iPhones lead refurbished market demand as premiumisation trend grows in India

iPhones aren’t just favourite among the elite buyers, but they transcend into refurbished market as well with demand exceeding above 60% among buyers looking to onboard the premiumisation trend, said Mandeep Manocha, the Co-founder and CEO of Cashify in an exclusive conversation with The Hindu. The refurbished demand in 2025 is shifting from budget to mid-range and premium bands.

Majority of the Indian population is aspirational, but the per capita income is not that high and that is why refurbished phones in the premium category are finding a lot of demand, said Mr. Manocha.

Apart from Apple (63%), refurbished buyers in India looked for OnePlus (10.2%), Xiaomi (9.7%), Samsung (6.1%), Vivo (3.2%), Oppo (2.4%) and Realme (1.9%) phones during January to June 2025 phase.

Apple iPhone 12 has been the top selling model consistently on Cashify. The Samsung Galaxy S series is also among the best selling models.

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Cashify said that 3 in 5 refurbished buyers in H1 2025 chose iPhones, with sustained demand for iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, and iPhone 12 Pro driving the ₹60K+ refurbished segment, which grew 33% year-over-year (YoY).

Cashify has over 205 company owned and operated offline stores across India and presence over online as well. It is noticing similar demand across both the mediums. Business is equally distributed for the re-commerce platform.

The business is growing pretty aggressively on the premium segment, but on the low value segment, we have not seen so much uptake, said Mr. Manocha. On yearly basis, Cashify said it will grow about 40%, and quarter-on-quarter, it registered about 35% growth compared to last year.

Cashify has a one lakh square feet factory in Noida where it claims that each phone gets tested, refurbished following a 32-step checking process. “We give a six month or a 12-month warranty to customers.” Their 205 stores also work as service centers with a repair engineer.

Cashify has been buying phones directly from users. They come on the website, check price and get it picked up from their doorstep. They are trade-in partners for Apple and Samsung as well. Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai lead in trade-in purchases.

Mr. Manocha said that refurbished market has been an unorganised market with 77% sale happening through unorganised channels which it aims to streamline.

Cashify is also focusing on refurbished laptops as the next phase of growth with demands expected from enterprise and educational clients. On repairability aspect, he said that companies have to take it seriously.