Samsung is now looking for ways to maintain its high earnings, and according to Reuters, the company's next bet is to sell refurbished smartphones. It's also unclear how exactly they will be refurbished, but one can assume the company is ready to fit them with new parts like casings or batteries. Smartphone buyers in the USA and other markets continue to flock to newer installment plan options that let them make low monthly payments and trade in their phones each year for new models.

Samsung now sells certified pre-owned phones in the United States, typically offering discounts of between $100 to $250. The growth in mobile phone markets has slowly started hitting the plateau, so the company wants to increase the cost efficiency by operating at a margin of over ten percent. When done correctly by the manufacturer, a refurbished device can be as good a choice as a brand-new one.

Samsung's refurbishment programme, details of which the person said could be finalised as early as 2017, could help the firm generate revenue from dated high-end smartphones returned by users upgrading to newer versions. These phones would be then sold the customers under the refurbished program.

The source refused to disclose how significantly the prices would be reduced, or the markets Samsung expects to sell the phones within.

Deloitte says the used smartphone market will be worth more than $17 billion this year, with 120 million devices sold.

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The premium high-end devices manufactured by Samsung are often expensive.

Samsung's Galaxy S7 costs $670 in the US; the Galaxy S7 Edge starts at $780, while the recently launched Galaxy Note7 costs $850. Reuters noted that Apple does not provide detailed sales information about refurbished iPhones.

Budget manufacturers including Micromax, Oppo and Xiaomi have chipped away at Samsung's share of the low-end Android market in recent years.

When contacted to speak on the matter, a spokeswoman of the Korean company told Reuters that Samsung "does not comment on speculation".