Study: half of all iPhones in use by the end of the year will be second hand

By the end of this year, more than half of all iPhones in use will be second-hand devices, according to CCS Insight, reports Forbes.

The analyst firm  predicts there will be 1.3 billion iPhones in circulation by the end of 2023, and that more than 50% of them will be reused. The prediction highlights the ever-lengthening lifespan of Apple’s smartphones, with CCS claiming that from 2024 the average life of an iPhone will be eight years.

Leo Gebbie, principal analyst at the firm told Forbes that one of the biggest reasons is a lack of major upgrades between one iPhone and the next. “The iPhone 15 has just come out, and it is incrementally better than the iPhone 14, which was incrementally better than the iPhone 13,” he said.