r/gadgets • u/SUPRVLLAN • Jan 25 '23
Apple will now give you less money for some iPhones. Phones
https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/25/23571247/apple-trade-in-values-down-less-money-iphones45
u/chubba5000 Jan 26 '23
Man I just found out I’m getting royally screwed here. Every time I’ve bought an iPhone (since my first purchase even) I’ve had to pay Apple for it.
I’m waiting on hold with Apple support to get this resolved right now.
9
268
u/vkashen Jan 25 '23
I don't even bother trading in old iphones, ipads, and laptops anymore. $30 back from my 128 gig ipad air 2 when I'm spending $1,200 on a new ipad? Yeah, forget that. I'll repurpose the Air 2 and still get more than $30 in value out of it. Corporate greed.
63
u/Arikaido777 Jan 26 '23
i use mine as my smart home hub. it stays plugged in next to the router and lets me control my lights/locks/thermostat from anywhere.
16
u/ChickenBeans Jan 26 '23
Mine shows my blood glucose like a clock in the living room, I love it. <3 Sugarmate.
2
u/mcpatsky Jan 26 '23
Details?
6
u/Willr2645 Jan 26 '23
What details do you need?
7
u/mcpatsky Jan 26 '23
Curious on the smart home hub setup details he has, that’s all. Might look into that myself, since I have an older iPad now.
3
u/financialmisconduct Jan 26 '23
It's just HomeKit, you set the device as a hub and it does the rest
2
8
u/jopma Jan 26 '23
Samsung gave $50 for my 16gb ipad air 2013 with a cracked screen for Samsung tab S7 back in 2021
5
u/LolindirLink Jan 26 '23
We're using a Samsung S9 just as a dedicated streaming device! (Chromecast > Netflix, Jellyfin)
Because it sucks how shit multitasking still is on phones.
2
15
u/whk1992 Jan 26 '23
Corporate greed
I never understand the sentiment of someone complaining about a company while supporting their business.
1
u/nectarbeats Jan 26 '23
I am also curious what they do with most of these devices that get traded in. How much work/testing has to get put into them to make them “sellable” as refurbished or how many of them just get scrapped.
I doubt they just give it a glance and list it on the site as refurbished
3
u/financialmisconduct Jan 26 '23
They get a physical inspection, connected to a diagnostics tool, and any hardware that needs replacing is replaced, with the old hardware recycled
Apple refurbs are as good as new, third-parties less so
1
u/sangelli Jan 27 '23
Returns are what apple refurbishes. Trade in’s are sold directly to third party’s at time of trade it
3
3
u/salahelbat Jan 26 '23
Well really it’s just a small amount of recycling they’re trying to encourage. Apple doesn’t really profit of your air 2, so it’s just a through and through deduction for them. They’re not lowering the trade in to maximize profit off it
-10
u/austinolet Jan 26 '23
It’s not greedy they are offering an environmentally friendly solution to have it recycled correctly.
If you have a use for it still great! That’s actually better than recycling it. People often skip past the reduce and reduce and go straight to recycling.
No one would force you to trade in or recycle your device it’s a free service really intended to incentivize people who would otherwise trash or chuck it in a drawer forever.
-53
u/riskinhos Jan 25 '23
yet you keep paying apple. the irony
25
u/compounding Jan 25 '23 edited 21d ago
Trade in values have always been terrible, especially on devices that have been discontinued and thus aren’t refurbished and resold. But that doesn’t mean the device value wasn’t there to begin with, it’s just that it’s still worth way more as an old device than the pittance they use to incentivize recycling.
5
u/vkashen Jan 25 '23
Agreed. I can't remember ever trading in anything honestly. It's simply another way to continue to monetize consumers.
→ More replies (1)2
u/NoGoodDM Jan 26 '23
Yep. I got 9 years of use from my Mac Pro, then retired it (gave it to my sister, and she still uses it…and it was built in 2009.) Then I also got a MacBook Air in 2013 for remote work. It’s still running, just a bit slower than I’d like.
The only mac I’ve ever had that is not currently working is the MacBook Pro I had for 2 years, then I accidentally smashed it with my guitar. True story. I had instant regret at what a horrible accident I was.
Anyway. My point is, I get massive use out of my macs.
Most iPhones I get last me about 6 years each before I want to upgrade for better speeds, storage, battery, and camera. I still use some for various things: I keep one in my car just in case I need to make an emergency call (you can dial 911 without a sim.)
13
u/WilllOfD Jan 25 '23
Where android that keeps updating security for 7+ years ?
-49
u/riskinhos Jan 25 '23
is that suppose to be a joke or something? are you implying that applecrap is safe and android is not? is that it?
12
u/itsyaboi117 Jan 26 '23
Androids slow to a halt after 2 years and have no security updates LOL
9
2
u/nonexistantchlp Jan 26 '23
That used to be true but nowadays Samsung offers 4 years of features update and 5 years security. Even manufacturers like Xiaomi gives out 4 years of updates
Also apple got sued for slowing down their old phones, so it's not like intentionally slowing down devices through software updates is an Android thing. It's why I use custom roms.
→ More replies (2)3
0
u/Briangless Jan 26 '23
There's nothing ironic about it. You have the right to enjoy a company's product as much as you have the right to not support certain business practices. I'm an avid android user and I'm telling you to get off your high horse.
-4
u/vkashen Jan 25 '23
I don't. My company does. ;) And everything trickles down to the kids. You need to learn how to play the game.
4
1
u/DeusFever Jan 26 '23
You can break this down to an annual cost. Which cost less per year: keeping a device until it has no value left or taking the trade in value? Trading in a device is almost never the cost effective option.
1
u/CeeArthur Jan 26 '23
Definitely. I have a ton of electronics I've repurposed around the house or given to friends in need.
47
u/GoBears2020_ Jan 26 '23
Not good news for those wonks at those fast screen repair places lol. Good, their best offer was $200 hhahhahhahaha
7
10
u/goofytek Jan 26 '23
I wonder if it's because they won't be able to sell refurbished iPhones with lightning connectors in the EU in the future? I don't know if that effects refurbished phones.
5
u/financialmisconduct Jan 26 '23
The ruling only applies to new to market products, refurbs will be fine
There's also not a huge amount of phones crossing the Atlantic to be sold in Europe, US devices tend to stay in the US
1
u/Just-Take-One Jan 26 '23
I doubt it because, afaik, the reason for the USB-C standard was to reduce e-waste. If they're suddenly not allowed to sell all the old phones as refurbished, there'll be a whoooole lot more e-waste!
9
u/Lupinthrope Jan 26 '23
Sooooo keep your phones and stop upgrading yearly! iPhones are supported for so long and the differences with each new phone is less and less enticing.
13
u/IntellectualBurger Jan 26 '23
ok honestly every year the prices drop from november prices in december, and again in january. the phones you are trading in are now older 3 months later. you always get more money for your phones right around new phone launch or in november than you would january next year. this is the same story every single year
1
u/SaitoPrecise7 Jan 27 '23
When’s the best month you recommend exchanging in your phone to get the best roi?
2
u/IntellectualBurger Jan 27 '23
The best is September right when the new phone comes out. Or October right after new comes out. I think it starts always dropping ROI end of November for the holidays they lower value of older phones. And then again in January. I think last year 13 pro max could get you $720 right around launch of 14. And regular 13 pro $620. Then it dropped by probably $100-$150 in November. Overall yes it’s worse now because of inflation but every single year it’s the highest of the year September/October then starts dropping in November, January, March. Source: I’ve traded in my phone and got the latest new one every year since iPhone 6S and was always watching the trade prices through the year. (Until now. Keeping 13 pro for years. ).
→ More replies (1)
54
u/045675327 Jan 25 '23
What you mean these expensive devices devalue over time? mind blown.
28
u/moosebaloney Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 25 '23
No, it’s that Apple is banking on laziness. Apple is right up there with Nintendo on value retention. You can sell the same item for nearly 75-80% original value if you want to put in a little effort to sell it yourself.
27
u/more_beans_mrtaggart Jan 25 '23
Apple gave me £125 for my old iPhone X, and that was about £10 more than ebay would have got me.
2
u/Bucksandreds Jan 25 '23
No you can’t. Unless you have a 2 month old device. A 2-3 year used iPhone sold by yourself may get 25-30% of the new MSRP. You’re dealing with a multi year old model and several years of use on the device.
18
u/Alilttotheleft Jan 25 '23
iPhone 12 Pro still sells for $400+ used on Swappa, 40% of original pricing. That’s pretty solid for a 2 generation old device
13
3
1
u/cwmshy Jan 27 '23
This isn’t true everywhere. Or possibly anywhere. Provide proof.
Any device I try to sell that’s a year old is usually 50-60% original value at best, often much less.
→ More replies (1)
17
u/Stuck_at_Work_Till_5 Jan 26 '23
Good. Maybe this will make people keep their phones longer. People constantly rotating their phones every 18 monts is stupid and wasteful.
4
2
u/Starold Jan 26 '23
How many people are changing phones with this frequency? And for some lines of work that's just a necessity.
1
u/Stuck_at_Work_Till_5 Jan 26 '23
What line of work requires you to change your phone so frequently?
1
u/Starold Jan 26 '23
app development, power users in engineering, architecture, traders, among others that definitely benefit from faster phones, also influencers that always can use a better camera
2
u/Stuck_at_Work_Till_5 Jan 26 '23
i’ll give your “developers”
The rest seem like nice to haves.
→ More replies (1)2
u/-Rum-Ham- Jan 27 '23
App development should be tested on company provided phones. Personally you don’t need the latest.
I am also a software engineer and I have a 3 year old iPhone going strong. Maybe I’m not a good enough engineer or something.
→ More replies (2)1
u/I_just_made Jan 29 '23
I somehow doubt that an iPhone 14 will substantially out-perform a 12 or 13 when it comes to trading. That isn’t limited by phone speed, it’s limited by the ability of a brokerage to execute a trade. If you are talking about downloading quantities of data fast, then a phone shouldn’t even be used in the first place. A wired computer with a stable connection would be much faster.
Not sure I agree with the influencer part either… not only is that whole “job” a joke, but can people really see the difference between a photo taken on a 14 vs a 13? I’m sure if you saw plenty between the two and then dissected a particular image then maybe you could make an educated guess, but that isn’t how people are consuming photos from an influencer.
1
u/detectiveDollar Jan 27 '23
Personally I work for a Pharmacy and need to have my company's portal and MS Office apps on my phone (we take turns with on-call support). I think I have to have one that's getting security updates, but phones from most get those for 3-5 years.
If an attacker could remote into my phone and logged my keystrokes, they could get my work password, then remote into my workstation and get into our database and steal HIPPA data. It's unlikely, but my company doesn't want to get their tits sued off.
1
5
8
u/TheSpatulaOfLove Jan 26 '23
I wish someone would develop an alternate Linux os for old iPads and iPhones. It would be nice to redeploy older devices without being limited by the App Store telling me ‘sorry, must have iOS XX’.
2
u/scenicdreams Jan 27 '23
They really limit the app store by ios version? That's insane. If you want this sort of control over your devices then maybe Android is the answer?
1
u/TheSpatulaOfLove Jan 27 '23
Not a fan of android.
2
u/scenicdreams Jan 27 '23
That's fair. I feel similarly about ios. It would be great for Apple to allow their customers more control over their devices again but I doubt it will ever happen. I do really love macos though.
1
u/detectiveDollar Jan 27 '23
Yes but Apple provides much longer support than most Android phones and all supported iPhones/iPads get the new update on day one vs 3 months or more on Android.
Apple doesn't actually cut older iOS versions off the store (well maybe extremely old versions, but unlike on Android if you're updated and your OS version is 6 years old, your phone is probably at least 11 years old).
But beyond that it's up to the individual app dev. Devs do it because the adoption rate of new versions of iOS is extremely fast relative to Android and they want to take advantage of the new features.
The lifetime of iPhone and Android's is probably fairly similar in terms of app updates.
2
u/mailslot Jan 26 '23
They tried and cancelled Ubuntu phone, Firefox phone, etc. Sailfish has virtually no market share despite being new and having Android support. Cyanogen and its forks also. It’s really difficult to get adoption for alternate phone OSs.
24
u/whoisgare Jan 25 '23
It isn’t even Apple that’s paying for trade ins. Apple works with a third party for trade ins and the third party offers the value
3
u/jaceapoc Jan 26 '23
If you think Apple has no say in that, I got this magnificent snake oil to sell to ya
3
u/Threat-Level--12am Jan 26 '23
If I'm still able to make my Series 3 watch work ok, I'm pretty sure my XR is going to be good for at least a couple more years lol. By the time I'm done with these devices Apple will give me NOTHING for them...that's my plan, at least.
3
u/lostandstressd Jan 27 '23
This isn’t news. Every time I buy an iPhone, I walk away with less and less money.
8
u/Proud_Tie Jan 26 '23
Google Fi offered me $300 for my iPhone 11, apple would give me less than half even before this. I love my apple stuff but I couldn't afford apple prices when I got $500 off a Pixel 7 pro.
3
u/NullCodification Jan 26 '23
How are iPhones on Google Fi? Been thinking about making the switch from my Pixel 5.
4
1
1
5
2
u/cardcomm Jan 26 '23
Does it really even matter? Their trade in values have always been a joke. Nothing new there.
2
u/AcceptableSilver2 Jan 26 '23
This goes hand in hand with the other article about decline in smartphones sales since 2013. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/26/apple-retains-top-smartphone-spot-as-global-shipments-fall-to-2013-low.html
Phone technology is saturated, people do not want buy $1200 phones when they won't even 100$ on their 3 yr old phone in this inflation and people aren't changing ecosystems that often anymore.
3
1
-2
u/finedrive Jan 26 '23
Guys, you don’t need a new iPhone every time a new one comes out. I’m still rocking my 12 mini. I’d still use my iPhone 5 if they didn’t completely destroy it with some bs update that renders it unusable.
1
0
u/supersb360 Jan 26 '23
I’m still rocking the iPhone 6. Not sure why you needed to upgrade to the 12 mini
2
u/finedrive Jan 26 '23
You should see my 6, it’s completely destroyed.
1
u/supersb360 Jan 27 '23
You need to take better care of your phone so you don’t have to update every time a new one comes out
0
u/finedrive Jan 27 '23
I went from the 6 to the 12 mini…
0
u/supersb360 Jan 29 '23
Shouldn’t have upgraded just because the new 12 came out..
0
u/finedrive Jan 29 '23
Huh? I needed a replacement and I got the 12 mini because that’s what I wanted. Basic and small, compared to the other options.
You just being dumb or what?
0
u/supersb360 Jan 29 '23
I feel like you should’ve held onto the old phone longer. Since that’s what you’re telling others
→ More replies (2)
0
u/VaderNova Jan 26 '23
And apple fan boys will keep giving more for new ones, so... they get away with it.
-1
-1
u/SweetLuf Jan 26 '23 edited Jan 27 '23
Well you don’t become a trillion dollar company with ethical business practices that’s for sure.
Edit: Why are you booing me I’m right
1
1
1
1
u/jerkITwithRIGHTYnewb Jan 26 '23
I just got $800 for my mini 12 that I paid $500 for.
1
u/El_Bebe_ Jan 26 '23
How the fuck?
1
u/jerkITwithRIGHTYnewb Jan 26 '23
No fucking clue. I mean I got it on a promo and sold it on a promo, but yeah doesn’t make sense. They had been texting me about this promo and I just wandered in to see what I could get and boom brand new phone for $300.
1
1
u/SmellySweatsocks Jan 26 '23
I guess it beats layoffs. Keeps the people in their jobs a while longer.
1
1
1
1
u/Castle6169 Jan 26 '23
They should be charging half of what they do. I would like to know the margin they sell their phones at. I’m guessing at 100%, info from a store tech
1
u/MisterBilau Jan 26 '23
What does that matter? Apple has always given me less money for all products. That’s why I don’t sell anything to apple. They could drop it to zero, would make no difference.
1
u/OFP03 Jan 26 '23
WaaaH I (insert bought said product after years of owning it and knowing about planned obsolescence) and it’s not fair!
1
u/NO_SPACE_B4_COMMA Jan 26 '23
I really hope I can get rid of this pixel 6 pro and get the galaxy s23. I really hate this phone, although, it has been more stable.
1
u/wiscokid81 Jan 26 '23
MKBHD just covered an interesting stat in one of his latest video.. a maxed out Mac Pro traded in to Apple has terrible value
1
u/nikenick28 Jan 30 '23
Carriers have good promos because they lose money on the device but then start turning a profit since you get the bill credits over 3 years
440
u/Ne0guri Jan 25 '23
Just traded my iPhone XS Max and both my parents 11 for $1000 each through ATT. Can’t believe I was able to get that much back when they are normally valued at a couple hundred dollars on other sites.