What the Tech: iPhone trade-in values

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Your iPhone is suddenly not worth as much as it was a week ago. Apple has dropped the trade-in values of almost all iPhones and it could make a difference in what you’ll pay when you go to buy a new phone.

We may have hit the point that it makes sense to get a new phone every year.

On average, people tend to upgrade their phone every two years in the one they just paid off for the new model. But does it make more sense today to do that every year? I did quite a bit of math to see what makes sense. When looking at a base-model iPhone, with 128 GB of storage, a brand-new iPhone 14 is $799 or $33.29 a month.

When trading in an iPhone 13 you’ll get a $400 credit, so that iPhone 14 is now $399 or $16.62 a month. You’ll need to pay off the old phone. You’ve already paid half of it which was $400. By upgrading every year, it’s basically the same price. If you hold on to the phone for more than 2 years, you’re saving $400 a year because it’s already paid for.

But, the longer you hold on to a phone the less it’s worth of course. Let’s say you’re still using an iPhone XS that came out four years ago. You’ve saved $800 by not paying installments. If you trade it in, you’ll pay $800 for an iPhone 14 and you’ll get $160 on a trade. Which comes out to a savings of $13.33 a month.

But here’s the important part. The phone is worth considerably more if it’s in good shape. An iPhone 12 with a cracked or scratched screen, isn’t worth anything as a trade-in, so you’re out the full cost of a new phone. All this math is based on Apple’s trade-in program. You may get a higher trade-in value going directly through a carrier, especially if you are looking to switch companies.

It’s more difficult to reach trade-in values of android devices because it depends on the brand. But iPhones tend to hold their value much better than android devices.

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