In a time when an iPhone can be preordered, customized, and on its way to your doorstep all through a touch-screen tap, it’s almost quaint to remember that people used to camp out for smartphone releases. That was once the regular routine of Andrew Erickson, a longtime tech YouTuber, who recalled to me with a mixture of nostalgia and awe the time he braved the rain at 4:30 a.m. to join a line for the newest iPhone. The line snaked through the mall, nearly reaching the parking lot.
Next month, when Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 18 Pro, Erickson has no plans to even buy the phone, let alone fight crowds for it. Instead, along with a growing number of Americans, Erickson is buying used. He’s fed up with incremental improvements in gadgets, he told me, and is more interested in getting an old version of the iPhone 17 Pro when it hits the secondhand market at a discount. Already, almost half of his current devices were acquired secondhand, and as electronics prices soar amid an AI-fueled chip shortage, he expects that portion to grow. “The argument’s just getting weaker and weaker to buy brand-new,” he said.
Based on the numbers, old tech products are indeed being looked at in a new light. Globally, the size of the industry could reach $153.4 billion this year, up from $104.1 billion four years ago. The used-smartphone market alone is expected to grow by more than 12 percent in 2026, according to the International Data Corporation, which forecasts that the market for new smartphones will experience a record drop this year. Growth in secondhand electronics and refurbished gadgets that have been restored to full working condition now outpaces that of new products on eBay, the e-commerce giant reports.
About a year ago I bought a ulefone armour 29, the first phone I've been excited about since 10 years at least.
Its has all the standard features like a 50 mpixel camera, etc but it also has a 20.000+ mAh battery that lasts a week, it has a real FLIR infra red camera which works quite well, a night vision camera, a huge LED light bank that can light up a complete garden or burn out youtbeye balls if you stare into it. It has a small display on the back that can show a clock or compass or camera display even, without using the main screen. It also has emergency red blue flash lights that can make someone think you're police if you put it on your dashboard.
Its also huge and heavy, 700+ grams. Its built like a tank and I've only been able to find one protection case for it as it kinda sorta doesn't really need one. Hell, this thing can be used as a self defense weapon of someone attacks you. At night, with a single button I activate that light and my attacker will not break able to see anything for minutes and a single smack in the face with this thing will make you reconsider life choices.
Yeah, most of these features are semi useful at best but boy is it fun for a nerd to use it.
Its also a great conversation piece. Anytime I pull this monster out, people look, and the questions start.
My next phone will need to have at least all these features and more. Add a UV camera, add a Geiger counter, add whatever feature you can think of. That will make me buy a nre phone again, nothing else will.
Edit: the phone does have a number of downsides, of course. Customer support is nonsexist as far as I can tell, software is a bit shaky at times, as are updates. The main camera is good enough but not great. But all those downsides make little difference to me, I love this phone
