Angie Cardona-Nelson has been recycling tech waste and selling refurbished laptops, smartphones, and tech accessories for nearly two decades. When she lists laptops on eBay, they typically sit for a few weeks before someone buys. But in recent weeks, they’re selling in just hours at her full asking price, she says.
Costs of new tech devices are surging. In June, Apple announced it would raise prices on some Macs and iPads by 20 and 25%, respectively, making MacBook Pros jump by $300. The sticker shock followed Apple CEO Tim Cook’s warning that a shortage of memory chips amid the feverish AI buildout push would make higher costs “unavoidable.” Dell and Microsoft have hit the same pitfall; Microsoft’s Surface PCs now cost as much as $500 more than they did two years ago, and Xboxes will go up by about $150 later this summer.
“Because new tech is becoming more expensive, now consumers are just looking for value,” Cardona-Nelson says. Whereas shoppers used to be wary of scratches or cosmetic issues, they now want something affordable that works. “We are experiencing a fundamental shift on mindset for refurbishing.”
But there’s a cure to the sticker shock: a growing interest in secondhand tech devices. A poll of 2,600 US adults commissioned by CNET and conducted by YouGov found that nearly half said they had considered buying a secondhand tech product in the past year. Millennials and Gen Z were more likely to say they were open to a used tech device than older respondents.
The more costs from the AI race get pushed onto consumers, the trendier secondhand tech becomes.
“This is an unintentional advertising campaign for us,” says Lauren Benton, refurbished tech platform Back Market’s US general manager. “When Apple announces” a price hike, she says, “we immediately see the impact.” The day following Apple’s announcement, MacBook sales on Back Market jumped by 62% compared to the previous week, Benton says, noting that the purchases were “overindexed on new customers.” Back Market has seen sales leap when prices for new devices rise in the past — including when President Donald Trump announced new tariffs last year — but nothing like this.
We are experiencing a fundamental shift on mindset for refurbishing.
Phones have long dominated the tech resale marketplace, but at PayMore, which buys, trades, and sells secondhand electronics in brick and mortar stores, demand for computers and computer parts has jumped by 30% in the past three-to-six months, says Erik Helgesen, the company’s president. “Consumers are becoming much more educated,” Helgesen says. They’re researching specific capabilities of laptops, and finding secondhand options.
Back-to-school shopping could be driving the sales this summer, but Benton says the spike shows more customers willing to consider owning a secondhand device. “When you start to think about: What do I really need?” Benton says. “Do I really need these features? No.” More people are finding they can “still be able to get great tech, access all the AI up in the web, and really not feel any difference.”
Tech companies haven’t been wowing people with their latest product launches. New iPhones, like the 15 and beyond, offer Apple Intelligence, but as more people shun AI, it’s not an upgrade all shoppers see as worth the cost. Marketing intelligence firm International Data Corporation forecast that used smartphone shipments would grow 3.2% year-over-year in 2025, but anticipated that new smartphones would only grow by 1% between 2025 and 2026. Data from Counterpoint Research shows that pre-owned smartphone sales grew 4% in 2024, 3% in 2025, and preliminary numbers for the first half of 2026 show a 13% spike in sales, while new smartphone shipments are forecast to drop by 12% this year. The firm says these jumps are driven by rising prices, but also by shrinkflation — the device capabilities look too similar to older ones to merit a true upgrade to a new device for many customers.
About a quarter of Americans now use AI chatbots daily, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Half still say they don’t use them at all. People surveyed were also more likely to say AI will have a negative impact on society and on their personal lives over the next 20 years. Gen Z and Millennials were more likely than people 50 and older to express negative feelings.
Given that anxiety, it’s not surprising then that younger people are driving the secondhand tech market growth and looking to recreate simpler, more analog times. Luddite nostalgia is also rising. Searches for iPods on eBay were up 20% year-over-year in 2025, with iPod Nanos released in 2007 seeing a 60% jump in price between 2023 and 2025. The number of iPod shuffles for sale increased by nearly 30%, and people also searched more for Walkmans. Anti-Big Tech organizers held an eight day, phone-free festival in New York City last week, calling it the “Summer of Ludd” and encouraging people to rethink their relationship with tech. Back Market has plastered billboards and subway cars in ads compelling people to “downgrade now,” highlighting the lure of devices that cost less and do enough, even if they don’t have the latest features.
The full effect of the recent price hikes will play out over the coming months. But many shoppers are already deciding that what’s old is new-enough again for them.
Amanda Hoover is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering the tech industry. She writes about the biggest tech companies and trends.
Business Insider’s Discourse stories provide perspectives on the day’s most pressing issues, informed by analysis, reporting, and expertise.
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