Photo by Eugenia Pan'kiv on Unsplash
India's electronics makers are fighting a new government rule that could quietly push up the price of your next laptop or phone. Here's what changed, and why buying refurbished sidesteps most of it.
What Changed: A New Floor Price on E-Waste Recycling
In September 2026, India's government fixed a minimum price that electronics manufacturers must pay recyclers to process e-waste — about ₹22 per kilogram. According to Reuters reporting via Yahoo Finance, manufacturers say this is three to four times what they were paying under the previous system. The rule falls under India's Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework, which makes brands financially responsible for what happens to their products once consumers throw them away.
Why Global Brands Are Suing the Government
The pushback has been unusually loud for a compliance rule. Samsung and LG have both filed suits challenging the pricing policy, and they're not alone — Carrier recently became the latest global company to sue over the same rules, joining Daikin and Tata's Voltas. India's environment ministry has defended the floor price in court as a reasonable step to formalize the recycling sector, arguing that under-pricing recycling work is exactly why India's informal e-waste economy stayed informal for so long.
What This Means for Laptop and Phone Prices
None of these lawsuits are about phones or laptops directly — Carrier makes air conditioners, and Daikin and Voltas are HVAC brands too. But the EPR floor price applies across electronics categories, and the companies making the noise now are the same type of large manufacturers that also produce or assemble laptops and phones sold in India. When compliance costs rise industry-wide, brands rarely absorb them quietly; they tend to show up a few months later as a line item baked into MRPs.
That's an unwelcome addition on top of what buyers in India are already dealing with. New devices have been getting more expensive through 2026 largely because of the ongoing global RAM and NAND memory shortage. A rising e-waste compliance cost doesn't cause that problem, but it adds another reason new-unit prices are unlikely to come down anytime soon.
Why Refurbished and Unboxed Devices Are Insulated From This
A refurbished or unboxed laptop or phone isn't a newly manufactured unit going through a fresh production-and-disposal cycle — it's an existing device being kept in use for longer, which is the outcome EPR rules are actually trying to encourage. Buying from our refurbished laptops or unboxed laptops collections doesn't trigger the same new-unit compliance costs that are pushing brand-new retail prices upward, whether you need something from our business or student range, or a phone from mobile phones.
Our buyback program reinforces the same idea from the other end: sell a device back to us for 80% of its purchase price within 15 days, and it gets reused rather than discarded. That's the circular-economy outcome regulators say they want, minus the compliance overhead currently working its way into new-device pricing.
What to Actually Do If You're Buying Soon
A few practical pointers given where prices are headed:
- If you're comparing new vs. refurbished right now, factor in that new-device prices have more upward pressure ahead, not less — refurbished value likely won't compress the same way.
- Stick to real specs for your workload. Our refurbished laptops come graded Good or Fair with 256GB or 512GB SSD and 8GB or 16GB RAM configurations — check both storage and memory against what you actually run, not just price.
- Avoid budget machines built around Chromebooks or Celeron processors. They look cheap upfront but struggle with everyday multitasking, which matters more as software gets heavier, not less.
- Know the warranty you're getting: 6 months on refurbished laptops, 1 year on unboxed laptops and gaming laptops, and 6 months on unboxed phones.
- For desktops, the same logic applies — browse desktop PCs from brands like Dell and HP, or a gaming laptop if you need dedicated graphics.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is India's new e-waste floor price rule?
In September 2026, India's government set a minimum price of about ₹22 per kilogram that electronics manufacturers must pay recyclers to process e-waste, under the country's Extended Producer Responsibility framework. Manufacturers say this is three to four times higher than what they paid previously.
Why are Samsung, LG, and other companies suing over this?
Samsung, LG, Daikin, Tata's Voltas, and Carrier have all filed lawsuits challenging the pricing policy, arguing the floor price is too high. India's environment ministry has defended it in court as a reasonable measure to formalize the recycling sector and attract investment into proper e-waste processing.
Will this make laptops and phones more expensive in India?
It's not guaranteed, but it's a real risk. The rule doesn't target laptops or phones specifically, but it applies broadly across electronics manufacturing, and rising compliance costs for manufacturers tend to eventually show up in retail prices, on top of price pressure already coming from the global RAM and NAND memory shortage.
Does buying a refurbished or unboxed device avoid this cost?
Largely, yes. Refurbished and unboxed devices are existing units being kept in use rather than newly manufactured ones, so they don't carry the same fresh-production compliance costs that are pushing new-unit prices up.
What warranty comes with a refurbished laptop from Get Like New?
Refurbished laptops come with a 6-month warranty. Unboxed laptops and gaming laptops carry a 1-year brand warranty, and unboxed phones carry a 6-month warranty.
