Li Xiaoya has made a business out of the throwaway society with one of China’s biggest online trading platforms for second-hand mobile phones.
Called Huishoubao, which means “recycling treasures” in Chinese, the Shenzhen-based start-up is now betting that the transition from 4G to the superfast 5G telecommunication networks would bring about a new wave of gadget upgrades as consumers go for the shiny new gear.
“The arrival of 5G will push for further upgrade in hardware, and make room for innovations in new applications,” Li, in her 30s and a former product manager at Tencent Holdings before she started Huishoubao, said in an interview in Hong Kong earlier this month. “When big players in the smartphone industry are gearing up for 5G, it naturally becomes a growth engine for supplementary industries like ours.”