If you’re not willing to pay full price on a brand new phone but still want a premium device, you may have another option soon: a new report says Samsung has plans to launch a program offering refurbished versions of its phones as early as next year.

Reuters spoke to those ever-wise inside sources, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter who said the company will fix up high-end phones returned to the company who had signed up for a one-year upgrade program, and then resell those phones at a lower price.

It’s unclear how big of a discount there will be on the refurbished phones, and which markets they’ll be sold in, and the company told Reuters it doesn’t comment on speculation.

Selling refurbished phones could give Samsung a foray into emerging markets like India, where such devices are often prohibitively expensive to many buyers. Apple also sells refurbished iPhones in many markets, including the U.S., but doesn’t disclose sales figures on those efforts.

The used phone market is an attractive one: Deloitte says it’ll be worth more than $17 billion this year, with 120 million devices sold or traded in to manufacturers and phone carriers. That could spell trouble for Samsung if customers decide they’d rather buy used phones than new ones, however.

“Some consumers may prefer to buy refurbished, used premium models in lieu of new budget brands, possibly cannibalizing sales of new devices from those budget manufacturers,” Deloitte said in a report.

Samsung plans refurbished smartphone program: source [Reuters]

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