Cost.ng tracks what phones actually cost in Nigeria, new, UK-used, Nigerian-used and refurbished, and shows you when each price was last checked.
Why this site exists
Search for the price of almost any phone in Nigeria and you’ll get one of four things: a shop page quoting its own stock, a marketplace listing with no context, a forum post from two years ago, or an article whose title still says 2024.
None of them answer the question people are actually asking, which is usually some version of: what should I expect to pay for this, in my condition, in my city, this month?
Two gaps make that question hard to answer in Nigeria specifically. First, most price content covers only brand-new sealed retail, while a large share of phones bought here are Tokunbo or Nigerian-used, a market almost nobody prices properly. Second, the naira moves. A price published six months ago isn’t slightly out of date; it can be wrong by a third.
What we do differently
- We price every condition separately. New, open box, UK-used, Nigerian-used and refurbished are different markets that move independently. We treat them that way instead of applying a flat discount to the retail price.
- We grade used phones. “UK-used” describes two handsets that can be years apart in real condition. We sort them by battery health, cosmetic condition and whether the parts are original.
- We date every price. Not the article, the individual number. When a price passes its re-check window, we mark it stale rather than leaving it looking current.
- We show city variance. A phone in Computer Village and the same phone in Port Harcourt are not the same price, and pretending otherwise wastes people’s money.
- We publish ranges, not single figures. Low, typical and high, because there is no single price for a phone in this country, and a tidy number would mostly be a false one.
The full process, sources, grading criteria, exclusions and update cycles, is set out on our Pricing Methodology page. If you only read one other page here, read that one.
What we cover
- Phone prices by model, storage size and condition
- Price variance across Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt
- Swap values, what your current phone is worth against a newer one
- Repair costs, screens, batteries and board-level work
- Buying guides for the parts of this market that are easy to get wrong
Phones are where we started. The longer plan is to cover the cost of things in Nigeria more broadly, using the same approach: verifiable sources, dated figures, and honesty about what we don’t know.
Who runs Cost.ng
Cost.ng is an independent price index published in Nigeria. It is not owned by, funded by or affiliated with any phone retailer, importer or marketplace. Nothing here is paid placement, no seller can buy a position or a price, and we do not take commission on anything you buy.
How we make money
Cost.ng is funded by advertising, and may in future earn commission on some links to retailers. Neither affects the prices we publish or the order we list sellers in. We don’t take payment to list a price, change one, or remove one. The full position is in our Editorial and Price Accuracy Policy.
Spotted a price that looks wrong, or a device we haven’t covered? Tell us: corrections from readers are one of the main ways this site stays accurate.