Swappie reveals its first ever premium product, the Premium Series

Swappie, Europe’s leading online destination for buying and selling refurbished iPhones, has announced today a new addition to its professionally refurbished offer: The Premium Series. As its first ever premium product, this new line closes the gap in the current market by bringing a first class refurbished smartphone experience to everyone, making it easier than ever for consumers to do the right thing for the planet.

The Premium Series, which collects devices that are cosmetically flawless, fully functional with 100% battery capacity, will be available in all countries Swappie operates in from today. The highlight of Swappie’s Premium Series is its carbon footprint which, like the other refurbished devices offered by Swappie, generates 78% less emissions than a new smartphone, meaning that from today consumers can own an even more perfect version of technology without contributing to the vast amount of e-waste generated as a result of smartphone production.

“We’ve always made it imperative to listen to our customers, and over the years with this approach and through constant improvements in our offering we’ve gotten closer to them and made refurbished electronics a little bit more mainstream. But we knew this wasn’t enough, that there was a group of consumers who would only choose refurbished if the phone had pristine aesthetic conditions or a battery with full capacity. Even guided by the wish of doing the right thing for the planet, the lack of this solution stopped them from making this choice. That’s why we’re bringing Swappie’s Premium Series to the market, because it represents a class above new which will make it easier for discerning consumers to incorporate the circular economy into their everyday lives’ comments Casper Andersen, Premium Series Lead at Swappie.

A recent survey commissioned by Swappie and conducted by market research company Kantar shed light on the reasons why some people are still buying a new smartphone over a refurbished one with over a third of consumers (34%) citing battery health, followed by the functional quality of a new phone (28%) and lack of signs of wear (20%). Swappie’s refurbished Premium Series addresses directly these concerns as it is essentially new, offering 100% capacity battery, no sign of wear, full operational capacity and, as with all Swappie iPhones sold, it comes with a 12-month Swappie warranty. Additionally, the Premium Series produces a fraction of the e-waste traditionally associated with a new smartphone, so it is also a better choice for the planet.

Swappie CEO and co-founder Sami Marttinen said ‘We are passionate about creating a world that is more sustainable, ethical, and inclusive. Our customers sit at the heart of everything we do, and we are determined to make using our services as easy and pleasurable as possible. Swappie is in a unique position as all our refurbishment work is done in our own facilities in Europe, we own our own supply chain, and we offer benefits like warranties and returns. At every stage we can ensure best practices are maintained, guaranteeing high-quality products that are fully functional. This is vital in building long-term trust in Swappie. Smartphones don’t have an expiry date and we’re hoping that adding the Premium Series to our beloved product line will help even more consumers feel as comfortable buying a refurbished iPhone as they would a used car.’

The manufacture of new smartphones produces over 100 million tons of CO2 a year, while e-waste is the fastest growing form of waste on the planet. 85-95% of the emissions connected to smartphones are released during manufacture, including the extraction of raw materials, shipping and the first year of life. Earlier this year, Brussels proposed legislation to promote consumers’ right to repair which is a step in the right direction. However, we need to go further to make sure any practices which limit independent repair through processes like serialization, restrictions on the distribution of parts and access to manuals are prohibited. Consumers should be able to seek affordable, quality repair from the provider of their choice and under no circumstances should product functionalities be degraded because repair was done outside of the network of original manufacturers. This is the only way to effectively promote repair over replacement’ commented Jori Ahvonen, CTO at Swappie

Premium Series handsets are limited in number, but the Premium grade is not limited to a specific model. Premium Series is available from today at www.swapppie.com