Bloomberg: Apple will let Foxconn buy and resell used iPhones in China

Thanks to the consistently high local demand, the iPhone resell business is rather lucrative in China, to the point where even the company who actually manufactures the devices wants in as well. According to Bloomberg, Apple is about to launch an iPhone trade-in program in China (we're surprised that it's taken this long, to be honest), but it'll be Foxconn on the receiving end. Basically, the OEM giant will buy the used iPhones directly, before refurbishing and then reselling them on its own online stores plus Taobao, China's popular eBay-like platform. Bloomberg's source added that the chain may extend to physical stores as well.

While this is potentially good money for Foxconn, the program's popularity will largely depend on how much store credit Apple can offer per used iPhone; Bloomberg says it's up to $300 in the US, which is a little less than what the Hong Kong second-hand market offers for, say, a 16GB iPhone 5s when we checked recently. But if this program works, it'll be interesting to see how it'll impact the entire trade-in ecosystem.