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While the iPhone 17 is expected to be one of the hottest gifts this holiday season, some of the early adopters of Apple’s latest phone may be moving on to something different already. New data from B-Stock, a B2B marketplace for wholesale liquidation of returned and overstock inventory, finds that large cellular carriers are already moving “bulk quantities” of iPhone 17s through the resale channels for B2B customers. One sale on the site currently offers 111 iPhone 17 Pro Max units (with bidding for the lot standing at $80,200 as of Wednesday afternoon). All totaled, there were more than 300 iPhone 17 devices up for resale on the site as of Wednesday. The sales aren’t impacting the value of the phones, however. B-Stock says it’s seeing resale prices on the phones maintaining 94% of the retail price. And to be clear, theres not a big wave of people returning their phones. B-Stock says the return rates are largely in line with predecessors on a percentage basis (and actually lower than the iPhone 16). But with the strong sales of the 17, an overall greater number of units is expected to be returned. The used-phone market has been gaining strength for some time. Earlier this year, tech research and advisory firm CCS Insight said the secondhand smartphone market is growing faster than the primary market, with a growth rate of 6% year over year in 2024. Apple devices make up 60% of the overall used market. “The growing demand for used smartphones is driven by a stronger desire for low-cost devices, increased consumer awareness, and partnerships between telecom operators and retailers,” said Leo Gebbie, CCS Insights principal analyst and director for the Americas, in a statement. “Refurbished smartphones, which are often up to 50% cheaper than new devices, now also come with warranties, flexible financing options, and reliable after-sales service, increasing consumer trust. Last year, secondhand smartphones generated revenues of $7.6 billion in the U.S. (and another $13.2 billion in the Asia-Pacific region). Meanwhile, International Data Corp. (IDC), a market intelligence firm, forecasts global shipments of used smartphones will grow by 3.2% year over year in 2025, which is triple its prediction of sales gains from new smartphones. That’s due to a growing number of trade-in programs, improvements in the quality of refurbished devices, and a rising environmental awareness among consumers. The trend isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon. IDC expects the used smartphone market to see 5.8% growth in 2026 before tapering off slowly to 4.9% by 2029. B-Stock is not the only company seeing the latest round of iPhones hold their value. On SellCell, a marketplace for consumers to sell their smartphones and devices, the iPhone Air had a trade-in value of $760 as of Wednesday, compared with a retail price of $999 for the same model. That’s despite numerous reports that demand for the iPhone Air model was significantly lower than expected, with Apple reportedly cutting production on the line. It’s not just the iPhone 17 that’s seeing sustained demand. The iPhone 16 is retaining 72% of its original price, B-Stock reports. And the iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and iPhone 14 Pro Max are the three most frequently sold models on the site’s B2B platform. The strong demand in the used smartphone market doesn’t seem to be impacting sales of new iPhone models. Apple is expected to have a record year in 2025, thanks to the latest series of phones, with shipment forecasts of 247 million or more, IDC says. The iPhone 17 is selling very well in China, Apple’s largest market, and has reversed the slowdown Apple was seeing in the U.S. and Western Europe. In fact, the popularity of the iPhone 17 was a key reason Apple’s market capitalization topped $4 trillion earlier this year.
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The Phoenix Mercury rebranded for the first time in team history, and the new look is part of a wider trend across the WNBA as teams modernize their logos for a growing league. The new Mercury logo shows an “M” that’s a simplified version of the letter taken from the team’s old script wordmark. The bottom of the “M” is angled up at 19.97 degrees as a nod to the team’s 1997 founding as one of the league’s eight original franchises, and it’s set on a circle with a crescent shadow that represents the planet Mercury. The modernized logo was designed in-house. The rebrand comes at an inflection point for the team, which lost star player Diana Taurasi to retirement in February, and lost the 2025 WNBA championship to the Las Vegas Aces in October. The Mercury are considered the WNBA’s best-run organization, according to an anonymous survey of WNBA players released by The Athletic in July, in part because of their facilities. Mercury President Vince Kozar tells Fast Company, “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible to be a fan.” From left: The teams previous logo, and the new one [Image: Phoenix Mercury] It also comes at an inflection point for the league. Game attendance is at an all-time high, and the WNBA is expanding. The Golden State Valkyries joined last season, with the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo set to debut next year, and future franchises planned for Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia, which would bring the league to 18 teams by 2030. In a more crowded league, teams are simplifying their branding to stand out. Before the Mercury, the New York Liberty introduced a simplified version of the teams Statue of Liberty logo in 2020 that’s just Lady Liberty’s hand holding a torch. And in 2021, the Seattle Storm dropped a logo showing a detailed Space Needle illustration in favor of a simpler form of the landmark. “What we learned looking at the Storm and Liberty examples was you can do a really clean modernizationone that cleans up the 90s busyness of the logo and streamlines your color schemewithout completely rebooting or reimagining your marks,” Kozar says. [Image: Phoenix Mercury] The mark is the team’s primary logo, but it has other new marks too, including those that set the team name in a futuristic sans-serif font. There’s a global mark that wraps the Mercury logo in a roundel, a “Merc” logo that writes out the nickname over a map outline of the state of Arizona, and a “PHX” logo that Nike created in 2021. Kozar says these additional marks, which will appear on uniforms, courts, and merchandise, “just give our brand so much more depth and diversity.
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E-Commerce
Authenticity is currency. You can spend it recklessly and go broke, or invest it strategically and build wealth. Most leaders are choosing bankruptcy without even realizing it. Right now, workplaces are debating authenticity. Some call “bring your whole self to work” a dangerous myth that punishes marginalized employees. Others claim it’s the secret to engagement and retention. Both are rightand both are missing something. Unfiltered authenticity without skill can be destructive. And yes, marginalized employees pay a higher price when they try to be authentic in systems that weren’t built for them. But your team already knows when you’re faking it. That difference between genuine authenticity and performed authenticity determines everythingtrust, safety, retention, innovation. Think about the best leader you’ve ever had. Now the worst. What separated them? Kevin Built Wealth. Nancy Went Broke An employee once described two former managers to melet’s call them Kevin and Nancy. Kevin had emotional intelligence. When you sent an email that landed wrong, he’d follow up: “Hey, I think you meant this . . .” He remembered small details from weeks ago. You felt seen. He operated from a place of genuine care. Nancy was polished. She said all the right things about supporting her team. But over time, you realized it was packagingfriendly but transactional. Like a car salesman calling you “buddy” while steering you toward the close. Surface-level all the way down. The result? People trusted Kevin enough to be vulnerable, to take risks, to bring their full selves. With Nancy, they performed. Stayed professional. Protected themselves. Kevin built wealth. Nancy went brokelosing her best people in the process. The Cost of Going Broke When leaders perform authenticity instead of practicing it, the price is steep. Trust erodes: Employees start second-guessing everything you say. They stop bringing you problems until they’ve become crises. They smile in meetings but vent about you in private Slack threads. Performance declines: When people feel unheard, they stop trying. They do the minimum, knowing their ideas will be dismissed or reworked later. Half-hearted efforts, wasted hours, and endless redos are all symptoms of leadership that performs authenticity instead of practicing it. Psychological safety vanishes: When you fake authenticity, your team learns to fake it right back. No one risks being vulnerable or challenges ideas. Creativity dies quietly in conference rooms where everyone nods along. Your best people leave: Not always loudly. Not immediately. But they start looking. They stop investing. They give you their labor, not their loyalty. For marginalized employees, the cost is even higher: Research shows the toll of code-switching and masking isn’t just emotionalit’s biological. Black adults, for example, “weather” years faster under chronic workplace stress, aging 6.1 years beyond their peers. Ninety-one percent of neurodivergent employees mask their traits at work, and most report burnout as a direct result. That’s what happens when people spend their careers navigating leaders like Nancyconstantly calculating, code-switching, and self-protecting while leadership performs its way through “authenticity.” It doesn’t just drain engagementit literally accelerates aging and drives talent out the door. What Building Wealth Actually Looks Like Kevin didn’t just happen to be authentic. He had the emotional intelligence to make authenticity work. Here’s what that looks like in practicethe four pillars of authentic leadership: Self-Awareness (Know Yourself): Kevin knew his triggers and blind spots. When he got impatient, he recognized it and communicated expectations clearly instead of lashing out. Nancy probably had no idea how she came acrossor worse, she knew and didn’t care. Transparency & Honesty (Show Yourself): Kevin admitted mistakes and shared challenges thoughtfully. Nancy talked about transparency but never revealed anything real. Her vulnerability was scripted. Consistency & Integrity (Be Yourself): Kevin’s actions matched his words whether you were in the room or not. People knew what to expect. Nancy adapted to the audiencewarm in meetings, different behind closed doors. Respectful Adaptation (Balance Yourself): Kevin was authentic without being unfiltered. He knew how to disagree respectfully, to be real without being reckless. Nancy confused polish with professionalism and never learned the difference. Without EQ, authenticity is chaosbluntness masquerading as bravery, oversharing disguised as vulnerability. With EQ, authenticity becomes the foundation for trust, creativity, and growth. Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself Here’s the uncomfortable truth: You might be Nancy and not know it. Cognitive dissonance lets us live with a lie. When we forfeit self-awareness for comfort, we convince ourselves we’re being authentic while we’re actually performing. We package our niceness. We script our vulnerability. We say the right words while our team watches our actionsand knows better. If this stirs some discomfort, that’s your cue to practice emotional intelligenceto pause, reflect, and not defend. Try this on Monday morning: Practice the pause. When someone challenges you, do you immediately defendor take a beat to ask, “What if they’re right?” Audit yourself. Do you remember what your people tell you? Do you follow up weeks later? When you admit a mistake, are you learningor just managing your image? These small acts separate the leaders building wealth from those heading toward bankruptcy. The Return on Investment When you invest authenticity wiselywith emotional intelligence as your guidethe returns compound: Trust multiplies: People stop hedging. They bring their full thinking, their wild ideas, their honest concerns. Problems get solved faster because no one’s wasting energy performing. Retention stabilizes: Your best people stay not for perks but for purpose. They don’t just work for youthey work with you. Innovation accelerates: Psychological safety fuels risk-taking. Teams build what mattersnot just what looks good in presentations. Culture sustains itself: Authentic leaders create authentic teams. It spreads. New hires learn what’s truly valuednot what’s written on the wall, but what’s modeled in the room. The difference between Kevin and Nancy wasn’t personality or charisma. It was the willingness to do the inner work required to show up authentically and skillfully. Kevin built wealth because he had the emotional intelligence to make authenticity work. Nancy went broke because she never learned th difference between saying the right words and being real. The question isn’t which leader you want to be. The question is: Which leader are your people actually experiencing?
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E-Commerce
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