Refurbishment companies are tasked with managing the enormous volume of mobile devices that carriers receive via trade-in and buyback programs. This is true whether they are part of the reverse logistics industry or traditional mobile device supply chain. It is a responsibility that is only growing due to the rollout of 5G. An abundance of 3G and 4G mobile devices are expected to be available as consumers upgrade to 5G models. In fact, it is estimated that 40%-50% of customers will trade in their mobile devices to a carrier to help offset the price of purchasing an upgraded device. So, there will be about 117 to 146 million devices in inventory in the next few years to repair, refurbish and resell.
This represents a strong business case to offload the legacy handsets to secondary markets. To capitalize on this opportunity, refurbishment companies must accurately test the functionality of these returned devices. Incorrect results can result in lower estimation of the resale value and lost potential revenue, thus establishing and implementing a testing and verification process that is both time- and cost-efficient is a necessity. This white paper discusses the challenges and opportunities that reverse logistics and refurbishment companies face, as well as the testing solutions designed for the unique needs of the UE repair businesses that are necessary to maximize profitability.
