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Some smartphones appear to be immune to the tide of inflation sweeping across the economy, with Apple now trimming the trade-in deals it offers to people buying a new device.
Last week, as noted by MacRumors, Apple’s posted trade-in estimates dropped by $70 to $5, depending on the age and features of the iPhone in question.
The iPhone 11 got the biggest relative haircut, a 23% drop in trade-in value from $300 to $230.
That should not have been a shocking plot twist, given Apple’s history of ratcheting down trade-in values.
“All of these devices are older than they were a year ago, so it makes sense from that perspective,” Jeffrey Moore, principal at Wave7 Research, emailed USA TODAY.
But it should be a reminder that smartphones don’t age evenly, even factoring in Apple’s history of supporting older iPhone models with new system-software updates for years after it stopped selling them.
For example, the current iOS 15 works on phones back to the 2015-vintage iPhone 6s.
So is your old iPhone worth anything?
The upcoming iOS 16, according to Apple’s page about its preview release, will require a 2017-era iPhone 8 or newer.
Possible buyers of old phones, as well as people looking to trade them in, should be aware of that likely upcoming erosion in their value.
“I typically don’t advise people to buy phones that are more than two or three generations old,” said analyst Mark Vena, founder at SmartTech Research. Devices older than that may get software-stranded in a few years.
“It might function completely well as a cell phone, but it may not be upgradeable to the latest operating system,” Vena said.
An executive with a company that refurbishes and resells gadgets said customer demand tracked somewhat close to Apple’s support lifecycles.
Lauren Benton, U.S. general manager for Back Market, said in an email that sales for the iPhone 7 dropped this year in much the same way that iPhone 6 sales had faded last year.
How can you make your old iPhone run faster?
Just one phone-rejuvenation tip: Noting that batteries usually wear out first on smartphones, Benton said replacing one on an iPhone can also yield performance benefits.
“iPhones specifically manage their power consumption and performance based on the health of the battery, so if a phone is running slowly sometimes replacing the battery will speed it up,” Benton said
The update situation is worse with Android phones, which rarely get system updates after two years. As Moore wrote, “used iPhones hold their value better than is the case with Android phones.”
Is your network holding your smartphone back?
The evolution of wireless networks provides another chapter break in smartphone aging.
Only the iPhone 12, introduced in 2020, and newer models support both 5G and the faster “mid-band” versions of it available at AT&T and Verizon. Those two use a set of frequencies called “C-band,” as does T-Mobile.
Devices ineligible for that faster connectivity may feel relatively slow now but will certainly feel slower in two years. That doesn’t make them eligible to be recycled into their component metals, but it does require a sense of realism about who might use an older phone and for what purposes.
Vena’s advice is to pass along the phone you have now when you are ready to trade up.
“A phone that’s two or three years old would make a great hand-me-down for a kid or a relative,” Vena said.
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Rob Pegoraro is a tech writer based out of Washington, D.C. To submit a tech question, email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/robpegoraro.
