'2 in 3 Indians seek to switch new device every 10-12 months'

Mumbai: At least two out of three Indian consumers seek to switch to a new device every 10-12 months, hence, the used smartphone market is predicted to reach as high as $4 billion by the end of 2020, says a new report from Deloitte.

According to a report from research firm techARC, there were over 502 million smartphone users in India in January 2020, and that number is poised to grow sharply in the next few years.

The study revealed that smartphone users upgrading to newer models usually trade their existing devices to get some value back, but that value reduces as the phone grows older.

A study from Onsitego, India's leading after-sales services firm, suggests that the average cost of smartphone repair ranges from 27 per cent to as high as 41 per cent of the device cost, depending on its price range.

For example, replacing the faulty motherboard of a smartphone priced above Rs 50,000 could cost around Rs 18,000 on an average. If something breaks down, the cost of getting an out-of-warranty device could prove to be quite costly.

"Some tech enthusiasts end up upgrading to a new smartphone every year, which means shelling out money frequently," Kunal Mahipal, CEO, Onsitego, said in a statement.

According to the study, mobile phone brands and retailers are increasingly offering smartphones with bundled extended warranty plans. Such extended warranty plans offer not only service assurance for an additional year but also higher resale value even after one year of purchase, the company said.