Samsung wants to buy your old smartphone

Some Samsung users will now be able to sell their used smartphones to the company.

Samsung’s “Galaxy Easy Compensation” program will launch on January 14th, 2025, and will first be available to users in South Korea. The company plans to expand the service to other countries at a later date.

The program allows users to sell their old Samsung smartphones without purchasing a new one.

The program is available for several Samsung smartphone models: Galaxy S23, Galaxy S22, Galaxy S21, Galaxy S20, Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 5, Galaxy Z Flip 4, Galaxy Z Flip 3. Model availability might depend on the country.

The list of accepted smartphones reveals that Samsung is taking newer devices released in the last five years and still receiving operating system updates.

The used smartphones will be valued according to their condition. The company will categorize the devices as excellent, good, or suitable for recycling. The pricing of the used smartphones is not yet known.

The new program could be another step towards simplifying the process for users to get rid of their old devices and companies making use of them, perhaps to refurbish and later resell, giving them a second life.

For example, Google started a Certified Refurbished Phone program last year, through which users can buy Pixel smartphone devices at cheaper prices.

The company has also started its Longevity GFR (Google Requirements Freeze) program, which allows Android devices to get a seven-year software update.