Refurbished phones and pre owned vehicles rise amid price increases
With new smartphones and cars getting pricier in India, more people are choosing refurbished phones and pre-owned vehicles.
Refurbished and pre-owned devices now make up 26% of total smartphone unit sales (up from about 23% in the same period a year earlier), and pre-owned car sales hit 6.1 million units in fiscal 2026, growing faster than new car sales.
Smartphone prices jump 30% to 35%
Production costs have shot up, making entry-level smartphones and new cars less affordable.
Smartphone prices jumped 30% to 35% since late 2025 thanks to expensive memory chips, pushing many buyers toward second-hand devices.
Lava International CEO Sunil Raina said stricter financing in smaller towns is also driving this shift.
Urban buyers choose feature packed models
In cities, demand for certified pre-owned vehicles has risen as vehicles overall climbed by about 5%.
Cars24 CFO Shivanshu Makkar noted that urban buyers are looking for feature-packed models and SUVs instead of basic hatchbacks, showing how preferences are changing along with prices.