the Italian News Agency ANSA and has been published by multiple Brazilian outlets.