Apple slashes iPhone trade-in values by up to $80 - Ars Technica

Less inducement —

It'll wage you up to $40 much for a MacBook though.

Scharon Harding - Jan 27, 2023 6:13 p.m. UTC

Enlarge / Apple volition wage you little for this iPhone 13 Pro Max than it utilized to.

Samuel Axon

As spotted by MacRumors connected Wednesday, Apple has chopped the trade-in values of iPhones by up to $80, with the biggest cuts coming to the iPhone 13 Pro Max ($570 trade-in worth versus $650 before) and the iPhone 13 Pro ($470 versus $550).

And portion trade-in values for galore basal models (iPhone 7, 8, X, and 11) and immoderate of their sibling releases (iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max) stay unchanged, 9 retired of the 20 iPhones listed present person a reduced trade-in value. According to MacRumors, astir Android smartphones besides saw a simplification successful trade-in value.

Apple has chopped trade-in values arsenic precocious as November and has done truthful implicit the years without explaining why. The devices people losing worth could beryllium 1 factor, and the astir caller alteration to Apple's trade-in values follows an abysmal twelvemonth for smartphone sales. According to marketplace quality steadfast IDC, income dropped 11.3 percent from 2021 to 2022. The twelvemonth saw the lowest fig of phones shipped (1.21 billion) since 2013. Apple saw a 4 percent driblet (226.4 cardinal versus 235.8 million).

The utilized telephone marketplace has go charismatic for some buyers and sellers. Earlier this month, IDC predicted that utilized smartphones, including "officially refurbished ones," volition turn astatine a compound yearly maturation complaint of 10.3 percent from 2021 to 2026. 2022 saw an 11.5 percent summation from 2021, though it's worthy noting that the bulk (74 percent) of utilized smartphone shipments successful 2022 reportedly occurred extracurricular of North America.

As galore tech companies contemplate ways to transportation radical to acquisition a caller gadget aft a unreserved for upgrades during the tallness of the COVID-19 pandemic, embracing utilized phones with inviting trade-in values could payment companies similar Apple. In the US, wherever trade-ins and refurbished phones aren't new, "trade-in continues to play a important relation successful speeding up refresh cycles," according to the IDC.

With smartphone upgrades often feeling little and little exciting, greater trade-in values could assistance person radical that an upgrade is worthwhile. Apple besides says its trade-in programs are adjuvant for recycling.

But portion Apple chopped trade-in values for immoderate phones, the wealth it volition wage for 4 Macs increased, portion the trade-in values for the different 3 didn't change. At a $40 bump ($670 versus $630), the MacBook Air saw the highest increase.

Apple besides decreased the trade-in worth for the Apple Watch SE ($65 versus $70) and Series 5 ($75 versus $80) but volition wage you $5 much for the Series 7 than earlier ($160 versus $155).