Prices are rising sharply, the price for recycling old phones changes daily.

Recently, due to multiple factors such as the global shortage of storage chips, recycling businesses in many places have stated that the market for recycling old cell phones has entered a "hot period", with recycling prices generally rising. The once "electronic waste" has now become a "hot commodity" in the hands of citizens. Xin Hui, who is engaged in the business of recycling phones in the Huaqiangbei market, told reporters that since the National Day in 2025, the market for old phones has shown a significant increase in prices, and currently the overall prices have risen to about three times. Why have prices for recycling old phones suddenly surged? "This round of price increases mainly depends on the popularity of chips and memory size. The reason behind this is the rapid development of the AI field and the strong demand for storage products," said Mr. Liu, a senior electronic equipment salesperson. He explained that AI servers require 8 times more storage than ordinary servers, with large and long-term order sizes. At the same time, major manufacturers such as Samsung, Micron, and SK hynix have shifted their production capacity to high-end AI storage products such as HBM in pursuit of higher profits, reducing or even stopping production of traditional products like DDR4, leading to a shortage of consumer-level storage products and further price increases.