A recent CCTV report has highlighted a massive surge in the third-party recycling market for older mobile devices. Driven by a global shortage of memory components and shifting semiconductor priorities, recycling prices for used smartphones have skyrocketed five to six times their usual value, creating a highly lucrative secondary market currently booming in China.
The Memory Chip Crisis
The sudden explosion in recycling prices is directly tied to the internal memory chips (NAND/RAM). As the global AI digital economy rapidly expands, semiconductor foundries are aggressively prioritizing the production of high-end AI processors over standard smartphone storage chips. This reduced output, combined with rising raw material costs, has created a severe supply gap.
To compensate, third-party recyclers are buying older smartphones specifically to disassemble them, harvest the memory chips, and reuse them in other electronics. The intense market demand for these salvaged components is what is driving up the scrap value of older phones, though analysts note the daily pricing remains volatile.
High-Value Targets
Recyclers are specifically targeting premium devices with robust, high-capacity memory modules. In the Xiaomi ecosystem, the most sought-after models commanding the highest recycling premiums currently include:
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Xiaomi 13 Series
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Xiaomi 14 Series
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Xiaomi 15 Series
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POCO F7 Series
Market Impact & Data Security
Historically, an obsolete phone might have only fetched a few dollars. Now, the base recycling value for devices with salvageable memory has jumped to $60 to $70 USD for the raw hardware alone. According to the China Circular Economy Association, China produces over 400 million waste mobile phones annually, yet only about 5% enter professional recycling channels.
For users looking to capitalize on this trend, data security is paramount. Before handing over any device, users should securely wipe their data by navigating to Settings > About Phone > Factory Reset in Xiaomi HyperOS and selecting Erase all data.
