This 21-year-old’s startup wants to change the renewed smartphone market in India.

ControlZ founder and CEO Yug Bhatia elaborated, “Nobody was solving the problem of transferring an old pre-owned device to a new consumer.” Bhatia says that an average smartphone can easily last five to seven years, but consumers now use their phones for a year or two and then switch to new devices. Even though everyone is talking about the longevity of the smartphone, many users are willing to swap their phones in less time.

“My thought was, can we do something that consumers want for a product with a longer life cycle?” The 21-year-old tells tech2wizard.com over a call. For the longest time, refurbished phones have been seen as a ‘compromise’. This is true to an extent. The perception is that people who consider a refurbished device cannot buy a new phone. But even if one buys a refurbished phone, there are chances that it will have scratches, dents and marks.

Bhatia, who was in the e-commerce business before starting ControlZ in 2020, knew how disorganized the sector was despite the state of refurbished smartphones and its huge potential in a market like India. He saw that the opportunity in pre-owned smartphones was not to sell them as refurbished, but as ‘refurbished devices’.

“This has happened successfully in other industries like cars and two-wheelers. But something went wrong with this category in India, where there is no brand in the refurbished or refurbished segment that sells old smartphones that are as good as new,” he claims.

“When you buy a refurbished product, you don’t feel good about it … there’s no joy in that purchase,” says Yug. But getting a new smartphone is an entirely different experience. Not only does a refurbished smartphone arrive in impeccable condition, but it performs on par with a new device. “Nobody was solving the problem of convenience of transferring the old pre-owned device to the new consumer,” says Yug Bhatia , Founder and CEO, ControlZ, explains in detail why he created a brand that specializes in making new phones in India. Bhatia says that an average smartphone can easily last five to seven years, but consumers now use their phones for a year or two and then switch to new devices. Even though everyone is talking about the longevity of the smartphone, many users are willing to swap their phones in less time.