Suddenly going viral, "Price changes daily"! Recyclers: Even if the screen is completely shattered and it won't turn on, we'll still take it.

Source: Xiamen Daily

Recently, affected by multiple factors such as a global shortage of storage chips, recyclers in various places have said that the market for used phone recycling has entered a “hot season.” Recycling prices have generally increased. What used to be “electronic clutter” has now become a “hot commodity” in the hands of residents. Xin Hui, who runs a phone recycling business in Shenzhen Huaqiangbei, told a reporter that starting during the 2025 National Day holiday, the market for used phones warmed up noticeably, and as of now, the overall prices have risen to roughly three times.

According to China Blue News: with 3 old phones, you can get a used iPhone! A “used phone price increase wave,” one price per day. A scrap phone with the screen completely shattered and that cannot be powered on—formerly worth only 10 yuan—now fetches 500 yuan when recycled.

“Any phone is recycled—no matter whether it can power on. Even a completely scrapped one can be exchanged for money.” Yu, the负责人 of a phone recycling storefront, told a reporter. He has been in this line of work for ten years, and the current market situation has also surprised him. “In the past month, prices have risen very quickly. OPPO R9, which has been on the market for ten years, had a recycling price of only 20–30 yuan in the same period last year. Now it’s up to 150–180 yuan.”

Some netizens said that two old phones that couldn’t power on sold for 308 yuan; others said that an old phone sold for 50 yuan in December last year has now risen to 130 yuan; and some netizens shared that they used 7 old phones to get back a used iPhone 11.

Jinan used-phone recycler Mr. Yang has also been busy recently receiving consumers who come for quotes. “Many residents take out their old phones at home to sell. Some bring five or six at a time and realize nearly 1,000 yuan.” Mr. Yang said that the recycling price of used phones, like gold, is “one price per day.” Sometimes even within half a day, the price is adjusted. Compared with the same period last year, it has increased by two to three times, and the larger the memory, the more valuable it is.

Regarding the flow of used phones, Mr. Yang said that currently, the main thing being recycled is Android models from brands such as Huawei, OPPO, and vivo. Complete units are uniformly sold to places such as Shenzhen.

Chip price hikes are the core driving force

When turning waste into treasure, don’t forget your personal privacy

Why have the recycling prices of used phones suddenly skyrocketed? “This round of price increases mainly depends on how hot the chips are and the size of the memory. The underlying reason is that development in the AI field has been rapid, and demand for storage products is strong.” Liu, a senior electronics equipment sales merchant, said. “The demand for storage from AI servers is 8 times that of ordinary servers, and the order scale is large with long cycles. At the same time, major manufacturers such as Samsung, Micron, and SK hynix, in pursuit of higher profits, have shifted production capacity to high-end AI storage products like HBM, while reducing or even stopping production of traditional products such as DDR4. This has led to a shortage of consumer-grade storage products, driving prices higher.”

Liu said that compared with brand-new chips, the price of chips taken from dismantled devices is only 40%–60%, and there is ample spot stock, so there’s no need to wait in line, giving them significant advantages in both cost and supply.

According to data released by TrendForce Consulting in February this year, the cumulative increase in spot prices for storage chips over the past three months has already exceeded 300%. It is expected that in the first quarter of 2026, the price increase for DRAM (memory) will reach 80% to 95%.

Some people believe that against this backdrop, dismantled storage chips have become the best solution for downstream demand. After professional testing, de-dusting, performance repair, and compatibility debugging, these dismantled chips have a wide range of uses: they can be used for memory expansion and fault repair in old phones and laptops; they can replace damaged original storage modules; they can supply intelligent lock, surveillance camera, automotive infotainment central control, industrial control motherboard, and other smart hardware manufacturers as low-cost core storage components; they can also be adapted for niche digital products such as entry-level tablets, learning machines, and game consoles to meet basic running needs; and some high-quality dismantled chips can even be used to expand existing capacity in small servers and cloud terminal devices.

It is important to note that digital products such as used phones and computers contain a large amount of sensitive personal information—personal photos, contacts, payment records, and more. Non-standard recycling workshops may restore deleted data through technical means, creating a risk of information leakage.

If you want to sell an old phone, it is recommended to thoroughly clear personal information by methods such as restoring to factory settings and repeatedly overwriting useless data, or choose a regular recycling platform for the transaction—so that while “turning waste into treasure,” you also add an “insurance lock” for privacy and security.

Source: Qilu Evening News, China Blue News, Nanfang News, Jopai News

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