Interview
Is the future of mobile ownership a subscription model? At MWC this year, we caught up with Georgiann Reigle, founder and CEO of Kingfisher, to discuss changing the consumer mindset around device circularity and what this might mean for operators
At Mobile World Congress this year, innovation was everywhere. From robotic dogs prowling the halls to AI-powered virtual reality headsets, exciting new devices and use cases were available at every turn. But what was far less visible is the environmental cost of all this innovation.
For an industry so concerned with sustainability, there was precious little on show demonstrating an appreciation of just how much e-waste the mobile industry produces. And, as Reigle points out, the scale of this challenge in the mobile device market is enormous.
“The GSMA has estimated that, in 2023, 5.3 billion phones ended up in drawers and landfills,” she explained. “So, we have an interesting tension there. We have to find ways to drive innovation and growth while also getting those 5 billion devices back into circulation.”
So, what can we do about this?
For Reigle, the answer lies in a holistic approach to sustainability by the industry, ultimately aiming to change the consumer mindset around the device lifecycle.
A sustainable proposition: Building circularity in from the beginning
Part of the issue here is education. Customers simply do not have a good appreciation of just how much carbon dioxide is produced during the manufacturing of a smartphone (around 80kg, according to some estimates), nor do they realise the potential value – monetary or otherwise – in repurposing and keeping these old devices in circulation.
A device considered outdated by one customer could still be considered highly desirable for another, even within the same mobile market, thus opening the door for secondary and even tertiary usable lifetimes for mobile devices.
Unfortunately, factors like this are rarely considered when purchasing a new device. Despite considerable progress in recent years, according to Reigel the percentage of returned devices compared to new devices sold remains incredibly low.
“The circularity metric globally is between 5–10% and that’s just not enough,” she explained.
To this end, Kingfisher launched World Phone Amnesty at the end of 2023, an initiative based around delivering a simple message: “every time you get a new phone, hand in your old one”.
This process will allow more phones to be repaired, refurbished, recycled or rehomed, reducing e-waste and creating a healthier secondary phone market.
“If we could get people everywhere aware of the impact that they could have by handing their phone back in, then we could really start to make progress – but we have a long way to go,” said Reigel.
Ultimately, the goal is to build this circular mindset into the process at the point of sale, a shift that will require buy-in from across the mobile ecosystem.
“We need to change the expectations of a customer when they first get their phone,” explained Reigle. “If I can sell you a phone and tell you ‘any time you want, you can come in and upgrade to the next one – I’m going to make that valuable for you, convenient for you, and it’s not going to cost you a lot of money’, then you will be so much more likely to hand in that phone.”
An ownerless future? The birth of smartphone-as-a-service
Clearly, the mobile industry still has a long way to go when it comes to device circularity, but if we take this concept to its logical extreme it is not hard to envisage a world where smartphones themselves are not purchased outright by customers but rather rented on a subscription basis. In fact, according to Reigel, the industry is already trending in this direction, with operators beginning to trial new business models that will make trading-in and upgrading customer devices even simpler.
“Operators, particularly in Europe, are increasingly launching ‘forward trade-in’ schemes, where customers pay less per month for their phone because it is assumed that they will trade-in their phone and upgrade it,” said Reigel. “So, then we’re moving more towards a subscription model.”
“Ten years from now, I don’t think we’re all going to be buying phones on financing. I think we’re all going to be accessing phones,” she added.
You can check out our full interview with Georgiann Reigle, co-founder and CEO of Kingfisher from the link below.
