A customer selects products at a mobile phone store in Ankara, Türkiye, Oct. 5, 2023. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)
by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- With new smartphone prices skyrocketing due to a declining national currency, Turkish consumers, especially young people, are increasingly turning towards purchasing more affordable secondhand ones.
"The secondhand smartphone market is very vibrant these days," said Faruk Kocabas, Türkiye CEO of MediaMarkt, a German consumer electronics retailer.
"Consumers are looking for cheaper alternatives in the face of high prices. They are turning to secondhand or refurbished smartphones," he told Milliyet Daily, predicting that 300,000 to 500,000 refurbished phones would be sold in the country this year.
The main reason for the price hike of smartphones, which are mainly imported, is the local currency falling against the U.S. dollar or euro. High inflation of over 60 percent, a cost-of-living crisis, and high taxes are also to blame for the fluctuation in the mobile phone market.
Secondhand mobile phones are seen at a mobile phone store in Ankara, Türkiye, on Oct. 5, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
In Ankara's popular Tunali Hilmi Street, the smartphone shop owner Guven Isik told Xinhua that used devices are renewed to look and run like brand-new ones.
Isik said people cannot afford new high-end smartphones that cost up to 75,000 Turkish liras (2,723 dollars) in a country where the minimum wage is 11,402 liras for millions of workers.
The high price of new mobile phones is partially due to the increased tax on smartphones. In July, the Turkish government tripled the registration tax for foreign smartphones amid other tax increases to help finance the reconstruction projects in southeastern provinces, which were severely affected by February's devastating earthquakes.
All foreigners and Turkish citizens entering the country with a smartphone purchased from abroad are required to register it within 120 days and pay tax.
"A refurbished phone costs half the price of a new one, therefore people opt for these devices," the shop owner noted.
A woman talks on the phone in the street in Ankara, Türkiye, on Oct. 5, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
However, some consumers say they may not prefer a used phone as they don't know its background.
"I think buying a used phone may be a bit risky because you may not know how it was used and whether it works," Ozan Senol, a university student, told Xinhua outside a smartphone shop.
To address the problem of soaring prices of consumer electronics, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in late September a scheme to allow millions of university students to buy a tax-free smartphone or laptop on an exceptional basis but noted that the scheme would only be valid for domestically developed devices.
Despite this initiative, a smartphone is still costly for low-income families and their young who have to save up money for a long time to purchase one. "Smartphone is a life necessity but has become a luxury," Isik complained.■
