61% of Britons say they would be willing to buy refurbished devices, though they’d prefer a brand new one
- 61% of Britons would be willing to buy a refurbished device
- Younger Britons are a little more open to such tech, with 69% of 18-24 year olds willing to buy a refurbished device, compared to 56% of over 65s
- If they had the option, Britons would still prefer a brand new device over a refurbished one by 61% to 22%
- Most Britons would prefer to wait four years or longer between replacing their mobile phones
Last week, millions of British shoppers snagged Black Friday deals, with offers on the latest gadgets likely to have been in some of the highest demand. But in recent years, refurbished technology has become a more attractive alternative, with previously owned devices that have been professionally cleaned, repaired and returned to full working order being a greener and often cheaper option for consumers. But how open are Britons to it?
Six in ten Britons (61%) say they would be at least fairly willing to buy a refurbished device, such as a mobile phone, including 22% who say they would be very willing to buy such a device. This does, though, leave a third of the public (34%) who say they are not very or not at all willing to entertain such a purchase.
Younger Britons are a little more likely to say they’re open to buying refurbished tech, with 69% of 18-24 year olds and 63% of 25-49 year olds saying they would be willing to do so, compared to 56-57% of those in over 50 age groups.
There’s also a particular appeal to the most environmentally conscious, with 37% of Green voters saying they would be very willing to buy a piece of refurbished tech, compared to 30% of Lib Dems, 23% of Labour voters, and 18% of either Conservative or Reform UK voters.
Nonetheless, despite a fairly large potential market, Britons are nearly three times as likely to say they would rather buy a brand new device (61%) than a refurbished one (22%), when the time comes to replace their mobile phone.
Despite the variation between voters in terms of their openness towards the idea of refurbished tech, the proportions of Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters who say they'd opt for a refurbished device over a brand new one is roughly the same (23-26%), though it's a lower 17% among Reform UK voters.
Do Britons try and get broken electronic devices repaired?
There are, of course, other ways to prolong the life of a device, without buying a second-hand refurbished one.
Across the three forms of repair we asked about – repairing an electronic item yourself, asking the original manufacturer to repair it, or taking it to a high street shop for repairs – fewer than a quarter (22-24%) say they would always or mostly attempt one of these approaches.
One difference, though, is that the proportion saying they would never try and repair a device themselves (42%) is higher than the numbers who would try and get it repaired by either a high-street repair shop (31%) or the original manufacturer (30%).
Looking at the combined responses to all three repair forms finds one in six Britons (16%) saying they would always try to have a broken electronic device repaired, either by themselves, by the original manufacturer or by a high-street repair shop, with a further 39% saying they would try at least one of the three methods most of the time.
Only 7% of Britons say they would never try and get a broken electronic device repaired.
Which of the three methods Britons would opt for, though, is not consistent. For instance, only 23% of those who say they would try and repair a broken device themselves at least most of the time say they would typically try and get a device repaired by the original manufacturer.
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Photo: Getty
