Are recycling prices for old phones really soaring by 10x in Shenzhen?

Market frenzy at Huaqiangbei (华强北)

It has been reported that recycling prices for old mobile phones in Shenzhen’s famed electronics district Huaqiangbei (华强北) spiked dramatically in recent weeks — some hot searches claimed increases of five to ten times. Walk the narrow aisles of Farlook Digital Mall (远望数码商城) and SEG Electronic Market (赛格电子市场) and you feel the heat: trolleys clatter, counters pile up with cracked screens and bent frames, and sellers mutter that “a brick phone” suddenly looks valuable. Is this a new secondary-market gold rush or just a rumor-fed blip? Locals at least say the peak may already have passed.

Why prices rose — and why they may ease

Merchants point to upstream shocks: it has been reported that a surge in demand for storage chips from AI servers and related data-center gear tightened supplies for consumer devices, sending new-phone component prices up and making reclaimed parts more valuable. Add to that broader constraints on advanced chip imports — increasingly relevant amid Western export controls and trade tensions — and recycling becomes one way the domestic supply chain “keeps running.” Reportedly, salvaged storage chips, camera modules and control ICs are tested, refurbished and folded back into local manufacturing, creating transient bidding wars for bulk scrap phones.

From hoarding to hesitation — and a warning to sellers

But Huaqiangbei’s merchants say the frenzy has cooled. After weeks of aggressive buying and hoarding, many stalls report warehouse saturation, slower payouts and a return to more conservative quoting. Shop owners quoted by Huxiu describe a shift from “pay on delivery” to two- or three-day settlements and occasional “temporarily not accepting” responses. Prices remain above last winter’s lows, but volatility is high and offers vary wildly by stall — one walk-through produced three different quotes for the same 128GB Huawei (华为) P30. Sellers should also beware of bait-and-switch scams: high advertised payouts can be used to lure consignments that are then stripped for parts or returned under pretexts.

Recycling has always been part of China’s electronics ecosystem — Huaqiangbei is simply where those market forces are most visible. For ordinary consumers pondering whether to sell an old handset: check local stalls in person, insist on on-the-spot inspection and payment, and treat online “sky-high” offers with skepticism. This account is based on a Huxiu report drawing on interviews from the Shenzhen Weishiguang (深圳微时光) WeChat column; some causal links and spike magnitudes have been described as reported rather than independently verified.