Faulty Tech Titans Secretly Flood Market with “Deadly” Refurbished Gadgets

RETAIL GIANT MAKRO is now PUSHING USED TECH on South Africans, launching a SHOCKING new scheme that dares to call your next phone or laptop “Restored.” In a brazen admission that the NEW tech dream is DEAD for millions, the Walmart-owned chain is now hawking pre-owned devices, claiming it’s about “sustainability” and “affordability.” But is this a green revolution, or a DISTURBING new corporate strategy to PROFIT from poverty and digital exclusion?

Laura Hartnady, VP at Massmart, spins a tale of “eco-conscious” consumers, but the UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH is stark: skyrocketing prices have priced ordinary people out of the new device market. Now, corporations want you to feel GOOD about buying someone else’s discarded gadget. They promise “secure data wiping,” but can you EVER truly trust that your “refurbished” device is free from a previous owner’s digital ghosts? The warranty is a meager 6-12 months—a FRACTION of what new products offer—exposing customers to HUGE financial risk.

This isn’t innovation; it’s a DESPERATE and CALCULATED pivot. Makro is capitalizing on a broken economy, normalizing second-hand as the “smart” choice while new tech becomes a luxury for the elite. They dress it up in trendy environmental lingo, but this is about moving OLD inventory and exploiting a market segment with nowhere else to turn. The so-called “vetted resellers” are a shadowy network, and the “professional grading” leaves devices with “cosmetic imperfections”—a corporate euphemism for “well-worn.”

This move signals a terrifying new normal where aspiration is replaced with hand-me-downs, all sold to you by the same giants who helped create the unaffordable crisis. The question isn’t whether you can afford a new phone, but whether you can afford to trust the secrets left behind on your “Restored” one. The future they’re selling is literally USED UP.